Mindless Self Indulgence Live At London Astoria
April 24th, 2008 by Adam
These days phrases like ‘wacky’ and ‘zany’ seem to have been tainted to be bywords for ’shit’ and ‘annoying’. Which is a shame really as they’re perfectly good words, it’s just unfortunate that anything extrovertly colourful and, dare I say, ‘kooky’ gets lumped into the same category as circus clowns and French comedy sketch shows. So, here come Mindless Self Indulgence on a quest to save such phrases from the depth of the linguistic bin, with a sold out Astoria show off the back of some quietly simmering online marketing, an extremely well-focused PR image and arguably helped by a marriage to a certain famous lead singer which gave them some high-profile in recent months.The ’sold out Astoria show’ banner is becoming something of a London staple now for any new band looking to expand into the UK market, which arguably takes away some of the ‘wow’ factor of an otherwise still an admirable achievement. But both sold out and rammed it is and it’s an interesting mark of MSI’s musical style and appeal to see the variety in the crowd – neon-ed up techno goths next to little emo types sporting fairy wings and face make-up, alongside a few standard Slayer tshirted, glum-faced kids.
From the moment the band take to the stage it’s like being at a Take That gig, girls (and I’m guessing boys, although they’re less evident) literally screaming and pogo-ing around the place like jackrabbits. In terms of both music and visual appearance MSI are like Static-X doing pop, or looking at it from a different angle if Aqua had been influenced by punk instead of Euro-pop. Tracks like ‘Shut Up’, ‘Bitches’ and last single ‘Straight To Video’ mix guitars with samples and hip-hop influenced beats to create an effect like an audible equivalent of a cartoon.
The cartoon comparisons don’t end there with each member of the band having their own colourful on-stage persona, although perhaps a little more Akira than Hannah Barbera. The real star of the show however is frontman Jimmy Urine. Not to put the rest of the band down as they throw all of their energy into posing, tumbling and bouncing around but the guy is, for lack of a better phrase, fucking hilarious. Think the scarecrow-physicality of Perry Farrell crossed with the eccentricity of Willy Wonka and a mind full of filthy comments and sarcastic comebacks, jokes and mid-set chatter.
It’s not big and it’s not clever, but they are hugely entertaining with a clear desire to have a lot of fun while doing it. Wackiness is back to stay.
