Super Furry Animals immerse the Varsity – 7/14/2016

Facebooktwittertumblr

Things took a turn towards the psychedelic at the Varsity Theatre Thursday night. Welsh cult band Super Furry Animals was in town after a 7-year hiatus.

Starting the evening was Detroit’s Mountains and Rainbows. After some van trouble the band arrived at the last minute and their set up and sound check was performed with impressive speed. The 5-piece band has been around for a decade and has quite the dedicated following in Michigan but they only released their debut album this year. The bands style is a wild mix of Psych, garage, punk, new wave and 70s art-rock and quite unique and entertaining.

Super Furry Animals took to the stage after a drum beat into that gradually increased in pace. Made up of Gruff Rhys, Cian Ciaran,Dafydd Ieuan,Huw Bunford, and Guto Pryce, the 5 piece band was wearing their signature white haz mat suits. The set started with and unexpected instrument, a harmonica played by Rhys before the guitars and synths kicked in for Slow Life. Saying hello to Dinkytown someone in the crowd responded with “Don’t get busted!” – not sure if it was an inside joke but Rhys responded with a laugh. The crowd was mostly Brit rock fans but spanned a surprising age range. SFA’s newer songs were received well, as was their classic material. There was quite a bit of dancing throughout the audience. Masks, psychedelic projections on a screen behind them and of course their music created immersive experience that their fans enjoyed. Not having been familiar at all with SFA, I enjoyed the show quite a bit.

Set List: Slow Life / Rings / Do or Die / Hello Sunshine / Pan Ddaw’r Wawr / Run Christian Run / Home Town Uni / Zoom / Juxtaposed / Bing Bong / The International / Golden Retriever / Recpitical / Mountain People / Man don’t Give

Facebooktwitterrssyoutubetumblrinstagram