Music > Live Reviews

Wire

The Adrian Flux Waterfront

25/10/17

I said this when I reviewed Wire’s most recent album, Silver/Lead, Wire kinda passed me by until recently. I owned the “classic” debut album Pink Flag and the Document and Eye Witness comp but neither did anything for me. Then I got Silver/Lead and it all changed.

Tonight, I am not sure what to expect. First up, there is no support. Despite this, the band still comes on an hour and a quarter after the doors open. Normally, this would be a source of frustration for me but the music played before the band come on and, more importantly, the company is good enough that things don’t drag.

When Wire do make it on stage, the first thing that hits me is what great looking instruments vocalist/guitarist Colin Newman and vocalist/bassist Graham Lewis play – just what a guitar-nerd like me notices but kinda odd for a band that apparently doesn’t give a damn for appearance! The next thing that hits me - almost literally and like a punch in the gut - is just how hard Robert Grey hits his drums. Whip-thin, he plays with barely any visible effort and seems to be in eyes-closed meditation when not playing but by heck he hits those drums hard and loud. Guitarist and newest member Matthew Sims holds it all together with a look and sound that are both equal parts Kevin Shields and J Mascis in their younger days.

This is a career spanning set, taking in their late 70s heyday through to the newest album. The set is building nicely before some technical problems with Sims' set-up give me a chance to get to the toilet and bar and to check the football score. After that, it takes a while for the momentum to build-up again but they are soon back to form, creating what is, at times, a veritable storm of sound. The music is of course rooted in punk and post-punk with a dub feel. Angular, metallic, heavy and at times dark, there is also a pop sensibility at work. However extreme, exciting and challenging the music gets, there remains a sense of melody and structure with the group never straying (too far) into the unlistenable cul-de-sacs explored by some of their contemporaries.

Given my history with Wire, it is the newer stuff that grabs my attention. A fair portion of the set is taken from Silver/Lead, with Diamonds In Cups, Short Elevated Period and Playing Harp For The Fishes being my stand-outs. I have no doubt that fans with a longer, closer relationship with the band will shout me down and call for the likes of Three Girl Rhumba, Small Black Reptile or Art of Persistence (from 1977, 1990 and 2000 respectively).

All in all, this was a great gig and bordering on something truly special but it wasn’t perfect. Leaving aside the technical issue, which was just one of those unavoidable things that can happen to any band, some of the pauses between songs were a bit too long for comfort and broke the impetus that the music builds so well. The lack of stagecraft takes the shine off things a little. Those are little niggles really. The latter may be down to the small stage, almost completely covered with peddles and boxes. And anyway, with music so good, do Wire really need to jump about and pull shapes? This was genuinely some of the best live music I have heard for a long time and will be of interest to anyone with a liking for questing, adventurous, stimulating and sometimes puzzling rock music.

Once Wire finished it was up to OPEN to catch what turned out to be the last two and a bit minutes of Charlotte Carpenter’s set. I’ve seen Carpenter before, at the old Owl with Horse Party and CLAWS at the tail-end of 2015. Her set that night was pretty special and, but for Wire, I would’ve been at OPEN all night. From what I gather from talking to the audience, Charlotte has delivered another great show. She is definitely one to watch for and I will not miss out next time she hits Norwich.