Will I ever see a rubbish band in 2014? Whether by sheer luck or my remarkably refined taste in music every act I’ve seen this year has never been less than fantastic. My latest outing, to see Gogol Bordello with support from Miriachi El Bronx at Nottingham’s Rock City, proved no exception.
Mariachi El Bronx, the mariachi alter-egos of Los Angeles hardcore punks The Bronx are among the most beautifully outfitted musicians around, all sequins and, apart from their violinist Rebecca Schlappich, sporting fetching mariachi moustaches. They looked like a bunch of dazzling Mexican undertakers as they treated us to their strange hybrid of mariachi and acoustic punk all underpinned by their superb frontman Matt Caughthran, who revelled in the chance to play at this legendary venue. It was certainly a pleasure to be called a “motherfucker” by him.
Their versions of Revolution Girl and 48 Roses were particular highlights of a great set the enthusiastic crowd approved of whole heartedly.
Gogol Bordello
The UK’s energy problems could be solved in one fell swoop if you could only plug Gogol Bordello into the National Grid. Good grief, they were incendiary.
From the very first number We Rise Again, with its killer guitar riff and mad sing-a-long chorus, they tore the place to bits as lead vocalist and human dynamo Eugene Hutz took national hero status with his grand gestures and inability to stand still for more than a third of a second. This compelling frontman was down to his shorts within minutes and encouraging the crowd to go bonkers (not a difficult task) as he lead his gang of rabble rousing gypsy punks through nearly two hours of rhythmic craziness. They are basically Strictly Come Dancing for lunatics.
Their violinist Sergey Ryabtsev plays like his life depended on it, the hot pant clad energetic gymnastics of singer Elizabeth Sun are a sight to behold and when I tell you that accordionist Yuri Lemeshev sported a GBH T-shirt and the huge menacing bassist Thomas Goben wore one featuring Sun Ra you can see where the music was coming from – a planet where musical barriers don’t mean a thing and the only thing that matters is a big chorus that goes “da da da dadadada ‘Start wearing purple!”. Utter madness and utterly brilliant.
Gogol Bordello are not familiar with the concept of less is more, they expend more energy than you could think it humanly possible to do so. By turns exhausting and exhilarating, anyone with a dodgy back need not attend their gigs. They are a band of genuinely talented musicians totally dedicated to their art. Gogol Bordello wear their passions on their sleeve, purple sleeves of course.
Words by John Haylock, picture by Arthur Hughes.
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