“Middleton hardly looks up from his guitar and Moffat lurks around the stage like a vulture looking for his strategically placed beers, which he picks up in between songs and takes huge swigs from. I imagine he drinks about half the can with that sort of swig-age. ”
“Middleton hardly looks up from his guitar and Moffat lurks around the stage like a vulture looking for his strategically placed beers, which he picks up in between songs and takes huge swigs from. I imagine he drinks about half the can with that sort of swig-age. “
Arab Strap, The Bent Mustache Melkweg, Kleine Zaal 02/02/06
The opening act had already gotten started as we entered the Klein Zaal. Ahh, the Klein Zaal… It’s like a home coming party for me every time, as I feel overwhelmed by the excitement of what’s to come since I’ve seen so many great shows in this small hall. We head right for the bar and order two beers then direct our attention to the stage.
The Bent Mustache is well into their set. As we came in I had thought, what a fantastic name, but now I couldn’t avoid thinking of something once Damian Leslie once told me. He once described to me the best heckles over heard at concerts from the crowd. One of the top 10 best heckles was, “Hey play something your drummer knows!” Well, this band was a little like that. Not that they were bad, individually they were each decent musicians, it was just whilst playing together it (the music), and they (the mucisians) seemed to not make any sense. They seemed to all be playing different tunes. However, the last few songs sounded a tad better, maybe I just need to get use to them.
We made our way to the front for the main attraction across a minefield of women’s purses containing small dogs and tampons. Okay, I admit, I embellish, there were no small dogs, but surely tampons. I wanted desperately to comment to a few of the ladies, asking if the bags also had tickets to the concert, since they were taking up valuable floor space – enough space for a couple of warm, ready-to-bounce bodies. I took a deep breath and reminded myself that these people do things differently and as it was, we were pushing our way through them to get to the front. They were simply and kindly eluding us to the dangers below.
Not 10 minutes later, Arab Strap saunter on stage. Aidan Moffat, Matthew Middleton and three younger thinner chaps who looked as if they were fresh off the of Scottish Academy of Rock Music boat, pick up instruments and grooved right into Stink, the opening track from the new album The Last Romance. They calmly make everything look so easy, especially Middleton who quietly plays on his half of the stage. The bass player and second guitarist share the back part of the stage right, next to the drummer and the big Scottish teddy bear Adian Moffat charms us with his sexy whiskey soaked bedroom voice. It is rich music, a bit like a chocolate mud cake with lots of cream, but nothing fancy like raspberries on top. Arab Strap puts on nothing extra for their audience, their live show is not flamboyant in possible anyway. Middleton hardly looks up from his guitar and Moffat lurks around the stage like a vulture looking for his strategically placed beers, which he picks up in between songs and takes huge swigs from. I imagine he drinks about half the can with that sort of swig-age.
Song highlight of the evening was still, as on the album, the new single Dream Sequence. It is an incredibly catchy song with equally fantastic lyrics, “make me giggle in your sleep, and I can dream that you’re a slut. And when I wake up stiff please, just feel free to use me. Then go to work and let me wonder, what it was that made you chose me”.
They encored and ended with the closing number from The Last Romance, There’s No Ending. They played I believe three older numbers, but mostly all stuff from the new album. Arab Strap played brilliantly, reminding us, there was a time and place, not too long ago where the music meant a whole lot more than the show of it all. Their music and melodies hook you in and though their songs seem rather tragic I still walked away feeling quite refreshed.
Words: Zoe E. Gottehrer