Monday, 21 May 2007
The Mission's future looks bleak except as a matter of nostalgia.. Wayne Hussey's got Very Big Sunglasses...and he never takes them off. Ever. Thats just his style.
Supported by David R Black (less said about them the better - imagine Bush without the songs, Feeder without the Personality, all wrapped up in black T-Shirts and interchangable songs), The Mission continue on in their own fashion. Less of a band than a gothic brand name and continuing solo project for singer/guitarist Wayne Hussey backed with a bunch of interchangable musicians (either luminaries from the goth scene or hired hacks), The Mission are a long long way from their days of yore.
Sandwiching new material with old classics, The Mission bound on stage. Wayne Hussey is wearing a black shirt and tie, in the current emo uniform (yeah, very goth). The old songs are played with perfunctory obligation and the empty soul of a car crash yet are met with raptourous responses, whilst new songs are played with enthusiasm and see the bar fill up. Lyrics such as 'Mumbo Jumbo, Hocus Pocus' fill the hall (Ok, they didn't play that one, but stilll)....its obvious from the level of enthusiasm that these old songs aren't exactly foremost in Wayne Hussey's mind, as he often forgets the lyrics, sings the same verse twice, and neglects to sing the choruses to allow yet another session of sing-a-long goth karoake.
its a strange balancing act the Mission have to walk - between the old and the new, the songs people know and love played with obligation, and the new songs played with passion toa response of indifference. Its clear to many here than the glory days ended no later than 1993 - the first eight years of the band yield 12 songs tonight, more than the eight played from the 14 years since.Heavily weighted towards the first few albums, material such as 'Hands Across the Ocean', 'Severina' and 'Butterfly On A Wheel' goes down incredibly - and come the encore time machine its back to the eighties for 'Serpents Kiss', 'Wasteland', 'Beyond the Pale' and 'Deliverance'. But a song less than 11 days old ('Blush') cannot match up in terms of familiarity with these songs, and is - like much of the material here - overshadowed by the older, more familiar songs. The songs people know and love, rather than the songs people put up with inbetween the hits.
Come the last song the night, the remixed (complete with samples from Dead Can Dance) "Tower Of Strength" is epic and grandoise, but it shows that the band are overshadowed by a past they can never live up to. New songs fall on flat ears, drenched in reverb and mumbled lyrics and with a line up only a couple of months old, their live power is diluted from the legendary shows of the early years. The new material seems formulaic, chasing its own tail retreading former glories of the old songs; classics which are raptourously received and the real reason the vast majority of people are here tonight.
Existing in a state of artistic status, not musically evolving but revolving, The Missions future looks bleak except as a matter of nostalgia. Sure, its enjoyable, and entertaining, but its a disappointing and empty experience when you're only five minutes away from a song thats got a nagging air of familiarity but you've never heard before. I mean - I love The Mission, but I hate seeing them like this ; a shadow of their own past, unable to match up to the legacy they've built up for themselves. We've come a long way from the First chapter of 1985... and judging from recent interviews, their last chapter may well be upon us sooner rather than later.I can only hope they leave us on a brighter note than this, I really do. Because it couldn't get much worse...|
eh?
Written by prizos on 2007-05-22 18:49:12
I was there to (along with lots of other devotees) - suggest you stop going to mission gigs - I don't think you get it  | Written by markreed on 2007-05-23 02:52:27
Actually that wasn't me but my brother who went to this show, I merely uploaded his review under my permissions.
If not getting it means thinking mediocre songs are mediocre, I'm happy not to get it. | Oh I get it all right...
Written by greed on 2007-05-23 12:34:25
I just don't think the new stuff is a patch on the old stuff; i think that the older songs were better received by the vast majority of the crowd ; I think they are musically treading water and recycling the same old stuff to ever decreasing effect ; and the current live shows aren't a patch on the ones of the day.
As for suggesting I don't go to any more gigs - The Mission need all the fans they can get nowadays. |
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