Live Report: Mogwai, July 26, Vicar Street

What happens when the Young Team gets old? In the case of venerable Glaswegian post-rockers Mogwai, it sets you on a pathway from early days as precocious, gobby darlings of the British music weeklies, to a firmly cemented status as alt-rock royalty with a sustained ability to sell out venues, capped off by unlikely chart-topping success.

A quick scan of the Vicar Street audience confirms the group's (very male) audience is one that has grown up with them, but how exactly can one maintain the sense of daring and surprise that won you this loyal fanbase in the first place, when you're three decades and 11 albums down the road? Well, on this evidence, the great Scots are making a decent fist of it.

Mogwai at Vicar Street on July 26th, 2025. Copyright Grace Swartout/hotpress.com

The group's flair for slow-build dynamics is showcased across the evening's early stages, as the one-man guitar team featured on opener 'God Gets You Back' - a delightful appetiser full of burbling atmospherics and tender melody that sees two members take on keys/synth duties - swells to three by the time we reach third track 'Rano Pano', with the band taking its time before fully unleashing its traditional ear-rattling sonic assault.

Guitarist Stuart Braithwaite still maintains the feel of bandleader despite limited vocal duties - his on-stage bounce still intact, and a nice counterpoint to bassist Dominic Aitchison's reserved, stock-still demanour.

Mogwai at Vicar Street on July 26th, 2025. Copyright Grace Swartout/hotpress.com

The more traditional melodic chug of the Braithwaite-sung 'Ritchie Sacramento' is well-received, but the group still tend to be at their best when building undulating waves of instrumental noise; on 'How to Be a Werewolf' and 'New Paths to Helicon, Pt. 1', the audible hoots of delight from the audience when a bruisingly intense passage of music gives way to a quieter, more reflective moment make it clear that the band's old tricks are still thoroughly effective.

The show moves up a gear in its second half, as the conclusion of '2 Rights Make 1 Wrong' delivers perhaps the evening's standout moment, with the group's contrasting gifts for tender melodicism and ear-shattering noise colliding head-on, in a sublime sheet of warm, crackling electronics and guitar squall.

The momentum builds further on 'Remurdered', a frankly irresistible blast of pulsing, squiggly electronics, the colourful lighting effects pushing the mood closer to euphoria.

Mogwai at Vicar Street on July 26th, 2025. Copyright Grace Swartout/hotpress.com

The remainder of show sees the group drive the volume to truly ferocious levels, though this is nothing hardened Mogwai lovers haven't heard before (provided their eardrums remain intact, of course).

The sonic attack culminates in a closing rendition of old favourite 'Mogwai Fear Satan' which provides a moment that captures the band's spirit perfectly, as they deliver a shift from soft, textural caresses of the guitar to a hailstorm of ferocious noise that is so sharp and abrupt, it has the effect of a horror-movie jump-scare, causing seated observers to jolt upright in alarm. Proving once again that while these wise older heads may never fully regain their youthful gusto and cockiness, they have never lost their ability to captivate and excite - and occasionally surprise - even when heading down familiar and well-trodden territory.