Reviewed onTuesday December 13
Science dictates that time goes only one way; that the past is a foreign country, inaccessible and remote. But who gives a rat’s about science? If Japandroids’ sweaty, deliciously slobby gig at The Red Rattler on Tuesday proved anything, it’s that a beloved band can return to its roots with ease, somehow stepping back to its beginnings without such a move ever seeming like a regression.
After all, Japandroids have enough selling power to fill a venue like the Rattler ten times over. Selling power and something more too; something harder to define. This is a band that people feel like they own, somehow – a band with songs of the audience, not just for them – and as hit wrecked into hit, the crowd gave off warmth in waves.
That’s partly because a song like ‘The House That Heaven Built’ wants you to love it; because ‘The Nights Of Wine And Roses’ is a beckoning hand, forever calling for you. These songs rely on audience participation the way pantomimes do, and though drummer David Prowse seemed surprised by the slow dance circle pit that broke out halfway through ‘Continuous Thunder’, he had no reason to be. Such extreme physical reactions are the songs’ natural endpoint.
Even tunes from the band’s yet-to-be-released record, Near To The Wild Heart Of Life, inspired wild moshing and furious, semi-serious dancing. You don’t have to know a Japandroids song inside out for it to work on you. That’s why people take to these guys so quickly – because they require so very little and provide so very much.
Indeed, such creative generosity – such warmth – explains why none of the audience seemed particularly concerned about the two teary-eyed, shirtless, sweaty men shouting along to every bloated chorus. It explains why every hand shot up to support an especially enthusiastic music industry rep as she sorta crowd-surfed, hovering in front of the tiny stage with nowhere particularly go. And it explains why people turned to each other, smiling, strangers nodding at strangers, acknowledging the same ridiculous, vital tunes.
Ultimately, the gig ended the only way it was ever going to end: with vocalist Brian King being held up by the audience, awkwardly trying to riff his way through AC/DC’s ‘Back In Black’, till finally he slipped into the crowd and the music stopped. That image – a man being gently swallowed whole by the people who love him – is Japandroids to a T.
