GRUFF RHYS | LIVE REVIEW
New Theatre, Cardiff, Sat 28 Jan
In these post-truth times there remains at least one absolute fact: Gruff Rhys is a genius. And on Saturday night he was busy proving it, in front of about 1,000 (maybe a million) eager fact-checkers at the sold out New Theatre in Cardiff.
The historian Malcolm Gladwell often refers to genius taking two different forms: Conceptual Innovators like Picasso or Bob Dylan, where the genius comes in quick bursts of superhuman energy, often early on in a career; and Experimental Innovators like Cezanne or Leonard Cohen, who spend years tinkering and dismantling their own work, never fully satisfied. Gruff is both: Picasso and Cezanne in a beanie hat. Legend has it he wears the beanie 24/7 to keep all those ideas incubating safely inside that swirling mind of his.
On stage, Gruff was at his conceptual, innovative best. Not usually a man of many words, bar the odd “diolch yn fawr iawn” between songs, he likes to let his music (and his slogan placards) do the talking. But on this night he was far chattier and playful than normal, mischievously opening the set by putting his Set Fire To The Stars LP onto a turntable and standing back to let it play.
SFTTS the movie, shown before the gig, is a black and white indie biopic, released in spring 2014 and concerning a period late in Dylan Thomas’ life while he lives in the USA. Gruff provided the soundtrack, which the Finders Keepers label issued last autumn. In the period between those two dates, Gruff released and toured American Interior (as a feature film, book and album); has written and performed a kids’ musical for the National Theatre, been on two comeback tours with the Super Furry Animals and embarked on a recent solo adventure which took him as far as Siberia. He’s also rumoured to be working on an opera about Hedd Wyn. The man is prolific.
A month ago, at the Motorpoint Arena, Gruff had his Super Furry friends on stage with him, in boiler suits and golden retriever costumes. This time he’s surrounded by a different supergroup, with a different vibe, but super talented all the same. Drummer Kliph Scurlock drove the show like a man possessed, briefly emerging from behind the drums to read a monologue from the film.
The SFTTS soundtrack is delightful performed live, a jazz-infested joy and a brilliant way to see off the January blues. The highlight was Atom Bomb, an anti-nuclear message dressed in early 1950s rock’n’roll attire but still fresh and pertinent today. Yet it proved to be a mere warmup for a psychedelic whirlwind, aided by stunning kaleidoscopic visuals by Dylan Goch, masterful back up from the Y Niwl trio and constant moments of pure beauty from the majestic one-man brass section that is Gavin Fitzjohn, who even popped up in the grand circle box.
It quickly became a road trip through his greatest solo hits – racing through Shark Infested Waters and Sensations In The Dark, both from the Hotel Shampoo LP, then speeding across American Interior (“not Trump’s America by the way,” whispered Gruff) via a stunning solo version of Iolo, motoring on through the splendidly simple Gyrru and a gorgeous version of Negative Vibes before the journey culminated on the continent with his beautiful love letter to the EU, which on a weekend when new borders went up around the world gained extra relevance.
Gruff had to read the lyrics of I Love EU from his mobile phone. With other performers, that sort of behaviour might irritate, but with Gruff, so warm is his charm, and so sweet and sincere his message, you forgive him anything. A standing ovation for a genius and a National Treasure – that’s a fact.
words JOE TOWNS