I arrived early at the Golden Lion last night after a badly timed departure and estimated time of arrival from my flat a couple of miles away. I sat down at the bar with a pint of Guiness and reminisced over the last time I saw the Moscow drug club in the Canteen in Stokes Croft. They placed a deep vibrant trance over their mostly seated audience and baffled all with their intensely cool vibe and intricate riffs from every member of the band. This resulting in a far less seated selection of audience members and a lot of donations in the bucket.
When the set start time began to draw near I moved to the previously mentioned barrel and eagerly anticipated musical splendor. Liken to a painting or a poem you can only try to remember the way the Moscow Drug Club's music makes you feel, but as hard as you may try, you cant ever simulate the feeling with which you are filled, when the double bass riffs roll forward and the short and precise chord strokes from the guitars meet with the perfect tone held by the violinist. That's the sound check over.
The smokers and stragglers outside at this point had heard what they had all been waiting for and began to establish bases as near to the front as possible. Moscow Drug Club didn't sound check then leave the stage and all there fans craving the start of a set they know will exceed every expectation they previously had. Neither did they let the new comers sit bleary eyed unaware that this level of musical quality will be upheld with ease for the duration of their evening. They struck up soon after. During the first song a very interesting spectacle happened - the violinist nearly melted my face (metaphorically speaking), with a solo that simply blew me away leaving my jaw on top of my barrel nearly getting burnt on the candle. Whilst this was a display of amazing talent that left me and all of those around me that I shared a few glances of surprise and admiration with baying for more, I couldn't help but wonder whether an explosion of talent had been detonated too early. It wasn't logical to assume that you could comfortably top that throughout the remainder of the night.
Wrong.
My early obtained seat was soon surrounded by standing and dancing supporters keen to get as close as possible to the front so they could watch the effortless dancing of spider-like fingers flawlessly navigating scales, plucks and pull-offs from the four man string section. Whilst also enjoying the imagery of the extremely cool and relaxed persona of the lead singer who you constantly expect to see emerge from a cliche cloud of cigarette smoke holding notes for as long and as delicately as the violin. Whilst the double bass layers each song with the presence of excellent rhythm, the two guitar extraordinaries take it in turns to leave audience members hands red from clapping after each solo, each of which was completely individual to the last. I don't believe I need to say anything more about the violin, only that he did last night what I have spent my few years as a guitarist tying to do with a guitar. He communicated not only his love for the music and playing but a distinctive emotion for each song boldly and with complete clarity.
Once a torrent of applause's had ended (only after and encore that was unanimously requested), there was a very pleasant taste left in my mouth from a beautiful set consisting of musical talent beyond technology, beyond fx pedals and amp make. Because in the end if the whole world was to fall apart tomorrow and we were sat in fields with the scout leaders of the world (being the only people who know how to make fire) creating bonfires freely without having to worry about fire regs, Moscow drug club would be sitting round a roaring fire, wood crackling in the night air, reminding us all of where music came from and what it is about.
Thank you once again for an amazing evening.
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