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Mindless Self Indulgence - 11th July 2008 - London Roundhouse
Support - Iamx
Iamx are a good choice of band to fill the awkward support slot for Mindless Self Indulgence. Their trance-tinged rock completely fills the cavernous darkness of the Roundhouse, making it feel more like a dance club than a live music venue. It’s just what the assorted crowd of rockers and ravers need, and they quickly get everyone moving.
Iamx may be scant on crowd interaction, but this actually works in their favour, as they blast through their set, treating the crowd to one thunderous song after another. They seem to recognise that, as a support act, if they’re going to win any new fans, it’ll be with their music and not with any between song “thank you” and “scream for me, London!”-style banter. When their set finishes, they slip quietly off the stage. It may have been a no frill’s affair, but just for half an hour, Iamx bring the club vibe to the Roundhouse. It’s the perfect start to an evening of genre-mashing.
Mindless Self Indulgence are rapidly developing a reputation as one of the best live bands around, and from tonight’s performance it’s easy to see why. Not only do they make such free-wheeling, mish-mash tunes as ‘On It’ look easy to play, and not only does every song sound absolutely massive (‘Pay For It’ and ‘Animal’ in particular just keep on getting bigger) but MSI shun ever rock show cliché in the book to deliver their own form of crowd interaction.
“You’re so damn ugly!” frontman Jimmy Urine screams at the crowd, who cheer back at him. Throughout the night, Urine will insult the Roundhouse crowd at every opportunity he gets. This should be a recipe for disaster, but MSI have enough warped charisma to not only get away with being offensive, but to make it hilarious. It’s unusual to hear people laughing at gigs, but MSI make the crowd laugh, clap and grin like idiots. At times it’s hard to believe you’re here for the music, and not for the comedy. It’s the perfect antidote to gigs where the band play fine and the setlist has all your favourite songs, but that essential spark just seems to be missing.
What happens between the songs is as entertaining as the songs themselves, as it’s here that the band really get to express their skewed take on the world. Jimmy’s between-song banter is so good, that there’s a tangible sense of anticipation as each song draws to a close. And he never disappoints, pointing out “diverse” people in the front rows, declaring he’s an alien come to impregnate us all, and offering up a prayer to the God of Selling Out (“oh God of Selling Out, we want a yacht!”)
There is only one sticky moment in MSI’s banter, and that comes when Jimmy declares “oh my God! You’re totally in love with us, aren’t you?” The audience screams and, just for a moment, it seems like MSI might be about to say something sentimental or, at the very least, something that isn’t downright offensive. But, no, the frontman is quick to add “god, this is awkward, because we’re just using you for sex!” Everyone laughs, and we’re back to the warped humour that MSI do so well.
The highlight of tonight has to be Urine’s tongue-in-cheek take on current rock clichés: “we’re here to save your lives, because you’re too dumb to think for yourselves!” he enthuses, before adding “oh, no, wait, that’s every other band.” It couldn’t be clearer that MSI don’t care what anyone thinks of them, and that sense of punk-rock rebellion is what makes tonight so exhilarating.
The carnival is wrapped up with live-favourite ‘Planet of the Apes’ which has the crowd screaming every word back at the band. MSI then file offstage, leaving their frontman to conclude matters by dancing and miming to ‘On With the Show.’ This unintentionally provides the night’s funniest moment, as the security guards gawp on in bemusement, and you can almost hear them telling their friends and family “the people we had playing at the Roundhouse the other day. My God.”
MSI, as always, come out to sign autographs and pose for photographs with fans, and even then they’re still performing, as Jimmy tries to get one of the scowling security guards to dance with him, and the expression on the man’s face goes from annoyed, to worried, to borderline terrified. Tonight, MSI served up twisted songs with lashings of individuality, but what really finishes the night off is the sense that, if you aren’t part of the MSI joke, then you are the joke. And there’s nothing better than being in on a joke.
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