Narc. Magazine Online
Reliably informed
Damian Robinson enjoys a night of bouncy grooves and nostalgic sounds
Image: Happy Mondays by Jamie Huntley
Tonight’s openers The Farm, kick off the evening’s baggy revival in typical fashion with 70’s funky grooves and guitar. Quick to prove the genre was always more on the side of ‘funk revival’ than it was on ‘dance-crossover’, The Farm jive in and out of deep basslines replicating a back catalogue that, although not littered with hits, does provide a solid support set, particularly on Groovy Train and All Together Now.
Carrying on the groove, Happy Mondays open with possibly their finest tune, Kinky Afro. Light and bouncy, it’s a mere seconds before we get Bez doing his freaky dancing thing and Ryder doing his street poet thing. Though both Paul Ryder and Rowetta are still missed – Firouzeh Berry does a decent replacement job on vocals – and though they’re not quiet as raucous or wired as perhaps they once were – tonight proves that at one point the Happy Mondays really did have it all. It might be better to burn out, but fading away can also have its merits.
