Though they were here in the US not even six months ago, UK experimental post-punks black midi are back stateside already as part of a sweeping tour accompanied by Chicagoan Nnamdi Ogbonnaya, for a full night of music defined only by its glorious lack of definition.
The band have long been loved on this side of the ocean, as with many of their contemporaries that are pushing the envelope on guitar music even now, and black midi has one of the more obsessive followings of the bunch – there’s sort of an unwritten dress code a few dozen people in Providence are abiding by, wearing cowboy hats and long dusters, tuxedo attire, or dress shirts and ties – all looks the band has adopted at one time or another for tours. When they showed up at a sold-out Great Scott in Boston in 2019 it was all cowboy attire – tonight the dress shirts were predicted correctly.
The rabid fandom owes to the band’s enigmatic nature; while they’re not as interview-averse as noted hermits like Death Grips, they don’t reveal much, and there’s a subtle sense of mischief about them, particularly from singer Geordie Greep; a sense amplified by his truly one-of-a-kind vocal delivery, best described as that of a frantic auctioneer. According to Setlist.fm, at the previous night’s gig in Vermont, the setlist was coded in a slew of local references, mostly about Bernie Sanders and progressive politics – all transcribed by the bm-faithful, of course.
The lights dim in the ornate main room of the Columbus Theatre. It’s a seated venue, which raises the question when a famously mosh-inducing band like black midi takes the stage. But before they step out, a distinctly English voice comes over the PA from backstage and does the classic “Are you ready? I can’t heeeeeaaaaar you” bit – and then a second American voice does it all again as if the first round of coached cheering hadn’t happened. Then there are horns, but not the saxophone of Kaidi Akinnibi. It’s something known to every Rhode Islander: the theme of Family Guy. Greep, bassist Cameron Picton, drummer Morgan Simpson, and keyboardist Seth Evans get set up as the entire theme song plays, and then from the sardonic beginnings, they dive right into ‘John L’ (read as John Fifty), the epic lead single and one of the best songs from their sophomore album, Cavalcade.
‘John L’ describes in vivid detail the animalistic, orgiastic visit of a cult of personality that quickly turns violent and brutally overtakes the central figure of this mythology. The presence of a Roman numeral suggests perhaps a nod to religious fervor, but the chaos of the scene could just as easily be a hazy allegory for Beatlemania and the particular “John L.” at the center of that. The music is thrilling, a constant rumble at first, an interlude of soaring sax from Akinnibi, and then a room-shaking roar of bass with Psycho-style synth and strings over top as the tale comes to its bloody conclusion. But they also tuck the riff from ‘Sweet Child of Mine’ into the small lull before the final rush, all without skipping a beat.
The band’s playful streak was recently codified in the release of Cavalcovers, a three (or five if you subscribed to their mailing list) -track EP of covers including more predictable ones (’21st Century Schizoid Man’) to the totally left-field (Taylor Swift’s ‘Love Story’ with Picton on vocals). There’s also a ‘Psycho Killer’ rendition where Greep flubs the French lyrics and just resigns himself to saying “some French shit” in place of the actual words.
Though they’ve not hard much time to tour Cavalcade, the night is littered with unreleased material as well, some of which is entirely new, others like ‘Sugar/Tzu’ which have been kicking around the black midi mythos for years as live versions and fan recordings on Youtube. Though they’re a bit hard to decipher live, they bear titles like “Welcome to Hell” and “Eat Men, Eat” which suggests the band’s next LP is liable to be just as thematically colorful and weird as Cavalcade, which itself saw them opening up and toying more with slower songs and varied sound than their debut, Schlagenheim. The contrast is on full display in the middle of the set as they go from the heavy, undulating ‘Dethroned’ into the delicate strumming of ‘Ascending Forth’ – or at least a snippet thereof, which finds Greep espousing that, “Everyone loves ascending fourths,” which of course the song is structured around. ‘The Defence’, another new tune, finds him singing the line, “Find me a Christian who spends as much time on their knees,” an oddly grounded image for a band that typically goes much more abstract in their writing.
Everyone has been out of their seats, moving and jumping in place for quite some time, chairs be damned – and for those close enough to the stage to see, there’s been a mystery on the setlist, a set of six question marks at the very bottom. Following ‘Slow’, which features a panicked guitar pattern and a vicious vocal from Picton, the identity of the mystery closer is revealed as none other than ‘bmbmbm’ (pronounced “boom-boom-boom” for its distinctive cadence). For many, this was not only the song that put black midi on the map but also one of the cuts that puts Simpson’s drumming abilities on full display. His playing really anchors the group, providing a way-station in the often amorphous grooves the band crafts alongside. It’s also the first time the band has played the song live since 2019, which makes its resurfacing a significant hallmark of the Providence show. Greep warps the lyrics, which mostly just feature him saying “She moves with a purpose” in wildly different intonations, stressing a different syllable each time. But tonight “she moves” to Chicago, Milwaukee, Toronto, etc. They extend the final wailing guitar intro in a way that makes it seem like it may go on forever, and Greep hops around the stage on one leg while Picton and Akinnibi take turns jousting, staring each other down, and jumping in time with the song.
Ultimately the song does conclude, a moreish riff ceasing at last. Greep, speaking fast as ever, introduces his bandmates one final time (he’s already done it at least twice), ascribing their nicknames, like “The Machine” for Picton. The theatre’s lights come up and the entirely non sequitur sounds of ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ fill the air, one final smirking nod from the band to fans before they head out for the evening.
Review and Photos by Collin Heroux
