Short Elevated Period

Wire aren't the most chatty of bands.

I've seen them around a dozen times and in varying degrees of grumpy. Fuck it, they're allowed to be, it sorta chimes in with their awkward, angular music, but blimey they were monosyllabic even by their standards. 

Wire were playing The Globe in Cardiff, which seems to have become my de-facto venue of 2017. It was pretty busy, which was good to see on a cold Wednesday night. My gig companion Jason Maybury had to cancel due to consumption so I asked if my neighbor Steve wanted to go which he did, cool beans. We stopped by The Globe to check stage times. The woman said that support were from a Cardiff band which Steve and I didn't know, so we popped next door to The Pear Tree for a pint.

It's a mark of a band's status and longevity where the new boy has been in the band for seven years, and now guitarist Matthew Simms seems to have all the hair for the rest of the band. Indeed Simms seemed to be the happiest member of the band, smiling out at the crowd and generally wigging out. 

The upside of a lack of stage banter is that the band can really bang through the back catalogue (see also my beloved Pixies). The set consisted mostly of their last four albums, with 'Three Girl Rhuma' making a welcome mid-set appearance. My entry point for Wire was their 2010 'comeback' album 'Red Barked Tree' and so I'm happy with whatever they play and I really enjoyed 'Short Elevated Period' from new album 'Silver/Lead'.

I was sorely tempted by the well stocked merch table but kept my powder dry for tomorrow's Shopping gig. Wire were great, and The Globe got the sound right for once, even if it didn't involve the sound woman pushing through the crowd to stand infront of stage with her hand clamped over her mouth.

So now I've got the Shopping gig which will be 3 out of 3, I'm feeling tired but I know I can do it coach...