Gruff Rhys at the Academy on October 3rd 2011
Photos: Brian Dwyer
Review: Ross Maguire
Gruff Rhys continued his UK tour on Monday night in the Academy to promote his new album “Hotel Shampoo”. Named after Gruff’s collection of free shampoo’s he has taken from Hotels over the years, “Hotel Shampoo” had already proved to be an impressive third release, and the former Super Furry Animals frontman was well in form as he played some of the main tracks from the album and some old favourites aswell.
Opening up on the night were Welsh surf – rockers “Y Niwl”. They played a set of instrumental numbers that settled the crowd in and filled the floor in preparation for the main attraction.
Gruff took to the stage with the members of “Y Niwl” forming his backing band and from there on in it was a pleasure to watch.
Songs such as “Gwn Mi Wyn” and “The court of King Arthur” made for a nice set up for the night and the vibe was very chilled out and relaxed which some Fans might have found a bit unfamiliar given Gruff’s sometimes unusual solo performances that saw him take his hand to the most bizarre of instruments. Monday night was to be slightly different though and while there was no Super Furry’s or Neon Neon tunes on show (as to be expected) the performance was still flawless in songs such as “Honey all over” and “Candylion”.
The new songs from “Hotel Shampoo” went down a storm. “Shark Ridden Waters” and “Sensations in the dark” being really enjoyed by the crowd and Gruff played off this well with some amusing crowd interaction.At one point he held up a series of signs communicating to the crowd for things such as an applause or a “Whoa!” during solo pieces from his band members, or asking the crowd to spot the several key changes in “Cycle of Violence”. “Gyru Gyru” is a song which translates from Welsh to English as “driving” and is repeated over and over in the chorus. Gruff got someone’s phone from the crowd after he had asked for the translation into Gaelic, and the song opened up with the crowd and Gruff singing “tiomaint” instead of the Welsh. I thought this was a nice touch at this point in the gig.
The crowd then beckoned Gruff and his band back on after an enjoyable performance and a set of plane seats were brought out where Gruff sat to play “Skylon”, a ten minute song which describes a number of characters in their attempt to dis-mantle a bomb on board a plane which has been hi-jacked. The song took lift off after every chorus and the band manifested all the energy they had left into bashing out this last one and leaving the crowd very impressed. Gruff held up another sign this time with the words “thank you” and ” the end” printed on, and I went for a pint to wind down from seeing a great performance from a man who yet again proved what a great musician and songwriter he really is.