Oh Sees have long been touted of as the perfect festival band. Their racuous, high-tempo rock'n'roll always riles up the drunken swathes, even if no-one recognises the song. However, going to a headline show is a different prospect - these swathes are the loyalists, not ready to accept anything less than carnage. After witnessing a relentless sold out show in Cardiff, maybe it's time to remove "festival" from that opening statement.
Oh Sees have appeared under many guises, but their most recent form is pounding prog beast. Two drummers sat centre stage, orbited by guitar, bass and keys. Rhythm, here, was the anchor, everyone perfectly in sync, no matter the speed or complexity. The double drums were the very best kind of overkill. There was very little variation between them, instead opting to tag team the driving beats. It creates a humunguous sound and a hypnotic visual to boot.
Singer and guitarist Jon Dwyer is a hell of a presence on stage. He snarls and spits, quite literally, while seesawing back and forth. His technique is deceiving - machine gun stance and finger plucked solos - but it's virtuousic playing that tears through the air. He barely talks between songs, instead guiding the crowd through a riff-laden odyssey, sometimes 15 minutes a piece.
The audience itself was no sweaty boys club; all genders, ages and sizes shoved, surfed and perpsired in the mosh pit. From a distance it moved like a single organism, shockwaves running through it, but within it was hair-raising bedlam. The heat and swaying is such an effective weight loss technique, I'm surprised you don't see Instagram starlets promoting it as an #advert.
Support band Prettiest Eyes shared Oh Sees's unabated drive. They appeared to have weaponised feedback, with their keyboardist acting as noise-maker general. The chaos was conducted by the drummer, his singing and rhythms making sense of the madness.They were the ideal starter to the evening's indulgent racket.
Many bands try to capture this kind of magic. The unbridled musicality, the raucous energy, the rupturing noise. None succeed like Oh Sees. It's utter pandemonium, and they're rightfully worshipped for it. Festival or venue, wherever it is, catch them if you can.
