These days, it's de rigeur for bands to spend ages soundchecking and ensuring they are as professional as possible. In the case of Ohio's GUIDED BY VOICES, however, reverence is accorded to the onstage placing of the band's personal beer bin - complete with plastic liner and crammed to the top with Budweiser - and the tuning up session minutes before the whole band appear is almost indecently short.
However, only a terminal fool would dismiss GBV'S booze-fuelled manoeuvres out of hand, as the Dayton-based quintet are an absolute powerhouse in concert and tonight play for an ecstatic two hours (including fifteen minute of encores), during which time they casually knock out something approaching 50 numbers.
I say casual, but despite leader/ vocalist Robert Pollard's defiantly anti-cool stance, ridiculous facial gurning (think Sid Vicious swallowing Castrol GTX) and scissor-kicking that would put THE SKIDS in the shade, GUIDED BY VOICES are actually tighter than a glassblower's cheeks throughout and rock like the kind of economy-fuelled bastards you thought had disappeared off the face of the Earth for good.
There's no doubt that the whole band are having a blast throughout. When Pollard holds the (humongous) set list up at the beginning, it's not an arrogant gesture, just done out of love, joy and total enthusiasm for his creations.
And, by God, most of them are magical indeed. Indeed, only a band so supremely drilled and confident as GBV could coolly throw out the likes of buzz-pop classics such as "Back To The Lake" so early in the set.
The highlights are frankly far too numerous to mention, but let's have a crack anyway. GBV can do linear 'n' catchy: witness the likes of fabulous stuff like "Eureka Signs" and the superlative new single "Everywhere With Helicopter", whilst in "Teenage FBI" and "Things I Will Keep", you can see why Alan McGee was waxing lyrical about the "the last great album of the Millennium" and drafting in Ric Ocasek's production sheen for the "Do The Collapse" album.
Of course, one of the criticisms that's often flung like a custard pie at Robert Pollard is GBV's apparent lo-fi, noodly tendencies, but certainly there's little of this with either the recent "Universal Truths And Cycles" albums or the live 2002 incarnation.
Which isn't to say that GBV don't challenge anymore, either. With the perversity of WIRE, some tunes still come to an abrupt halt after 45 seconds, others (on accasion) segue into each other seamlessly and - in true PERE UBU tradition - there's still the employment of (small) chunks of weird shit and elements of drone-y Krautrock, especially apparent in songs like the taut, spacy "Car Language."
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Robert Pollard is a joy to behold throughout. KILLDOZER'S Michael Gerald may have started the tradition of Maths teachers in rock, but Pollard is the embodiment of seeing your favourite uncle letting it all hang out, wearing naff shirts and cords and jumping around like a man possessed. He barely attacks a song without either a beer or a fag in his hand and you can't but love him for his anti-charisma.
The GBV (and Pollard solo) back catalogues are ransacked with gusto, with albums like "Bee Thousand" and "Under The Bushes, Under The Stars" providing tracks like "Cut-Out Witch" for our delectation and Robert introducing songs with hilarious patter: (e.g: "I wrote this song for my son on acid." Cheer. "Yeah, my son was on acid, right. He was three years old.").
They're reluctant to let go of the set (and so are we) and return for a fifteen-minute encore, with the low-slung bassist and guitarist Nate Farley feeding Jack Daniels to each other while never once missing a note. Ultimately, they sign off with a grungy, but apt "Hard Day's Night" with George Harrison's solo perfectly replicated.
GUIDED BY VOICES are the living embodiment of rock'n'roll's fire, spirit, irresistible tunes and idiosyncracies made flesh. On this kind of night they're capable of refreshing even the most jaded palette and can re-awaken your faith in the incontrovertible brilliance of great, attacking rock'n'roll.
Oh, and the beer bin....was it empty at close of play? What do you think?
(POTOS: KATE FOX)
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