GIG REVIEW: MiG 15 + Support @ The Shipping Forecast, Liverpool, 23/02/20

23rd February 2020

The Shipping Forecast – or the basement of it, at least – is a strange place. Ominously cold, treacherously dark, and smelling like it might recently have become the final resting place of something large and furry, one doesn’t like to imagine what goes on there ‘after hours’.

The evening becomes stranger still as the support bands take to the stage. Firstly there’s Arcades, an upbeat guitar band who are inoffensive enough until the vocalist joins in; he might win first prize in a Brian Jones lookalike competition, but he won’t be winning awards for singing any time soon. 

Then there’s Hoofa, a psyche-indie duo whose unusual aesthetic is more noteworthy than their music, and who are also apparently the evening’s organisers. I vow to find them afterwards and question why on earth they’ve asked people to pay to watch a gig in a venue that resembles an abandoned prison cell (one imagines). 

So it’s all the more to the credit of MiG 15 that when they finally play, they manage to make what’s left of the evening immensely enjoyable. It takes them a few tracks – like the politically-charged ‘Too Little Too Late’ – to get warmed up, but before long the audience are on their feet and applauding.

Further into the set we hear songs like ‘Interstellar’ and ‘Rolling Thunder’ which are instantly likeable without being predictable, and further enhanced by expressive performances from the band members. 

The evening also sees the debut performance of MiG’s new single ‘Emily’ – a track which marks a definite change of direction for the band, but has a chorus so plaintive and lovelorn that it’s guaranteed to garner the quartet some much-deserved radio play. 

Make sure you see these guys if you get the chance – they’re going somewhere, and they know it. 

Unless of course they’re playing in the basement of the Shipping Forecast again, in which case I’d advise you to keep well away. 

You have been warned.

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