It had been three long years since Midlake played in the UK, and so nothing – not the cold, not the rain, not the machinations of the UK’s public transport system – was going to prevent arrival at the Electric Ballroom in downtown Camden. It was packed to the rafters, a seething mass of humanity – mostly of the male, plaid shirt wearing and, let’s be generous, fifty-ish strand – barely containing their keen anticipation of Denton’s finest. Taking to a still darkened stage at around ten past nine, to a growing round of applause, Midlake launched into Bethel Woods, the titular song of their 2022 album For The Sake Of The Bethel Woods. It’s a hymnal to a simpler life, a not uncommon theme for Midlake, a rejection of the trappings of life and an immersion into more communal living. It also builds towards the anthemic lifted on the inventive drumming of McKenzie Smith who throughout puts the truth into the statement that no band can be truly great without a great drummer.
One of the thing about Midlake’s music is that it is instantly recognisable, and just a couple of notes was enough to identify Children Of The Grounds from their third album Courage Of Others, a song that builds from a quiet folk-rock start into being carried on blistering lead guitar from Joey McClellan whilst Eric Pulido leads the harmonising on the powerful chorus of disassociation and feeling other than the majority of one’s contemporaries “We were raised in a town where they jump on your back and sing / and leave an imprint on your shoulder blades / want to walk away / We’re not all the same in this town.” The live version of this song is just shiningly glorious and life affirming. As was Young Bride. Missing the fiddle introduction it once again fell to McKenzie Smith to set the scene, with Scott Lee’s insistent bass giving a grounding to both Pulido’s acoustic – an instrument he stuck to all evening – and Eric Nichelson’s rhythm guitar. And just to make the point that this is a band that can evolve whilst keeping content with their past, the next song up came from the latest release A Bridge To Far and The Ghouls hits harder, and carries a somewhat darker message – it’s somewhat like something from Antiphon, but also wouldn’t feel out of place on Courage Of Others.
There was a call-out from Eric Pulido to Duncan Jordan of Bella Union who had persuaded the band that, after Bamnan And Slivercork, their next album needed something more than just Van Occupanther as its title…and so The Trials Of Van Occupanther was born, frighteningly twenty years ago. It was always likely to get revisited and sure enough there was a shimmering It Covers The Hillside, all Jesse Chandler’s keyboards and harmonising vocals. It’s a relaxed Midlake by now, who can joke about having everyone’s side projects as supports next time – Jesse Chandler has a group called Pneumatic Tubes with a new album out. No mention is made of his other band, but wouldn’t a Midlake / Mercury Rev double header be a thing to see? Alongside the usual reminders to visit the getting low on produce merch’ stand, Pulido also revealed that a done for fun DNA test had revealed 43% British ancestry which might serve to explain the anglophile feel of so much of Midlake’s music – that, or maybe time spent with a fine record collection.
Whilst featuring plenty from the latest album, including the dreamy funky shuffle of the title track, and older songs such as Acts Of Man with the classic Midlake sweetest of flute lines, there were further samples from Van Occupanther – Roscoe was given a huge welcome, only really matched by that for Head Home, which became a joyful sing-a-long with its repeated call for a simpler life. “Bring me a day full of honest work and a roof that never leaks, I’ll be satisfied” is about as far as one can get from rock pomposity – but does steer a path to psych-folk hippy optimism of the Woodstock generation. It closed out with Joey McClellan giving it a reshaped and extended guitar solo that blazed beautifully, reinterpreting the melodic themes of the song.
The single encore of The Old And The Young was another chance to roar along with the band, and also to stand slack jawed at the magnificence of the guitar playing and then the extended – but so wonderful it still finished too soon – drum solo from McKenzie Smith. Midlake had nothing to prove – but in any case they left the mark of excellence stamped all over The Electric Ballroom. And, not such a common site, the band’s earlier words about appreciating the warm audience reception they get in the UK were made concrete by their stage leaving behaviour of stopping to hand out set lists to the front row, a job more often left to the stage crew. A small thing, yes, but, hey, they didn’t have to.
As if all that wasn’t enough, the evening had got under way with a magnificent set from the long haired and bearded and shades wearing The Bretheren – the side project of Midlake guitarist/lead vocalist Joey McClellan. Alongside he had drummer David Scalia, bass from Paul DeVincenzo and keyboards/lead vocalist Dave Sherman. The Bretheren make a sound not a million miles from Midlake in feel, with their opening numbers leaning into a high energy and pleasingly righteous noise as McClellan and Sherman took turns on lead vocals. Things softened somewhat when on their third song they were joined by Joanna Serrat who added additional vocals to Who’s To Say which was a song full of the slight hope that love might come back – it could happen the repeated title refrain suggests, but not overly convincingly. It’s not the downer of a song that description might suggest, but is hopeful in a very Midlake sort of way. By contrast, Got A Shine is the fully loved-up and happy flip-side of the coin with love going great and the world couldn’t be sunnier. There are only three roles for a support act – background noise that is rapidly ignored making the listener wish they’d put off arrival by half an hour, something so-so that’s entertaining enough but makes no real impact, or a band that you’d wish the next time you saw them was as headliner with a full set ahead of them. The Bretheren are fully in that third category.
