Gruff Rhys Tour feat Y Niwl – REVIEW

Schuba’s Tavern in Chicago played host to the Gruff Rhys tour featuring Y Niwl. You can check out our review after the break.

On a balmy 50 degree night in June, what better band to see than a surf rock band from Wales?

Fortunately Y Niwl (The Fog), from Gwynedd, Wales in the UK were here to heat things up for a pretty sparse crowd.  Unfortunately, the late comers did not know what they were missing.  Their fully instrumental rock songs sounded very clean and exact, with their excellent musicianship.  Playing songs that were named with numbers, the band made jokes about how the titles were bilingual.  These songs would not be out of place at all on a Tarantino soundtrack, specifically, Pulp Fiction comes to mind.

Standouts included 21 and 7, with great bass lines and keys throughout.  Their super precise rhythms and excellent musicianship would be later used as Gruff’s backing band.

Taking the stage to a thunderous round of applause and cheers, Gruff Rhys got himself set up with a drum machine and keyboard and launched in to Rubble, Rubble.  Joined mid-song by the members of Y Niwl, the song built from a kind of stripped down pop song to a full on rock song with multiple guitars, keys, bass and drums.

By the end of the first song, the venue had filled in pretty well.  Although it was not sold out like his last appearance at Schuba’s the crowd was close to capacity, and very enthusiastic throughout.  One of Gruff’s trademarks is his willingness to play songs from any of his albums, and he played something from all 3 of his solo albums.  He also uses many different instruments to add layers to his sound.
Second song Gwn Mi Wn started with a great drum beat, then Gruff swinging some electronic drumsticks to help accentuate the percussion.  This was also his foray in to Welsh singing.

Up next was Candylion, the title track from his 2nd solo album.  People around me were excited that he had played something from all 3 of his solo albums so early in the set, and were saying that this had the potential to be one of his best shows ever.

After mixing in some new and old songs for a while, Gruff played 3 songs in a row form his new album Hotel Shampoo, including the incredibly catchy lead single Sensations In The Dark.

Another trademark is that various descriptions are given from city to city as to what songs are about or what their Welsh titles mean.  With a very witty sense of humor, this is always amusing.  While introducing Ni Yw Y Byd (We Are The World), Gruff said that a religious group tried to use the song, and he asked their lawyer if they could sue God for this, drawing chuckles from crowd.  Also, when introducing Gyrru Gyrru Gyrru (Drive, Drive, Drive) he explained that it was about the drive from Minnesota to Chicago, but that he would condense the 7 hour drive in to approximately 3:47.  The synth heavy song, with traffic noise samples was very well received.

Shark Ridden Waters, which is the first song on the new album, was also the set closer. This was another crowd favorite with the catchy section of, “I don’t know what happens with me when you come along, it’s just the way the sunlight catches your hair.”  With great crowd participation in singing, it brought the set to a great close.

After a quick break, Gruff introduced the encore as, “A song that starts at 30,00 feet in the air,” drawing loud cheers for the epic Skylon!  While most people would be disappointed about a one song encore, this song happens to be a 15 minute story about an attempted plane jacking and its aftermath.  Almost all of the myriad of instruments on stage were used at some point during the song, bringing the night to a great conclusion.

Information about the review…
Tour: Gruff Rhys Tour feat Y Niwl
Bands: Gruff Rhys and Y Niwl
Date: June 9, 2011
Venue: Schuba’s in Chicago, IL