Past their heyday

Super Furry Animals' Chicago show doesn't live up to past performances

By Amy Formanski
Published: February 18th, 2008 | 11:04pm

February 16, 2008, in Chicago — In line to enter Chicago's Metro to see Super Furry Animals, a guy behind me said, "I wonder if this place is as cool as it was in the '90s." The Metro hasn't changed much since then, but Britpop's heyday ended a decade ago. Back then, Super Furry Animals emerged as the best band from Wales, and while some of their classic material still sounds great, other bits come off as annoying kitsch. Their set included fun gems like "Demons" and "Rings Around the World," as well as great tunes off the new album, Hey Venus! (Rough Trade) "Run-Away" sounds like a mournful '60s ballad, while "Hello Sunshine" is so upbeat and mellow that it could be mistaken for a Beach Boys tune.

SFA played groovy prog rock for fans who had voted for their favorite songs on the band's Web site. At each gig of the quintet's North American tour, the band plays the top fan choice for that city. Chicagoans picked "Juxtaposed with U," a song that encourages the listener to tolerate all the people that they hate. Without a healthy dose of sarcasm, the sentiment resembles a lesson from a PBS kids' show. Such hippie-dippy lyrics, along with mellow song medleys that blended together, caused me to wander into the ladies' loo out of boredom.

The lack of showmanship added to this sleepy atmosphere. In the past, SFA have performed in giant tanks or wearing furry costumes, so I expected wackiness. Instead, the only stage adornments were circus-like yellow-and-white banners. Lead singer Gruff Rhys wore a red Power Rangers helmet during the opening number, but after that he took it off and left it sitting atop his keyboards. No onstage antics followed, but the Welsh guys simply jammed as only veteran musicians can. And while I pondered the lack of visuals, the rest of the packed audience happily bopped to the music. The drunk fellow next to me got so excited that he randomly belted out "Woo!" I wished I felt the "woo" too.

Perhaps my perception was just off all night. Gruff spoke in a heavy, Wookie-like Welsh accent. He attempted to teach the audience a bit of Welsh by telling us to repeat a word that sounded like "Yowl" that means "everything's alright and cool." I guess it's the Welsh version of "Woo!" He charmed me with his language lesson, but the band's minute-long song, during which they ask the audience to wiggle their fingers to circulate sound waves, just seemed like a silly gimmick. By the time they played "The Man Don't Give a Fuck," I didn't care anymore about the performance. This song caused controversy back in its day due to an unapproved sample it contained. Unfortunately, more than a decade later it just sounds like a mediocre rock song. I arrived anticipating SFA's quirks, but left thinking that it's their classic pop songs that keep them relevant.