What a victory lap for the dads. It’s a miracle that last Friday’s mclusky show at the Sinclair even happened, everything considered. The reformed Welsh post-hardcore band celebrated twenty years of their classic sophomore album Mclusky Do Dallas, but American shows proved a challenge. The album is now twenty-two, with shows delayed by COVID and singer Andy “Falco” Falkous coming down with severe tinnitus (something this writer is all too familiar with). But the show did happen, and it was a downright blast.
Providence group Minibeast kicked the show off, a band that features original Mission of Burma drummer Peter Prescott on guitar and vocals. The band played a set of lengthy, fluid songs that eschewed traditional structure in favor of experimentation and bombast, like a more palatable Lightning Bolt. Prescott was fun to watch, managing to handle vocals, guitar, synth and audience banter simultaneously. But, the real power was in the rhythm – Niels Lawhite on bass and Keith Siedel on drums, who propelled these songs well into manic territory. Quite bluntly, the set rocked. The band both confounded and exhilarated the incoming crowd, who were taken aback by the band’s unconventional stage presence and frantic songs. Mission of Burma was surely an influence on mclusky, so including Minibeast on this show was a nice nod. Another dad victory.
In between these bands of lifers came another act, with a great name: The Martha’s Vineyard Ferries. The band played much more straightforward rock, alternating between short bangers and longer, midtempo songs that sounded a bit like Falco’s other band Future of the Left. While the band was definitely the most relaxed of the three acts, it was easy to see why they fit in – the songs the Ferries played had many hints of heaviness, and some tongue-in-cheek lyrics, namely on songs like “She’s a Fucking Angel (From Fucking Heaven).” The band’s midtempo jams were a nice palette cleanser in between two bands who brought constant heat, and the audience was receptive to the band’s unique and diverse songs.
All signs pointed to an odd mclusky set. The drummer was staged behind glass panels as if it were an arena show and Falco had on protective headphones – both sacrifices of tinnitus. They opened with one of their softest songs (“Fuck This Band”), and came out to a damn Disney song. Naturally, it didn’t last. Within minutes they were ripping through “Dethink to Survive” and “Collagen Rock,” with the opener acting as a red herring. The band roared through 20.5 songs through an 80-minute set, which got looser as it went on. Falco called an audible and decided to swap out “That Man Will Not Hang” with the B-side “No Covers,” only for both Falco and bassist/singer Damien Sayell to forget their parts, opting to play “Hang” after all. This sort of ad-hoc looseness was classic mclusky, and endearing to the crowd.
Falco was also, predictably, a riot. He introduced “You Should Be Ashamed, Seamus” as the best song in the set – and he was right. He also told the crowd that “Unpopular Parts of a Pig” was a new song, in case anyone needed a drink break. He dedicated one song to all the babysitters working that night, and jokingly got into it with fans over British/Boston relations. But he got serious when things mattered, leading the band through a legendary, rip-roaring set. The band played 11 songs from Mclusky Do Dallas, most of the album and a slight majority of the setlist. They also played all four of the new(ish) songs, boisterous compositions that fit right in with the 15-year-old tracks. They ripped through violent classics like “Without MSG I Am Nothing,” “To Hell With Good Intentions,” “Alan is a Cowboy Killer,” and “Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues,” their biggest song and one of this writer’s very favorites. The band had massive mosh pits running throughout the set, and often looked like they were themselves running on the edge of exhaustion. They could not have physically brought it any harder.
All in all, it was one hell of a set. The band has been through a lot – a 2005 breakup, a 2014 reunion, lineup changes, global health emergencies and internal health emergencies. And yet, mclusky plods on, and a lot of people in my age bracket who just missed their original run got to see a dream come true. The anger party stretched past midnight, fittingly ending on the final song from Do Dallas, “Whoyouknow.” The future may be bright for mclusky – new songs bode well. But those in attendance cherished this once-impossible opportunity, and the band delivered above all lofty expectations. We’re all getting older, we need to rock while we still can. This isn’t dad rock, it’s dads that rock hard. Ferocious, loud, funny, and running deep into the night – mclusky delivered a legendary set.
Check out all of Harry’s photos from the show below.
