TY SEGALL
Scala | December 2
In the midst of a snaking queue that chokes the cold stone walls of the Scala, Crack finds itself in the mix of another superb ATP event in the capital city. This time they’ve lured Ty Segall to the fore, propped up by friends and collaborators White Fence, and it’s for a crowd whose magnetic attraction towards the stage defies us of oxygen, personal space, and etiquette. It’s everything we had hoped for.
White Fence, with whom the headline honcho recorded the superbly George Harrison-esque album Hair in 2012, unsurprisingly have the venue entirely locked down for their support slot – the place is heaving with all the excitement of one of ATP’s own sadly departed festivals and the atmosphere is sensational. Occasionally flat on record, Tim Presley’s foursome burst right off the stage at Scala with wild, riveting 10-minute jams dominated by Beatles chords and ‘60s garage precision. With drum fills that sting like a club to the face, White Fence set the scene as a force to be reckoned with, both for the audience and the headliners.
And so Ty and his band have much to prove in their follow-up. With tonight being promoted as an acoustic show – a performance of this summer’s stripped back album Sleeper – there’s much speculation on whether Ty’s guns will really fire. This was a man who had made a name for himself as the Thor’s hammer of rampant, psychedelic guitar wizardry, a sorcerer who channels drumbeats direct from the fiery pits of hell, an invigorator of classic garage who applies nought but the force of Zeus. After such mesmerising performances as last year’s plugged-in and fuzzed-out UK showboats, could he find a match in these obsolete and pathetic wooden toys? Yes, yes he could.
Because while a true ‘60s acoustic record might have been like a tender hug, Ty Segall’s is a beastly slap with the occasional purple nurple. And performing these tracks live before us now, it feels like we’re being beaten up. Sleeper is played out in order by these four seated magicians and we’re taken into a black hole of howling bliss. Smoke pours out across the crowd, whistling solos sweep forwards like hurricane winds, and Ty even switches over for a monstrous drum solo in The Man Man to the tumultuous cheers of the crowd. This is hardly acoustic, but we’re not going to argue with the hordes of crowdsurfing lunatics that pour over our heads. “Keep that man up I said!” roars the frontman, and we obey.
It all ends with a handful of Ty classics – Caesar and Girlfriend – before drawing to a truly emphatic close with a cover of Love’s Live and Let Live, and it truly is a step beyond. We’ll never doubt the power of the ‘acoustic’ again.
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Words: James Balmont
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