Grandaddy/Snowpony - Edinburgh Venue 22nd October

Grandaddy/Snowpony - Edinburgh Venue
The term 'Supergroup' is one prone to misuse, but for Snowpony, at least in 'indie' terms, it's apt, featuring as they do ex-members of Stereolab, My Bloody Valentine and Moonshake in their ranks. It's misleading then that the band if anything only sound like the latter of these 3 bands, and most like Moonshake did on their second album 'Dirty and Divine'.... But it is indeed the stomping rhythmical pound that distinguishes Snowpony from their indie-rock peers. Though the sound tonight is muddy to say the least, the overall feel lets you know they must be great on record, and songs like 'John Brown' ?? and "2 Can Keep a Secret' have quality stamped (stomped?) all over them.

Grandaddy must be one of the most un-rock'n'roll bands on the planet at the moment. Apart from their weird beards, they apologise for not being very comfortable headlining, and conequently having to play an extended set. Maybe it's this inexperience, or a refusal to indeed be rock'n'roll, that encourages them to play their hits early on - "AM180" and its companion, their cover of Pavement's "Here", plus the superb "Everything Beautiful is Far Away". Their one concession to the rock lifestyle is the liberal provision of greenery onstage, but on closer inspection it turns out to be shrubbery. This goes without comment though it must be to remind the band of the leafy environs of Smalltown USA. There's also another prop, a 'ghost' (ok, a sheet with eyeholes) which moves up and down on a pulley and is visible to the front 2 rows only. They dispose of other 'hit' "Summer Now Kids" well before the end, leaving them with no encore, not that they actually do one anyway, instead popping offstage for a few minutes to get their breath back, with the promise that they will return. So there's none of the usuall rock'n'roll histrionics of making the crowd work for an encore, and for that we love them even more.