Owing to their rather unconventional, experimental sound, Mercury Rev are a band who have never quite appealed to the masses. However, since their conception over twenty years, they have developed a cult following of fans, ensnared by their strangely beguiling charm and subversive element.
Watching them perform is almost akin to experiencing a phantasmagorical dreamscape, as a flurry of magical sounds and images speed past your senses you are lifted to the world of Mercury Rev; a dark, esoteric reverie.

There was a sense of subdued anticipation emanating from the crowd at Shepherd’s Bush Empire. First up were current favourites, Howling Bells. The perfectly immaculate Juanita Stein sidled up onto stage as the (largely male) audience watched with delight. For such a diminutive character, she really can belt out a tune. Her smoky vocals and boundless energy resonated throughout the room as she played gems from debut Howling Bells, including ‘Setting Sun’, ‘Low Happening’ and ‘Wishing Stone’, alongside latest single ‘Into The Chaos’.

Seductively winding himself around his microphone, Jonathan Donohue appeared on stage in a puff of smoke. Despite an older, (largely male) demographic, enthusiasm was still rife as the audience stood transfixed by Donohue’s mesmerising, sphinx-like persona. I had the pleasure of sampling newer tracks and re-living teenage memories through some older classics, which I couldn’t help but mumble along to (I felt it wasn’t appropriate to sing along at the top of my lungs, it was Mercury Rev, after all). Saving the best two ‘til last, the band finished with ‘Goddess on a hiway’, and ‘Opus 40’, taken from (arguably) their best album to date, Deserter’s Songs. The crowd not only left happy, but almost with a renewed sense of sparkle.

Rating: 8/10

By April Welsh

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