Live Review: Mark Lanegan Band, Mike Noga

The room is filled with eager punters as Mike Noga and his band emerge on stage. The former Drones drummer owns the mic, switching from acoustic to electric guitar occasionally. He wears black jeans and a black blazer and quips, "We're only a few blocks from my house; I'm going to get drunk tonight!" His drummer is stage right (the usual back middle spot engulfed by Mark Lanegan's drum kit) and his bassist is stage left. This massive gap between the two surprisingly doesn't influence things, the rhythm section is tight and the bassist is a machine.

The alternative-rock outfit play songs from the new album KING, an album that follows the narrative of a man "Jack" driven mad as a result of a romantic struggle with "Mary". In between songs Noga gives us a summary into the next chapter of the Jack and Mary journey. Poetically he finishes the set with the last song from KING, "This is how Jack and Mary finishes," says Noga.

It's a tight squeeze to move around the room now, punters are jammed together in this sold out show. The curtains draw and there is a modest applause and cheers as Mark Lanegan beelines straight for the mic. He slides into his usual onstage position, one hand firmly gripped around the mic and one hand around the middle of the mic stand; this hasn't changed in over two decades and doesn't change during the set. One punter astutely points out, "If he was a fossil, that's the position he'd be in, that's how they'd find him!"

He opens with Harvest Home the first song on his latest album Phantom Radio. Lanegan's raspy baritone is powerful and rich — it's what we all came for. His set builds up gradually starting with slow blues-soaked tracks and moves into heavier, distorted rock sounds. The alt-rock quintet is tight, the guitarist wails and the drummer hits hard. The synths on Floor Of The Ocean move things into post-punk electronica and we cheer and groove along. They finish with a three-song encore and the guitarist shreds on the blues-driven I Am The Wolf.

Then things are heightened for the last two songs with electronic synths, faster drums and heavier riffs. The reverb on the bass is so powerful we can feel the intense vibration. The crowd dances and one punter yells, "Fuck yeah, fucking oath!" Festival vibes spreads through the dancefloor, knowing too that this is a Splendour In The Grass sideshow we can only imagine how these songs were received in the open-air party atmosphere. Lanegan croaks, "Thank you very much," and we giggle at the harshness and rarity of his spoken voice. No thank you, the pleasure was ours.