Goddess On A Hiway

MERCURY REV – Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark In Belgium

Posted on by JL

25 March 2025

My guess is that this last Sunday it was 17th time I saw one of my
all-time fav bands, on record and on stage. It happened in Kortrijk,
Belgium.

MERCURY REV formed in
1989 in Buffalo New York.

Their first three LPs (Yerself Is Steam – 1991 / Boces – 1993 / See You
On The Other Side – 1995) were dope-infused, psych-driven records.

From there on the two remaining, original key members, devotional
vocalist and co-songwritter Jonathan Donahue, who played for two
years with The Flaming Lips, and musical orchestrator and sublime
guitarist Grasshopper (born Sean Thomas Mackowiak) created their
renowned trancelike aura, with another six albums.

Last year’s Born Horses is the most recent one.

Last Sunday was a vintage Rev experience, another spiritual happening. Of course,
all very familiar to my eyes and ears with Donahue as the visual attraction who regularly conducted the band with grand gestures and Grasshopper as the voltaic motor of the band’s sonic rhapsody.

Their symphonic trademark sound is what defines them for a long time now. Also, their bone-chilling, psychedelic outros, lasting often longer than the songs themselves, were omnipresent. But it didn’t work all the time on this occasion and threatened to suck the flow out of the performance, now and then.

Goddess On A Hiway

Then again when magical golden oldies like Tonight It Shows, Holes, Opus 40 and,
of course Goddess On A Hiway (all from their 1998 magnum opus ‘Deserter’s Songs’
filled the cozy venue, shivers ran down your spine.

Add Tides Of The Moon and the usual, magistral closer The Dark Is Rising (both from
All Is Dream their 2nd best album ever, from 2001) and you have the blistering half
of the full set. Weirdly enough, with Ancient Love we got only one track of the new LP.

The Dark Is Rising – Live in Belgium, 2002

Although not as balanced as I’m used to, Mercury Rev offered enough orchestral
manoeuvres in the dark, once again, to relive in your head for a couple of days.

Instagram – All Albums

All photos by Turn Up The Volume

Spiritual Psychedelia In Motion – Great MERCURY REV Gig In A Belgian Park On A Hot Summer Night

Posted on by JL

How great to see – for the 15th time – one of my all-time bands,
on record and on stage play again. MERCURY REV formed in 1989
in Buffalo New York.

Their first three LPs (Yerself Is Steam – 1991 / Boces – 1993 / See You
On The Other Side – 1995) were dope-infused psych rock-out records.

With goosebumps vocalist and co-songwritter Jonathan Donahue
(who
also played for 2 years with fairytale eccentrics The Flaming Lips) and musical
orchestrator Grasshopper (born Sean Thomas Mackowiak) as the beating heart
of the Rev, another 5 albums followed, with The Light In You as the most recent
one, released in 2015. Stream on Spotify.

Last night – 23 June – was another psychedelic experience, another spiritual happening
in a beautiful park in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium. Can’t ask for more on a hot summer night, a holiday atmosphere, and all spectators with a smile on their faces.

A perfect time and place to see/hear/enjoy Rev again playing symphonic pearls such as Holes, Tonite It Shows, Goddess On A Hiway and The Dark Is Rising, but also magnific covers of Flaming Lips and Peter Gabriel songs.

As spellbinding as 21 years ago

Frontman Jonathan Donahue thanked, in a heart-touching way, the audience for showing up. As humble as ever. Thank you Jonathan, thank you Grasshopper, thank you Mercury Rev.

PICTURE THIS


Stairway to Mercury Rev


Flowers for Grasshopper


Jonathan Donahue in love with the audience


Queen of Swans


Spiritual psychedelia in motion


Turn up the bass


God on a hiway


Hail hail Rev

MERCURY REV: Bio – Discography – Instagram

MERCURY REV Released Their Symphonic Magnum Opus ‘DESERTER’S SONGS’ 20 Years Ago…

Posted on by JL

Going back in sonic history looking for memorable albums…

28 September 2018

Band: MERCURY REV

Album: DESERTER’S SONGS – the band’s fourth album

Released: 29 September 1998 – 20 years ago

ALL MUSIC wrote back then: “Four albums in and ‘Mercury Rev’ remain as surprising and daring as ever, exchanging the volcanic noise and twisted sensibilities of earlier releases for ornate arrangements and ethereal strings, ‘Deserter’s Songs’ unlocks the beauty always hidden just below the band’s surface, its lush harmonics and soothing textures bathing in an almost unearthly light. Complete with its fractured instrumental interludes and odd effects, ‘Deserter’s Songs’ sounds like no other album, for that matter, it doesn’t even sound like Mercury Rev, yet there’s no mistaking the record’s brilliance for anyone else.” – Score: 4.5/5

TURN UP THE VOLUME! says: After hearing Rev‘s masterpiece Deserter’s Songs (thanks
to NME who voted it as their Album Of The Year in 1998) on repeat I discovered a totally other Rev than the chaotic group of the first LP’s. This felt immediately as an exceptional record. A symphonic phantasy from the magical start (Holes) to the playful end (Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp). A bit later, in January 1999 I saw Mercury Rev live for the very first time when they played an indoor festival in Antwerp, Belgium to promote Deserter’s Songs. Their captivating performance blew me away. It wasn’t a traditional concert, it was a spiritual and psychedelic happening. A starry-eyed trance-like event that left a lasting impression on my senses. I’ve seen them countless (about 20 shows if I remember well) times since, with their 2011 show at the Cirque Royal in Brussels as one of the most memorable and unforgettable ones, playing Deserter’s Songs in full. A once in a lifetime band.

The imperishable highlight…

The beauty in full…


.
MERCURY REV: Website – Facebook – Twitter – All Albums

Stunning Singles Turning 20 In 2018 – Here Are TURN UP THE VOLUME’S 10 Picks…

Posted on by JL

Going back in sonic history…

1998 – Twenty Years Ago
10 Big Singles to Remember…

.
1/ ‘Celebrity Skin’ by HOLE
Courtney Love‘s best shot…
Album: ‘Celebrity Skin’

2/ ‘Pure Morning’ by PLACEBO
“A friend in need’s a friend indeed / A friend with weed is better…”
Album: ‘Without You I’m Nothing’

3/ ‘A Film For The Future’ by IDLEWILD
Steamy Scottish eruption…
Album: ‘Hope Is Important’

4/ ‘I Think I’m Paranoid’ by GARBAGE
Who is this band?…
Album: Version 2.0

5/ ‘If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next’
by MANIC STREET PREACHERS
Anthemic splendour…
Album: ‘This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours’

6/ ‘Goddess On A Hiway’ by MERCURY REV
Epic magnificence…
Album: ‘Deserter’s Songs’

7/ ‘Teardrop’ by MASSIVE ATTACK
Elizabeth Fraser in another galaxy…
Album: ‘Mezzanine’

8/ ‘Battle Flag’ by LO-FIDELITY ALLSTARS
Big beats and a smoking swagger…
Album: ‘How To Operate With A Blown Mind’

9/ ‘Intergalactic’ by BEASTIE BOYS
Robotic hip hop craziness…
Album: ‘Hello Nasty’

10/ ‘The Rockafeller Skank’ by FATBOY SLIM
Dance floor classic…
Album: ‘You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby’