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Review: Squid, Bristol Beacon – ‘It’s hard to know where to look’
Squid may have relocated to London, but Bristol holds them close to its heart as the grandiose main hall of the Beacon welcomes them to play their biggest headline show in our city to date.
Squid are three albums deep now, with latest Cowards being more exploratory, weird and wild than ever. I wanted to see it performed live to try and understand the minute idiosyncrasies and details harder to pick out on record.
In support, Squid had an eccentric ace up their sleeve, Martha Sky Murphy who performs on their 2021 single Narrator.
is needed now More than ever
Martha Skye Murphy’s solo piano-led performance filled the stage and enchanted the crowd
If you didn’t know what you were walking into it was pretty apparent straight away. The sound of footsteps fills the hall of hushed cinema-esque silence as Martha arrives, pale and dressed all in black.
Martha’s performance is packed with guttural, vitriolic vulnerability as she envelopes herself deeply into her lyrics. She can reach any high note you like; she grabs and keeps my intense concentration as she caresses the microphone with one breath and then attacks with the next.
Her piano-led solo performance fills the stage, with a couple of Squid members joining to accompany her along the way. A support slot not for the fainthearted, but where does being fainthearted get you?
Intense, expressive and enjoyable, Martha’s debut album UM is out June 14. I’m all ears.
Squid opened the set with tracks from their newest album, which has been critically acclaimed on release
WE ARE FRIENDS the backdrop reads as fans applaud, with one barrier-clinging fan shouting “Welcome home!!” as Squid enter the stage and singer/drummer Ollie Judge references the band’s Bristol roots.
Crispy Skin from Cowards is tonight’s set opener and instantly the crazy energy of Squid is lit. There’s so much going on onstage that it’s hard to know where to look.
The new material makes sense live, with Ollie’s prickly vocals blending in amongst a bed of glitching synths and rhythmic basslines.
A Squid show is all about that ‘crazy energy’ and typically ends with a fan dancing happily with a squid hat on their head
There’s a euphoric feeling to songs that sound complex and tumultuous on record, making them more accessible for my ears and enabling the complexity of their sound to be more of an uplifting, danceable experience live.
The set is packed with jazzy segues, then the band erupts into old fan favourite G.S.K which melts into the rocking fuzz of Swing (In a Dream).
A Squid show is about quality not quantity: the nine-song set finishes and, with an impending encore, it’s clear the crowd are ready for more.
The band comes back out to an interlude that takes longer to build than the Beacon did itself.
Martha Sky Murphy takes centre stage, whipping her body, writhing on the floor and screaming over the crazy-crescendo of sweltering intensity as the volume grows and grows into a ten minute version of Narrator which flies into our ears without wiping its feet.
A Squid show would be incomplete without a wonky mosh pit set to a strange time signature, a person wearing a squid on their head happily bopping away.
All images: Matt Barnes
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