Arab Strap – Button Factory – Live Review
by Killian Laher

Philophobia Undressed- Button Factory, Dublin – 27/10/23

A quick return to Dublin for Arab Strap after being here in summer 2022, but for a very different show, the last night of the 25th anniversary of Philophobia tour.  First up was support act Róis who appeared as a shrouded figure, playing clanging electronica while wailing like a banshee.  If it was reminiscent of anything, perhaps the darkest excesses of Haxan Cloak sprung to mind.  Gradually she shed the shroud and, despite a chesty cough, finished with a death chant from the Aran Islands.  Proceedings ended with doomy church bells, an unusual set to say the least.

Aidan Moffat’s voice is a whole lot different now to what it was in 1998, but the opening line of Packs of Three (“it was the biggest cock you’d ever seen”) still jolts the listener setting the tone for the evening.  A show consisting of a straight run through an album is strange in that you know what’s coming next throughout, however, Moffat still had to ask the audience what was next a number of times.

With Moffat and guitarist Malcolm Middleton standing at opposite sides of the stage, the duo was backed by a number of loops, sound effects and beats.  In this stripped-down setting, it showed what a fine, understated musician Middleton is, with some impressive guitar licks on Here We Go and later, a gnarly version of Afterwards.  Even though it was shorn of its outtro, New Birds still delivered a startling amount of tension.  Songs like One Day, After School and Piglet remind you how static and slow the album is at times, yet they pulled it off, Islands even featured Moffat playing harmonica. After finishing with The First Time You’re Unfaithful, the encore saw them turn up the tempo, with The Turning of Our Bones, Fable of the Urban Fox and The Shy Retirer getting the somewhat sparse crowd dancing.

Rumour is Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton, who hardly interacted all night, are working on another album.  Moffat tried to bill this as a goodbye to his former self but then said ‘fuck it, I haven’t changed that much’.  Thank fuck for that.