Review: M83 at Lowlands Festival 2021 – A Dramatic and Serious Return to their Beloved Psychedelic 80s Shoegaze

With raised phones, glittering heads run back into the Heineken. Because finally those four oh-so recognizable notes sound through the air, the time has come: the French band M83 starts world hit ‘Midnight City’. We had to wait a while, many had already given up hope. Just over an hour ago it was still packed. Ram full of people with the same idea: fold half for M83, hope that ‘Midnight City’ will be played within half an hour and then on to Charlotte de Witte. This is the show everyone secretly hoped for all along. Danceable indie synthpop, with a good dose of melancholy. And let that be just the type of show that the French clearly did not want to give.

M83, the band with a high ‘Oh yes, that’ element. Once started as a musical duo in the late 90s and continued through the years in various guises. But always with frontman Anthony Gonzalez at the core. Fast forward to 2011 where the band scores a huge world hit with ‘Midnight City’, a cinematic synthpop track that’s perfect for melancholic-looking-out-the-car-window-as-the-sun-is-almost-setting moments. It brought the Frenchman world fame in one fell swoop and a Grammy for the album Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming. A success that, in his own words, was secretly much too big for him. A few interesting, not always successful musical excursions followed and this year the ninth full-length, Fantasy, was released. To which the French cautiously dare to return to their beloved psychedelic 80s shoegaze. But then a little more dramatic and serious.

The French are taking that to the Heineken today. The band almost only plays tracks from the new album and they are strung together with elongated, synthy intermezzos. Tracks that are already grand and compelling in themselves, such as ‘Us and the Rest’, are set up extra bombastic and cover the largest part of the concert. It’s one of those shows that wants to be a lot and is therefore just too little. The over the top violin solo as a textbook example. What should have been a fine kind of wallowing melancholy tends towards melancholy. And when some danceable moments are scattered, the audience already seems to have one foot in the Alpha.

THE MOMENT
Well, then M83 really has to go for the axe. ‘Midnight City’ remains a crowd favourite, whether the band likes it or not.

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2023-08-20 10:24:45
#LL23 #M83 #success