Gogol Bordello

This review begins with an apology. The Fly – well, this particular Fly – apologises for being late for a gig; so late it’s questionable whether it was worth writing this review. So, Sorry.

The Fly gets to the Oxford Academy early. Twenty to nine, in fact. Surely that’s early enough to catch some of the support act (Skindred, since you ask) and a full Gogol Bordello set? For some reason, though, thereʼs a very sweaty-looking Gogol Bordello-like band already on stage. (There’s no mistaking the moustachioed, lycra-clad frontman Eugene Hutz.)

Just to be clear, this is at twenty to nine. In the evening. In Oxford.

We catch the last twenty minutes of the set before Eugene Hutz thanks the crowd and the band heads off-stage. Gogol Bordello are famed for playing for over two hours. We’ve hardly finished paying for our beer...

What we do see, however, makes us wish we’d got here earlier. The band produces an incredible energy on stage, and this is mirrored in the crowd. Even though it’s only just after tea-time, the crowd’s had plenty of time to warm up, and the gorgeous ‘Start Wearing Purple’ and ‘American Wedding’ round off what must have been a great set. Fortunately, there’s an encore. Eugene comes onstage alone for ‘Alcohol’, the other band members joining as the song builds. It’s followed by a lengthy gipsy-punk fug that gets louder and dirtier, until suddenly, there’s a big bang, and then silence. Gogol Bordello literally blow the entire soundsystem in the Oxford Academy. Just to be clear, this is at twenty past nine, etc.

After much onstage confusion, the engineers find some amps that work, and Eugene and his bassist plug in for a lovely busked ending. So like we said, sorry. But at least we didn’t break the Oxford Academy, eh?