Why? @ Central Methodist Hall, 10.10.12

Hot on the heels of their latest release Mumps, Etc., kooky alt-hip-hoppers Why? stopped for a night in the centre of Manchester to engage with the rabble (as always happens at Why? gigs) in one big long glorious sing-along.

Let me just say, Central Methodist Hall has to be one of the strangest venues I've visited. Nestled right in the centre of Manchester it's a bizarre mix of musty office corridors and that faded creaking sadness that you find in most church halls. Down one of the corridors to the toilets there's a giant MDF crucifix and the stage is tiny. Yet, for some reason, modestly successful and popular band Why? is playing tonight... Yeah I don't understand it either. Nevermind.

The support was a four piece rap act called Young Fathers. They seemed a bit like the kind of vaguely inoffensive hip hop Blue Peter might put on if it's feeling daring with the censors. Frankly, they weren't great but the poor sound from the speakers made it worse.

Opening with the first song from their new album Mumps, Etc., Why? frontman Yoni Wolf swaggered around the stage throwing down his wordplays whilst the band bounced along joyfully behind him. The bulk of the setlist was from Mumps with the odd classic from older albums Alopecia and Elephant Eyelash thrown in. The biggest cheers were for the famous tracks ‘The Hollows’ and ‘The Vowels Pt.2’ but Yoni and the band held each song together pretty well. Their main foe wasn't each other, nor the song choice, but the venue sound.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the gig. The highlight was... everything. Seriously, every song, even the ones I would have expected to not work so well live, were all incredibly enjoyable. The decision to go for mostly new material and only a few call-backs to the fan favourites was a ballsy one but it worked. The interplay between the heavier and more serious tones of Mumps with the unashamed bombast of Alopecia worked incredibly well in changing the pace enough to always keep it fresh. As an added bonus Yoni’s ridiculous dance moves always raised a big cheer from the laughing crowd.

To see Why? again is always a treat and always fun. But the sound let them down a fair bit making some songs feel lacking when they could have really exploded. Of course, this isn't the band's fault, but sadly Yoni was a ladies man when, with the right sound, he could have been a landmine. (This terrible joke only makes sense if you listen to 'The Vowels pt.2'. Seriously though, it’s an awesome song.)

Words & images: Alex Adams

Pineapple Folk & One Inch Badge present: WHY? @ Deaf Institute, Friday 19th March, 2010

The hip hop/indie hybrid is one that intuition says might not necessarily work, but Yoni Wolf’s energetic showmanship could lead the way for pretty well any unlikely genre-mash. His appeal is almost idolatry to the sell out swarm of awkward music geeks crammed into the Deaf Institute’s delightfully decorated upstairs venue.

Josiah Wolf is first up though, failing to imitate the same stage presence as his brother, but providing a mellow solo acoustic start.

Berlin’s five-piece I Might Be Wrong boast a wider selection of instruments and lead chanteuse Lisa von Billerbeck helps to exude the same sullen, downtrodden indie-electro-pop allure as the likes of Au Revoir Simone and Metric. Flick over to the organ setting on your keyboard and you’re halfway there. The other half unfortunately loses its way a little, as songs begin to sound samey and they become submerged beneath the beats-led nature of their soundscapes. That isn’t to say the performance is bad; just lessened by comparison with what follows.

WHY?, still performing as the line-up swelled by two a couple of years ago, kick off with ‘Song of the Sad Assassin’, an effective introduction notable for the fashionably late entrance by Yoni Wolf and his intermittent frenzies of karate. Wolf gains some local kudos by sporting his Lamb t-shirt, although after the early flurry of tracks, and consequent sing-a-longs, from 2008 album Alopecia, he couldn’t be any more of a star in the eyes of those watching so intently. ‘Good Friday’, ‘The Vowels Pt 2’ and ‘The Fall of Mr Fifths’ from the aforementioned album are well received, as Wolf junior’s vocoded echoes are given a healthy usage.


“Welcome to Manchest-uh,” is the heckled reply to the Wolfs’ anecdote of near-murder that evening, as part of an odd break between songs. Josiah, manning the percussion and relegated to backing vocals for the main event, bafflingly brings up his earlier stint in the limelight, seemingly to gauge a reaction. My advice is to stick to the rhythm section, as he does on ‘A Sky for Shoeing Horses Under’ with the delicate xylophone intro, but his backseat is confirmed when eyes switch back to Yoni; conducting the crowd with his claws.

There’s time for some tracks from latest album Eskimo Snow. ‘This Blackest Purse’ is performed more pensively; less animated than the set’s norm, which is later powered home zestfully in a “Fuck You!” jointly exclaimed with the crowd during ‘The Hollows’; typical of the pied-piper effect that Yoni radiates.

Words: Ian Pennington
Picture, top: Nelesh Dhand