At 35, Ty Segall is garage rock legend. He has released dozens of albums, is the driving force behind his own bands and plays as member in various other projects. He has been active since 2008 and shows no signs of slowing down. Henry Rollins himself once said: Several weeks ago, I was over at Ty Segall’s place. I asked him how many albums he had coming out that week. Well, he’s releasing two-three per year, with his latest Hello, Hi available since July. The current tour in Europe had a date in Belgium, in OLT Rivierenhof Antwerp, where he performed with his current group The Freedom Band, which included Charlie Moothart on drums, Mikal Cronin on bass, Ben Boye on keyboards, and Emmett Kelly on guitar.
With no introduction or warning, Ty Segall showed up on stage with an acoustic guitar only and went directly into the first part of the setlist, to be joined a few moments later by Emmett Kelly. But make no mistake, even acoustic the set soaked in intensity, with its end dispersed into a fuzzy wall of noise giving ways to the brand new song Cement. Each song that followed melted into the intro of the next one, creating a cohesive mix mainly with songs from the albums Emotional Mugger – with brilliant performances of Whisper and Waxman, Freedom’s Goblin – with Funny Dog and Alta, Harmonizer and Hello, Hi. This transition was only relaxed a couple of times, to address a few thank you words to the crowd.
The performance was just a sample of the Ty Segall’s universe. The array of different styles and the amount of sub-genres he’s approaching is compelling, and live, you’re in for a special treat as Ty Segall’s notorious creativity doubles up in action.
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