Ty Segall at The Majestic | 3.5.16

Andrew Becker

March 21, 2016

It was rather cold for showgoers as they waited at the Majestic for doors to open. The cafe could not contain excited fans and attendees would be instead saving their heat to fill the large theater cove. Tonight’s performance would need all the room to hold pit-ready fans.

Probably slipping past many viewers under another moniker, surprise CFM is Charles Moothart. Charles F*cking Moothart that is — or maybe just his initials. The Frequent collaborator and member of Fuzz opened the Majestic. Charles only stopped to mumble thanks before continuing on packing heavy guitars.The sound of the San Francisco scene and In The Red Records never really peeled off of the performance, but his solo work really surprised and melted people’s faces off, especially the riffs and saturated keys in “Lunar Heroine”. With two songs left in their set, CFM opened up the pit and was a precursor for the rowdy night.

The night started with baby cries, face curdling shenanigans, Segall contorting the baby mask, slobbering the stage and puffing out on the forehead. Hands on the mask and venting his antics without the usual guitar or drums, Segall truly took on the Sloppo persona. Ty Segall and the Muggers meant that he was without instruments, but not without the same energy. The performance really drew fans onto the stage — quite literally — constantly making an ebb and flow between performers and attendees. Segall even had a small umbilical cord tug-of-war with the audience under the impression that we’re all in this fight wrestling for a spot, but no, no, he’s the real ringleader.

Throughout the Emotional Mugger set things were highly theatrical. Frontman Ty Segall would lie close to the crowd eating up the attention before retreating to the stage’s transitioning fuzz and flashing lights. The Muggers would stand in accordance to Ty and set just the right amount of free form instrumentation to hinge on his frantic antics. Every song had its cues from a glance, but it set up an enthralling rhythm that didn’t deviate from the album’s formula. It was the purest deliverance of the weirdness that was Emotional Mugger.

Ty Segall shed the baby mask persona for his familiar face with “Thank God for Sinners” to start off the Twins/Manipulator mix of fan favorites. The crowd was all for it, joining in chorus with stage diving and crowd surfing. In the greatest timing for stage banter, right after a stage diving fan had taken a faceplant fall, he seized the moment to jump into a small stage etiquette/PSA and “You’re the Doctor.” Segall could keep on his wits by taking every moment from the audience and shooting it back to them with his own twist. Giggles came out during “Feel” when an audience member totally ate it. You could really feel that Segall was off kilter and that that was his element.

The Muggers, off their Emotional Muggers’ role, didn’t shy from their own share of shenanigans. Cory Hanson, on keys and guitar, handed his cord to fans to add in their own flair of guitar sounds during the encore. The supergroup really felt more alive with the freedom to feel out these new interpretations of older Ty Segall songs.

Live Ty Segall leaves his yelling voice and energy imprinted in your mind better than any studio album. Manipulator and Twins got a massive do over that makes you crave his live transformation and obsess the overhaul of FOUR GUITARS that made some serious work on Segall’s more polished Manipulator. Sonically and atmospherically, the presence of Ty Segall and the Muggers pushes material to be loaded in your mind, fills you with high-octane sensation and sets you up for an addictive relationship with Emotional Mugger.

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