27 May 2026 – The Glasshouse Theatre QPAC, Brisbane – words and pictures by Bec Harbour
Mogwai is a Scottish post-rock band who create amazing sonic landscapes with primarily instrumental pieces. Their Brisbane date, as part of Open Season, took place in the newly minted Glasshouse Theatre at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) so I was excited to see what this new venue was like.
Brisbane’s weather has been to say the least soggy, and between this and my GPS trying to send me across the Victoria Bridge (which has been closed to traffic for some time) had me concerned that I was going to get stuck in the Brisbane peak hour traffic and miss the show. But I made it and time to spare.
Myself and other media representatives got to have a quick tour of the Glasshouse Theatre before patrons were let in – it’s compact and has the same type of wrap around mezzanines that the Great Hall has – it looks wonderful.
Out in the foyer area, people were greeting each other, buying drinks and merch and chatting amongst themselves until around 7.45pm when ushers began herding the punters in. People needed to be seated because when the house lights went down and the stage lights came on they were almost navy blue.
Mogwai came on with absolutely no fanfare and picked up their instruments and began playing to a very polite smattering of applause and muted cheers. Mogwai are Stuart Braithwaite (guitars and vocals), Dominic Aitchison (bass), Barry Burns (synthesizer, guitar, piano and vocals) and Martin Bulloch (drums). They have been around since the mid-90’s gathering a following around the world that are passionate about them.
Mogwai – Glasshouse Theatre – photos by Bec Harbour
Kicking off the set with the more atmospheric ‘God Gets You Back’ and ‘Hi Chaos’, the stage bathed in alternating blue and red lights, you could have heard a pin drop on those carpeted floors. Mogwai’s music washes over you…until it doesn’t. They are well known for using distortion and effects to create their music and you can be jarred out of the atmosphere they create as easily as you are sucked into it.
You will note there is no support in this review, that is because tonight it is all about Mogwai. And for a seated show where the crowd might get restless, I think this is a good thing. But as I note this, we move on further into the set with ‘Summer’, ‘Pale Vegan Hip Pain’ and ‘Take Me Somewhere Nice’.
Mogwai – Glasshouse Theatre – photos by Bec Harbour
The crowd is anything but restless, there are very few phones out recording like at most shows and after each song ends, the applause is polite and restrained – it’s all very civilised. We got a brief hello a few songs in from Braithwaite (I think – the lighting was very dark, except when it wasn’t). This show was certainly a mood that I appreciated for this band.
We moved on through ‘Ritchie Sacramento’, Hunted By A Freak’ and ‘How To Be A Werewolf’ and a few punters up the back began to show their appreciation – the band acknowledged this and appeared amused at these outbursts of spontaneity from punters who were showing their appreciation. It was almost like the crowd loosened up after this as the applause became much more vigorous after each song.
Mogwai – Glasshouse Theatre – photos by Bec Harbour
They finished off the set with ‘Auto Rock’, ‘Fanzine Made Of Flesh’, ‘We’re No Here’ and ‘Lion Rumpus’ and the lights dimmed and they went off stage with a brief wave. Usually when there is no encore, the house lights will come up and it signals to the crowd that there is no more, but the lights stayed dim while stage techs scurried around to sort out the feedback from perhaps an errantly placed guitar that could just as easily be intentional.
Mogwai returned to the stage and gave us two more, ‘Friend Of The Night’ and ‘Like Herod’. Mogwai could have easily given us a best of set tonight, but they gave us a carefully planned sonic journey that began gently and built to a crescendo. The audience were in the box seat not knowing where they would be going, but appreciating the journey and the landmarks along the way.
