The Liminanas, French beat/ rock 'n' roll/ psyche garage combo formed by Lionel and Marie, hit Band ON The Wall on Wednesday night, expanded to a six piece band and full of everything you'd want from them- energy, long hair and beards, black jeans, high kicks, two chord songs, psychedelic freak outs and that eternally satisfying Mo Tucker ' drumbeat.
There's not much in the way of a 'Bonjour' or 'Salut' from the stage. They shuffle on, plug in and blast off. Surrounding the band is a three sided screen onto which projections flash and flicker- black and white films, strobes, bright red effects, graphics running from left to right that give the impression sometimes of being inside a manic psychedelic biscuit tin. Centre stage Marie (either standing at an electronic drum kit or sitting at a minimal wood and plastic one, no cymbals just floor toms and a snare) powers away, the metronomic engine room and focus. Lionel plays guitar, sometimes stamping on pedals that add a huge roar to the sound. Next to him is a short haired lead guitarist who struts and prowls the front of the stage, high kicking, throwing shapes, playing the guitar behind his head, a Franco- Hendrix/ Wilco Johnson. A female bassist with a voluminous Afro and a long haired and bearded synth and keys player add depth and oomph and on the left there's a skinny man in a Western hat who handles most of the vocals while adding guitar and tambourine. They're a tremendous line up, sometimes four guitars cooking up a late 60s freak beat/ Velvets stew.
Early on they throw in Prisoner Of Beauty (sung by Bobby Gillespie on this year's album Faded), a growly psyche- pop masterpiece and then slalom between Faded and tier previous albums. J'adore Le Monde sounds epic, an early peak. Shadow People and The Gift, both from 2018's Shadow People album, rock in a summer of 1969 way. Istanbul Is Sleepy is psyche heaven, two chords, distortion Le Velvet Underground.
The Liminanas build to a conclusion, the guitarist strutting more and more, the guitars louder, the motorik beat harder, the light show increasingly intense. A cover of The Cramps song TV Set nearly blows fuses, three guitarists hitting the jagged chords with precision timing. It's all waves and smiles as they depart after Je Rentrais Par Le Bois... BB (from the album they made with Laurent Garnier in 2021, De Pelicula), played super heavy and ultra freak beat.
They slot right back into their groove for the encore, finishing a three song set with a supercharged cover of Rocket USA, the two chord groove summoned and transported, a psyche- rock monolith- they could still be doing it now and we'd probably still be standing there, hypnotised by the sound and lights. Before that, there was El Beach, a massive amped up version, spoken word vocals, French beat poetry and 1966 guitars, one note piano, everyone shaking some action...
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