D//E Live Report: Mogwai at Floyd, Athens

For an archetypal post rock band, Mogwai are remarkably tireless. There aren’t many from the genre’s relatively early days who are still standing strong, with a career so substantial it’s lasted so many years. Their new album The Bad Fire is excellent. As expected, their current live shows are built around their latest record, but the material they have at their disposal is so vast and of such high quality that the band could easily hold the stage for hours using only their standout tracks.

The Bad Fire is a beautiful continuation of a thirty-plus-year trip, and Mogwai are undisputed post rock pioneers. To their credit, the setlist they chose covered major moments from this long trajectory without leaving anyone disappointed. Again to their credit, the performances found the band in prime form. Mogwai were spine-tingling.

Summer could possibly be the first Mogwai composition ever written. It has been known that the 1995 Deadcat Motorbike demos, Stuart Braithwaite’s previous band, also include a track titled Summer. It's a beloved piece of music which, in this particular rendition, felt reborn.

Masters of dynamic shifts and outbursts, moving between gentle/melodic and heavy tones, the band had many such moments in their set. Helicon 1 was absolutely explosive; on 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong they were deeply moving; on Remurdered they seemed like a band that wish to step slightly out of character while still maintaining their emotional weight; and We’re No Here was another hefty moment that didn’t go unnoticed.

In the encore, they fed the audience once more through contrasts, with Ritchie Sacramento showcasing the band’s ability to shine even through more digestible compositional moments—one of their best tracks in recent years. The finale came with Mogwai Fear Satan, which rightly remains the signature piece of the Scottish pioneers, and never grows old.

Ten Rapid, Young Team, Come On Die Young, Rock Action, Mr. Beast, Hardcore Will Never Die, but You Will, Rave Tapes, As the Love Continues—all of Mogwai’s epics were represented alongside the new album in a fantastic live set that was, to say the least, unforgettable.

Event Date: October 9th, 2025

Live photos by Destroy//Exist

ZR