Mogwai at Latitude review: Not an easy listen but worth it

Cult act Mogwai closed the BBC Music stage on Saturday night with a blazing set of swirling guitars and mind-bending prog-rock that had the crowd in raptures.

Scots Mogwai burst on to the scene in the mid 1990s gaining acclaim because they sounded like nothing else around at the time.

Their debut 'Mogwai Young Team' and follow-up 'Come on Die Young' landed amid the fall-out from Britpop with most new acts desperately trying to ape the laddish bluster of the Gallagher brothers or the mockney wink-wink, nod-nod of Blur.

Instead Mogwai dropped a slice of prog-rock with barely any lyrics and consistently tricky subject matter. This was post-rock 'n' roll and proud.

At first they were seen as something of a novelty by the British music press but the intervening years – nine albums later and a clutch of impressive soundtracks for television and movies – and this Latitude performance prove the exact opposite.

The crowd at Henham Park wrapped themselves in Mogwai's soundscapes – as much electronica as guitar-led these days – swaying, dancing and generally losing it to hits old and new.

Mogwai are not an easy listen. But put the effort in, as this Latitude crowd did, and the rewards are vast.