News
160810
3 clubsland’s fiercest live shows!
Amazing visuals, but it's still all about the music!
1. The Chemical Brothers, The Roundhouse, London
The show in question is from electronic veterans The Chemical Brothers, who are mid-way through a four-date London run to showcase their seventh studio album “Further”. Their faithful fan-base, young and old, scruffy and smart, are out in force to see what Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons still have to offer. The album has been well protected by their label, and so tonight will be its first ever airing.
It’s not long before the eager crowd get what they're here for. As Tom and Ed appear onstage amid synths, drum machines and assorted kit, they look like they're operating a spaceship, and what follows pretty much takes all present into orbit.
It’s a tender opening (for The Chems, anyway) as the vocal, melancholy electronica on album opener “Snow” builds, accompanied by images of swimmers on the screen behind them. But this is merely the calm before the storm as five minutes later they forge into “Escape Velocity”, a fusion of brutal beats, rising crescendos and revolving melodies, and one of the standout tracks from their absorbing new LP.
The epic keys and filtered bass on “Another World”, surely a future single, work in tandem with the green animation behind – it’s an intense experience. If that’s not enough then once the new stuff is out the way then there's a forty minute mash up of their best bits, with all present and correct including “Hey Boy, Hey Girl”, “Out Of Control”, “Saturate”, “Believe” before “Chemical Beats” rounds things off.
They may be getting on a bit, but with an arresting new album, a fresh take on the live show and a passion for their trade (Tom dances around the stage geeing up the crowd), it’s clear there's a lot further to go on The Chemical Brothers' journey.
2. Fenech-Soler, Rockness, Inverness
Looking like they’ve raided their mums' wardrobes and sounding like they've swiped all the best stuff from their dads' record collections, Fenech-Soler prove they've got the live element nailed. Looking somewhere between comfortable and resigned in white jeans and sequinned tops, they don't quite carry off the Scissor Sisters' style of androgynous sexuality they seem to be aiming for. But by combining the sound of the 80s with lush, modern electro-pop, they create dancefloor anthems to equal those of Cut Copy, Phoenix or Delphic. At times during this low-key but well received set, it’s possible to hear the stark electronic sleaze of Yazoo. The crooning disco romance of Spandau Ballet and the strutting pop rush of Duran Duran also comes through during the set And Anchored by Ben Duffy's note perfect holler and over-excited dancing, though, they filter these influences into perfect, generation-busting dancefloor.
3. Buraka Som Sistema, IMS, Ibiza
You often hear how the Ibiza authorities are trying to quash the island's hedonism, introducing new laws, curfews and crushing any kind of outdoor music event the second it starts getting exciting. Yet on this warm Friday night, at the conference kicking off the 2010 Ibiza season, the powers that be have permitted a huge tear-up on the island's most sacred ground, D'AltVila, a world heritage site no less. Already IMS guests like Pete Tong, Skream, Mark Ronson and Sasha have DJed on the main stage of the fortress-like venue. Closing the packed show with Portuguese finesse, Buraka Som Sistema blast out kuduro beats spliced with Daft Punk and Neneh Cherry. Live drums, percussion, whistles, three shouty MCs and a couple of Macs make a lot of noise, and the result is more than just the sum of its parts. Large numbers of the crowd are dancing in ways they never knew they could. While it was Sasha that may have warmed the crowd up, it’s the Buraka bunch who have brought them to the boil.
