Last night’s Chemical Brothers gig was immense, and I’m still buzzing this morning. It was hot, sweaty, loud, fun, and everything else you want from going to see live music.
I realised after it had finished that neither of the two guys had said a single word during the entire gig, instead just concentrating on pounding out the music and keeping everyone bouncing. It was an odd juxtaposition to the Flight of the Conchords on Tuesday, where everything was based around words and lyrics.
Nevertheless, the music spoke for itself, and the whole place was jumping. The first half of the show seemed to be all material from their new album, Further, which isn’t out yet here. According to Wikipedia, Further is a collaboration with visual artists, which probably explains the almost story-esque videos that accompanied that half of the show.
For me, the new songs seemed to blend into each other somewhat, but this is probably because they are so new to my ears. The crowd seemed to be really into it when the beats became a bit more pounding and quicker, but in all I think the new stuff was well received.
There was a very brief pause, and then the music came storming back with a run-through of some of their biggest songs from previous albums.
Hey Boy Hey Girl was an obvious crowd-pleaser, but I really enjoyed the mix from Out of Control into Setting Sun. In fact, a good chunk of the second half of the set was almost a medley, with brief snippets of tracking blending into and out of one another. Off the top of my head, the only songs which got a pretty much full play were Hey Boy, Believe and one other track whose name escapes me right now (Exit Planet Dust, maybe?).
As a sidenote, last night reminded me that Believe is an absolutely immense tune. It’s aggressive, relentless, and you can’t help but jump up and down. What a song.
Just reading through the Chemical Brothers’ discography, it’s amazing how many tracks they didn’t play. There was no room for Galvanize, It Began in Afrika, Let Forever Be, Star Guitar, nor The Test and Do It Again. Instead, the choices seemed to be centred around the biggest beats and aggressive noise, getting everyone pumped and keeping them at that level.
As you can see in this photo, the stage set is pretty much just an enclave of gadgetry and decks, with a huge screen behind them. To be honest, it’s not about the stage presence of the two guys (arrowed); it’s about the music that they’re putting out, and in that they excel.
The Chemical Brothers are doing three more nights in London this weekend, and I’d highly recommend trying to get hold of a ticket if you can.
