Heralding from the house scene of the UK in the 1990s, Basement Jaxx became of the largest names with a music style that would cross traditional house and UK garage electronica, with a string of successful high-tempo anthem singles including “Red Alert”, “Rendez-Vu”, “”Romeo”, “Where’s Your Head At?” (included ihe “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” soundtrack), and “Do Your Thing”. Despite not bringing out an album in twelve years (following seven in 15 years), they obviously are sufficiently well known to fit on the billing of the Melbourne Arts Centre to perform at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl on March 7 as part of an Australia and New Zealand tour (NZ being Christchurch in this case), all part of a succession of shows around the world for the first time in ten years.
Now, I will readily raise a grognard objection here; sitting on the lawn on an autumn’s night in a public park to see a concert at an arena that is either free or very low-cost is a bit off-putting, especially when the standard are $129.90 tickets and the “Early Entry Front Pit Experience” start at $281.65. I understand, all too well, the economics of “the cost disease of the service sector” (ironically, first studied with regard to musicians in the mid-1960s) and the economics of “rock star markets”. Sure, I get that the promoters are pitching to people in their forties and fifties with disposable income and they want to relive the nostalgia of their crazy younger days. For prices like that one would expect a thoroughly otherworldly show, otherwise you’ll just drive away and disappoint anyone who doesn’t have grey hairs.
So it must be said, they did put a very good show; there was plenty of performers and truly wonderful costumes, certainly among some of the best that have been presented at any live show, all along with the expected levels of light and colour, as the musical duo were safely ensconced in their own pit. The played a succession of favourites for the adoring fans, an impressive 21 tracks and a three track encore. Especially notable, at least to this reviewer, included the opening (and wonderfully snide) “Good Luck”, “Do Your Thing”, “Red Alert”, “Romeo” (a personal favourite), and “Where’s Your Head At”, with the encore starting with “Take Me Back to Your House” whose driving banjo reminds me of some weird blue-grass techno from the 90s; Rednex’s “Cotton Eye Joe” was just awful, this is not.
There are of course many positive points to the night. The sound quality is always a risk with a band like this, and it didn’t always sound quite a polished as it should; more than a couple of times “Red Alert” made me grimace a lot. The performers certainly pushed themselves and by the end of the main set, they were clearly at the point of exhaustion, which also means that they appeared to be monkeying around (there’s a little joke there) just a bit too much. Most of the fans were absolutely adoring of their show; this one takes a more sober assessment.
Setlist: Good Luck / Bingo Bango / Jump n’ Shout / Raindrops / Do Your Thing / Natural Thing / Fly Life / Red Alert / Express Yourself / Rhapsody Intro / Escape / Romeo / Techno Pumper & Zadok the Priest (George Frideric Handel cover) / Rendez-Vu / Life Saver / Never Say Never / Oh My Gosh / Jus 1 Kiss / Cish Cash / Berghain (ROSALÍA, Björk & Yves Tumor cover) / Where’s Your Head At
Encore: Take Me Back to Your House / Mermaid of Salinas / Bambina
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