Following Basement Jaxx, the following evening Leftield, another of the great electronica bands from the UK in the 90s and 00s, performed just down the road from Jaxx, this time at the “Live at the Gardens” festival, nestled next to the old observatory of the Botanical Gardens. Similar grumpy remarks about pricing structure and fencing off part of a public park (dammit, my public park) also apply here, albeit the capriciousness wasn’t quite as bad.
Spanning techno, trip-hop, progressive house, and dub, I readily admit to being a very long-term fan of Leftfield. Previously, I have reviewed them on Rocknerd, albeit some sixteen years ago, and so I feel fairly safe giving them a second bite (a little reference there to the cover of their first album, “Leftism”, from 1995). But unlike the maximalist and even vacuous hedonism of Basement Jaxx (very good in moderate amounts), the impressions once receives from Leftfield are more serious, more lasting, permanent even, and, ultimately, more beautiful. Leftfield are the music of passionate defiance from people who have nothing but each other. This is music that will be burnt into your soul for all eternity.
On this evening I caught some of the support act, specifically the DJ set by Paul Mac. It was loud, and the the distortion was heavy. One had to work at finding the right place to hear it properly, which was a bit of a disappointment given their reputation. This however, thankfully, was not a prelude for what was come. Somehow, and perhaps it is due to the genius of sound engineers, Leftfield’s concert was both louder and clearer, right from the truly thunderous “Intro” which is typical for their live concerts.
Annoyingly, the concert was very short for the headline act. Yes, there had been two DJ sets beforehand but, as the reaction of the crowd was abundantly clear, that was not the reason that they had turned up. A mere 12 tracks were performed, including the relatively short “Intro”, and almost half of them were from their first album (and lacking “Original” at that!). Now, “Leftism” is a truly great album, no doubt (indeed, often included among various lists of “The Greatest Albums of All Time”). But the others have done quite well, too, with “Rhythm and Stealth” notably reaching #1 in the UK Albums Chart; what I would have given to hear “Swords” and “Chant of a Poor Man” on the night.
Of course, what was performed was performed extremely well; “Universal Everything” brought people to movement with its magnificent tempo, and the instant recognition of “Inspection (Check One)” really brought the crowd to a crescendo, only to be maintained through “Afrika Shox”; it would have been extraordinary if “Afro-Left” was performed after this, but alas Djum Djum was not with us this evening.
A personal highlight for me was the oddly placed “Release the Pressure” later in the set; remember what I said about music that is burnt into your soul? It is thirty years ago that I found myself sitting in a St Kilda flat to hear the beautiful opening words of that first track on their first album. For the evening, his was the beginning of the end; Leftfield’s short set concluded with a mighty succession of well-known, well-regarded, punchy material; “Release the Pressure”, the ever-famous “Open Up” (thankfully minus ex-punk John Lydon), “Space Shanty”, and concluding with a lengthy rendition of “Phat Planet” – a grand exit, to be sure, but leaving a crowded desperately wanting more.
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