UNKLE
Brixton Academy
01/04/2011

“I feel this has given me the most incredible and wonderful thing I have ever been given, and also, the worst. It’s a mixed bag…I’ve had my whole soul undermined by it – on the one hand. On the other hand, in one sense, my experience has been about finding joy” – the monologue punctuating the dreamy ‘Psyence Fiction’ descant perfectly encapsulates the way The Fly feels about UNKLE’s rescheduled Brixton show tonight. A staggeringly high level of performance, yes, but by ‘Safe in Mind’, the outfit’s swansong, we are troubled by just one question. “Why has it taken us so long to see these trip rock wizards?”

The classical chimes of ‘Chemistry’ thunder as battle lines are drawn early on in the opening numbers, with The Duke Spirit’s Leila Moss taking us from ‘War Stories’ into ‘Mayday’. ‘Natural Selection’, from the latest LP, lifts both tempo and mood with tales of undiscovered love before UNKLE’s reputation as audio-visual pioneers is cemented by a piercing lightshow of daybreak shades and grand projections. Ian Brown’s sketchy image belting out ‘Reign’ draws a mighty cheer from the crowd, before Josh Homme (‘Restless’) and Nick Cave (‘Money and Run’) later grace the big screen with more recent offerings.

‘Where Did the Night Fall’ provides the evening’s real highlight, whilst ‘Oblivion’ and ‘The Runaway’ are filthy frolics embodied by a gyrating James Lavelle, his bassist moustachioed, Bronson style and a pogoing keyboardist. ‘Ever Rest’ then calms the atmosphere with a tender dedication to session drummer Graham Fox. But that’s not to say it isn’t knocked out with the same feverishness as every other track in a set that proves catching UNKLE live was most definitely worth the wait.

Dean Samways