I’ve never seen Brixton Academy so undersold. You could wander upstairs or downstairs at will, see the stage without having to crane your neck, even get to the bar! It was wonderful. But not so great for the band or the venue’s accountants, maybe. “Thanks for coming. It means the world to us,” said the UNKLE supremo, James Lavelle, a low-key leader who sang a couple of songs, but otherwise seemed to be a guest at his own rather diminished party.
Guests, for better or worse, have long been what UNKLE are about. The group launched by Lavelle in 1994 were key players in the trip-hop scene and stayed somewhere close to the forefront of developments at the interface between DJ/dance music and rock, thanks to a succession of collaborations with high-profile stars including DJ Shadow, Ian Brown and Josh Homme. They continue the tradition with an EP, Only the Lonely, released this week, featuring a fiery vocal by Nick Cave on Money and Run.
At Brixton, UNKLE played their heavy, psychedelic soundtracks with no lack of brio or flair. Visions of exploding stars drifted across the backdrop while strobes and spotlights flickered in increasingly manic patterns across the musicians and around the auditorium.
However, the big name contributors appeared only as ghostly images on the screen, as if they were phoning in their vocal parts from some distant galaxy, and it was left to a succession of lesser-known singers to perform in person — none of whom were introduced or made any announcements themselves. Liela Moss, of Duke Spirit, led the way with a spirited flourish through the percussive clatter of Mayday and a new song The Dog is Black, while ELLE J, a mysterious creature in a black veil and dress moulded her voice to the dark melodic contours of The Runaway and the final pummelling groove of In a State.
The problem with pinning so much on the power of the guest/celebrity cameo was that UNKLE themselves came across as a glorified backing band and, despite their undoubted skill as a musical collective, the presentation as a whole lacked a basic element of focus.