 |
| Pic: Maanik Chadda, James Blake |
Manchester Gorilla, UK
- 06/12/12
James Blake treated an
intimate Manchester crowd to intriguing new material and highlights
from his self-titled debut album.
The sell-out crowd saw
a steady, balanced set with moments of sadness and joy through
Blake's spine-tingling falsetto voice and majestic use of his synths
and keys.
He opened with
dubstep bass-heavy track Air And Lack Thereof with a slick, addictive snare drum beat.
The haunting repeated lyrics in I Never Learnt To Share work with the extremely distorted synths to combust in a mind-blowing explosion of musical ecstasy.
The haunting repeated lyrics in I Never Learnt To Share work with the extremely distorted synths to combust in a mind-blowing explosion of musical ecstasy.
Popular Feist cover,
Limit To Your Love, soon follows to put the audience in a head-nodding
state of contentment.
The beautiful
Lindisfarne duo gelled elegantly along with Blake's effortless
vocals, repeated drum beat and distorted guitar riff.
All senses are go when
a James Blake fan hears the opening notes to CMYK. The R&B dance
favourite samples the simple lyrics 'look I found her red coat' to
lift the crowd into a gentle dubstep sway.
Engaging new songs were
well received but they failed to challenge his past masterpieces.
The encore began with a
build up to a perfectly sustained garage-influenced dubstep mix.
The Londoner ended
confidently with strongest album track The Wilhelm Scream to provide
the ideal climax to a blissful evening.
Blake's warm-up act,
Lone, was pleasant, relaxing and distinctly average throughout.
Uplifting at times, Matt Cutler's repetitive blend of drum and bass,
90s new rave and 80s synths was suitable background music to prepare
for the real thing.
Although Blake may not
have met the incredibly high standards of his studio recordings live,
he has still proved that he can captivate an enchanted crowd on a
cold December night.
The set list is below:
Air And Lack Thereof
I Never Learnt To Share
Our Dog Comes Back
Limit To Your Love
Lindisfarne
Over-Come
CMYK
Everyday I Ran Around The Park
(We're Going) To The Pub
Klavierwerke
Retro Clothes Shop
The Wilhelm Scream
The set list is below:
Air And Lack Thereof
I Never Learnt To Share
Our Dog Comes Back
Limit To Your Love
Lindisfarne
Over-Come
CMYK
Everyday I Ran Around The Park
(We're Going) To The Pub
Klavierwerke
Retro Clothes Shop
The Wilhelm Scream
