This year’s Vivid lineup is teeming with fantastic talent, but they’ll all have their work cut out for them to follow the one-two punch of genre-defining UK icons we’ve seen so far in The Cure and now Underworld.
Kicking off the 2019 proceedings, The Cure’s five-night residency playing the acclaimed Disintegration in full set a high bar in many ways, from the super-engaged crowd, to the sublime live sound that’s the hallmark of the Opera House’s biggest room. But hell if Underworld didn’t come out of the gates to give their fellow 60-year-olds a run for their money.
While the gig was technically seated, right from the opening beats, not a soul dared stay off their feet for this one. Here’s why.
In a live setting, Underworld put many newer electronic acts to shame
Electronic acts sometimes struggle to translate to the live stage – especially a large seated venue like the Sydney Opera House. A lone producer hunched over their desk can only do so much, especially those whose biggest hits centre around a topline vocal from an absent singer. It can’t be overstated, then, how much frontman Karl Hyde adds to Underworld’s energy live.
See, Underworld began as a funk band rather than an ‘electronic duo’, and it was in large part that energy that helped them connect their idiosyncratic ’90s rave choons with a wider international audience when ‘Born Slippy .NUXX’ propelled them to global acclaim off the back of Trainspotting. It’s that same energy that helps their live set overcome the limitations that come with being stuck behind a mixer.
Seriously, at 60 years old, Karl Hyde looks… well, 50-something, we suppose, but with the relentless enthusiasm and banter of a raver many decades his junior. Meanwhile, his co-conspirator Smith for the most part just gets on with the business of playing, looking more like the buttoned-down weekday alter-ego of Hyde’s flailing weekend warrior, but together they make a great pair. Clearly, as they’ve been playing together in various guises since 1979.
Love Pierce Brothers?
Get the latest Pierce Brothers news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
We’re not saying every aspiring producer needs to rush out and find a frontman to preach non sequiturs over their beats, but you know what – it wouldn’t be the worst idea either.
There’s no replacement for lasers
The tendency of a lot of electronic gigs these days is to bring a heaping of custom visuals to the table, and forego the traditional strobe. For plenty of acts, this is a perfect fit (and, for fans who suffer at the hands of flashing lights, a very welcome trend). But sometimes, you really just long for a proper, old-school light show.
Where visuals can only shift around on their flat screen, a proper light show leaps out from the stage, washing over you and making you a part of the set whether you like it or not. And, as lasers and strobes worked in tandem to bombard the crowd in very era-appropriate fashion, we were taken back to a simpler – but no less effective – time.
Plus, there’s just nothing like the smell of a smoke machine cranked up to 11, y’know?
Obviously, they’re far more than ‘Born Slippy’
Sure, they held onto their trump card until the final moments of the set, and it did make for a glorious finish (except for the couple who for some reason ducked out to grab a drink moments before it began, only to filter back to their seats immediately after the set was done – horrible timing).
But Underworld’s set really just drove home what fans already know, and what the band felt when they originally consigned it to b-side status: ‘Born Slippy .NUXX’ isn’t even their best track, and certainly not the one that slaps hardest in a live setting.
What took the bickies? Our nod goes to the mid-set peak of ‘Listen To Their No’ working into the undeniable ‘King Of Snake’ as green lasers pierced the ceiling. But with the setlist shifting on each of the four nights depending on the band’s mood, each fan will find their own moment of bliss.
Make sure you stick around for the encore, too .
Underworld play the final set of their four-show residency tonight at the Sydney Opera House – head to the Vivid Sydney website to snap up some of the last remaining tickets.
