The Chemical Brothers - 27th Jan Hordern Pavilion

In 1995 The Chemical Brothers released Exit Planet Dust the album that drove the final nail into the coffin of the already ailing grunge era and turned the musical community's attentions firmly toward electronica. Exit Planet Dust was a significant album for many as at that time electronica was widely considered as a shallow and soulless genre.

The emotional journey of Exit Planet Dust opened the minds of many previously adamant rockers inspiring them to begin exploring the possibilities of electronica. Thus the Chemical Brothers hold a special and almost nostalgic place in many peoples hearts making their gig feel almost like the gen x equivalent of a Neil Diamond concert.

The opening act, Mark Dynamix, greeted an almost empty Hordern Pavilion with a hard, technically solid but mostly uninspired set. The energy level of the crowd soared as soon as The Chemical Brothers took to the stage and the boys pulled no punches opening their set with the classic anthem "Hey Boy, Hey Girl". With such an extensive back catalogue of tracks the boys had no problems maintaining audience enthusiasm even with many suffering from the excesses of the previous day's Big Day Out festival.

With the big venue and sound system only complementing their style, the boys continued with "Music - Response, Come with us" and "Block Rockin Beats". Impressive political and psychedelic screen visuals and lasers enhanced the music and played an important part in immersing the audience in the total experience. Tracks from the new album such as "Galvanize", "Believe", "The Big Jump" and "Come Inside" were well received by the crowd. Of course, old favorites like "Leave Home, Out of Control", "Star Guitar" and the "Private Psychedelic Reel" have always been crowd pleasers.

Not only are the boys extremely technically competent but they are also experts at working the crowd, dropping in tracks like "The Golden Path" just when needed to tweak the audiences emotional level. The crowd was an exceptionally friendly, civil and considerate one and as the Hordern was at less than capacity there was plenty of room to dance and move around the venue.

The boys looked a little worse for wear from their Big Day Out touring but these two nerds still know how to rock a room.

Alex Yamakazi

Published at The Wax Conspiracy on Friday, February 4, 2005