Leftfield leave fans (almost completely) satisfied

Perth International Art Festival’s ‘Chevron Gardens’ has a freshly relocated and rather interesting set-up at Elizabeth Quay.

From an audience’s perspective (ie: sitting/standing, looking at the main stage), you see a row of towering corporate-branded buildings to your left, and sky-high sculptures peppering the quay to your left (in fact, that’s pretty much all that peppers the quay on a permanent basis so far).

Put indie electronic outfit Leftfield on the stage and the juxtaposition appears even more bizarre.

Tuesday night’s concert by Leftfield, as part of PIAF’s live sessions program, proved a huge hit for fans – most of these falling between the ages of 35 and 45, who grew up clubbing in the ’90s, dancing hands-in-the-air to the wicked electro-strained likes of ‘Open Up’ and ‘Release The Pressure’.

For a band who formed back in 1989 and have been at it for close to three decades, Leftfield are a fairly energetic lot.

The band started their show subtly enough, a trio of instrumental tracks kicking off their set, accompanied only by silhouetted players on stage tinkering at their keyboards and drumkit, backed by a montage of minimalist black-and-white visuals.

As soon as a vocal sample appeared, the crowd was applauding largely. It ought to have been a hint to these electro-meisters that their followers simply love Leftfield tunes when the beats are hard, the synths are trippy, and, yes, when there are vocals layered atop of these.

But rather than play some of their better-known, vocal-laden tracks (like the aforementioned ‘Open Up’ and their ever-so-brilliant ‘Original’), the band continued on a predominantly instrumental trip.

When samples suddenly came into play again, like on the hard-hitting ‘Afrika Shox’, again the applause and wolf-whistles were rapturous.

Also garnering great appreciation were the couple of cameo singers who appeared on stage to deliver live vocals – again, strong hints to the band that music and vocal is what we love best.

When all is said and done, Leftfield left a pretty good impression behind. Social commentary online the day after proved this band still has its high contingency of avid fans. And that’s saying something in an age when pop fluff and naff rap rule the upper-end of the charts.

It’s very good news, then, that key member Neil Barnes will be presenting a special DJ set at Chevron Gardens this Friday night from 10.30pm.  Antonino Tati

Tickets to see Neil Barnes of Leftfield DJ set are $32.50 to $35 and available through www.perthfestival.com.au.