Gig review: The Chemical Brothers
Your say: The Chemical Brothers live
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The Chemical BrothersWhere: Vector Arena, AucklandWhen: Thursday, February 28
Unless youre at an I.T. convention, two guys standing behindlaptops repeatedlyclicking mouse buttons and twiddling knobsshould not be this entertaining.
Sure, theres noarrogant axeman or a posturing lead singer, but The Chemical Brothers proved to be just as thrilling as any of the major rock bands that have graced Aucklands Vector Arena.
It helped that the British dance icons came complete with a mind-melting audio-visual show that turned Vector into something resembling an alien rave on Mars.
It also helped that theyve gathered so many hit songs over their 16-year career they dont need to play them all.
Yep, over a two-hour show to a two-thirds-full venue, Tom Rowlands (he resembled Shortland Streets Nick Harrisonpre-haircut)and Ed Simons (the burly one who dated Lily Allen) proved these brothers know how to work it out.
As the duo emerged on stage, sirens sounded and spotlights lit up the venue as quickfire opener Galvanise morphed into Hey Boy, Hey Girl, with green lasers scanningover the heads of the energetic crowd.
With the room filling withsmoke and sweat, anyone whod stumbled in off the street could have been forgiven for thinking theyd arrived at an encore performance of Jeff Waynes War of the Worlds.
It only got weirder, as creepy clown faces with bad teeth showed up during All Rights Reserved, surely sending anyone on a bad drug trip running in terror from the venue.
There were moments to dance to. There was time to sit back and take it all in. And - thanks to a few meandering pauses between the Brothers more recognisable tracks -it was possible to grab the glowstick from the guy next to you to jab in his eye to see how he liked it.
Sometimes it seemed like the Brothers were mixing it up a tad too much- a taster for The Golden Path proved to be just that, andOut Of Control didnt work without Bernard Sumners vocals.
Newer fans would have gone home disappointed they didnt hear current hitThe Salmon Dance.
Andwhen the bleeps got too bleepy and the visuals got too trippy, the sensory overload could make your head spin. Theres only so much repetitive jack-hammer thumping a pair of ears can take.
So the simple stuff proved to be the best - from the figures daggy dancing during Do It Again, to the snow flakes blowing in the breeze duringa surreal version ofThe Sunshine Underground.
And dirty old big beat hits likeLeave Home, Chemical Beatsand Block Rockin Beats proved to be a treat for fans who were there right from the start.
They may just beturning dials and pushing buttons up there,butno one can twiddle those knobsquite like The Chemical Brothers.
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Saturday, March 1st, 2008 at 8:28 pm under