Categories
Live Reviews

Soulwax – Live

Part of the Weekend Never Dies
30th April Bristol Academy

There’s a recurring sensation I’ve been feeling when attending shows, you know, when this obscene compound of muscle, flesh and bone that we call a body is absolutely riddled with excitement. Hope saturated with joyful anxiety flowing through your veins, leaving you in a giddy rush and a strange new accent that puts off the opposite sex more than piss stained briefs, unless of course they’re a quirky one and that’s their ‘thing‘. And this is all before I’ve walked into the fucking doors. Those overwhelming doors, plagued with bouncers who confiscate your pistachio nuts that you were saving for the train home (enraged, I was), that somehow only enhance this unmatched excitement of seeing musicians that your ears have given unhesitating consent to on countless occasions. The night is going to be perfect, right?

The recurring sensation that follows the above recurring sensation, is that terribly awkward waiting period during a gobshite support act that does nothing but savage your mood, so when the main act finally graces the stage, you can’t enjoy it because you’re too busy focussing on the crowd being rubbish or something. All because of those bastard support acts, who are, let’s face it, nearly always crap. This is where we turn to those Belgians for help again, you know, like we do when we want nice chocolates or a quaint little investigator who, despite his brilliance, is impossible to be taken seriously because of that hilarious moustache. In this case, it is Soulwax who are our heroes for the evening who, being so wonderfully Belgian, have nonchalantly made the greatest decision in the world and have supported themselves at a gig for their own premier. Brilliant. No buzz-killers here then (eww, did I really just say that? Saying that, did I really just follow it up with ‘eww’? Have a word) Then, naturally as ever, providing a happy go lucky audience with more varied rock fuelled techno nonsense than you can shake a flaccid member at. And there’s always someone who has to try and shake a flaccid member at it isn’t there? Needless to say, the Dewaele brothers showed this conch who’s the daddy, quite literally. No, really.

Opening with a reverse of structure in the deliciously bass grooved nite version of E-Talking, with the motif ‘part of the weekend, never dies‘ being repeated until it reaches the meaningful level of holy scripture – broad, vague, and un-fucking-forgettable. The night continues in similar sweaty bopping fashion with a great selection from the ‘Most Of The Remixes‘ collection, including a breathtaking, heart pounding mix of Robot Rock into the equally speaker vibrating Phantom Pt. II. Twinnings Infusions haven’t got shit on Soulwax’s guitar fused electronica. And this is coming from someone who really, really likes herbal tea. Seriously, T’Wax are light years ahead, and are showing no sign of slowing. ‘Any Minute Now‘ classics like ‘Miserable Girl’ (surely Whitey’s primary inspiration?) and the irreplaceable ‘NY Excuse‘ (Album version! Album version!) were jammed to bring this nightmarishly exciting set to its final crescendo. Riton (a brilliant DJ who kept the crowd bumping in between sets with some great body-jerking anthems like Daft Punk’s ‘Rock N Roll’ and M.I.A.’s ‘XR2’) managed to tempt a large portion of the crowd away from the traditional interlude piss break and just hold it in for another wiggle on the dancefloor before those Dewaeles returned to the stage.

If you’ve ever seen a 2manydjs set before, you should know what to expect here. A consistently rapturous flow of musical delight backed with a sublime choice of records to suit anyone’s boogie-ing (how are you meant to spell that? Realllllly) requirements. From Aphex Twin to Sebastian Bach, Mr Oizo to Crookers, Zombie Nation to MGMT, no one wanted it to end. Thankfully, this tour seems to be going on for some sort of era, so if you get the chance to go, don’t think about hesitating; I can guarantee that it will be one of the most fun nights out you’ve ever had. If only Soulwax could host every party.

Joe Moynihan