Well, this is a long-time coming, but in the last couple of months we’ve attended some stunning performances both in terms of the music content (admittedly highly subjective), and the spectacle itself.
First, re-formed (at least temporarily) Kruder and Dorfmeister played at the Best Buy Theater (formerly Nikon Theater) just off of Times Square (Yuk!). The music was vintage K&D with a couple of MC’s doing the vocals and the crowd, now a bit older and not ‘ecstasy’d’ was still there in force and moving, albeit a bit less frantically than in the 90’s. The digital light show was a knockout though, and this fan could see all kinds of applications for it in a variety of venues.
Next up at the Beacon Theater were Thievary Corporation and Massive Attack. What can we say about these acts? TC keeps coming up with new grooves and stays fresh with a variety of vocal performers, styles and sounds that catch you by surprise, but they stay true to a groove and their ongoing promotion of a ‘one- world’ sound. You’ve got to love a crowd that is pretty much black and white; says a great deal about the connection that their music is making with people – all people.
Massive Attack reinvents itself on each record they release (too infrequently for this listener), and anyone looking for the old trip-hop sound might be disappointed but this band never ceases to be innovative, staying at the edge of things, pushing new directions and maintaining and promoting their left political leanings in their music and on the stage. The relentless messaging added another dimension to the sound, which has edged towards a seriousness over the past three records that seems to reinforce the gravity of the onslaught of their LED displays of facts and statistics focusing on the various debacles that the world is presently experiencing, running the gamut from famine to aids to economic failure. The technology to facilitate this was stunning and quite seamless. The experience was intense, mesmerizing and dare I say: enlightening.
I’m all for it – but there was a decisive difference in the feel-good dub reggae-tinged dance grooves of Thievary, versus the deep, dark serious political posturing of Massive Attack. I can listen to MA all day – but I’m a serious guy. It was definitely not a show for the light-hearted.