Sunday 13/02/05 Soulwax @ Academy 2, Liverpool

The scene is set - Hot Chip have played a glorious bleep happy frenzy of a support and the last pulse of throbbing techno has ripped through the PA. Belgium’s finest swagger on stage (naturally) in black attire to the rumbling thump of single ‘Any Minute Now’…

 

The atmosphere inside the old Stanley Theatre is electric, with some punters at the front moshing and some reaching for the lasers. The Soulwax charm relies heavily on the juxtaposition of the dance and rock styles they favour but on more than one occasion they slip up being too far one way or the other. It is obviously a lot harder for them to find the balance with a band than it is for them with turntables and at times you’re left longing for a ‘Too Many DJs’ style soundclash. Recent single ‘E Talking’ doesn’t quite have the momentum it does on record and sounds a little wet. Having said that, things do pick up towards the end of the gig as (the song) ‘Too Many DJs’ strikes up lifting the crowd to unite as one.  “Something’s got to geeeeee-yeeeve” yelps Steven, and by crikey we all believe him.

 

The highlight of the show though was first encore ‘Teachers’ - Yes you read that right, the Daft Punk classic, and for the portion of the crowd who actually know what they’re playing this is a brilliant twist. “Dr Dre is in the house!” Steven barks through a pitch shifter as the band bang and clatter on synths and whatever seems to come to hand…

 

All in all Soulwax are fantastic but their constant switching from hard rock to hard breakbeats is lost on nearly everyone except the die hard fans. This isn’t their fault though and should they come back round these parts I suggest you buy a ticket…But then again maybe it’s the E talking…