UNKLE Live

I missed seeing UNKLE the last time they toured, and have had it rubbed in on many occasions that I missed a great show. Thankfully, opportunity in this case has knocked twice, and I managed to catch a break and see the most recent live ensemble on Wednesday 23rd January at Sydney’s Metro Theatre as one of the 2008 Big Day Out sideshows. I use ‘most recent’ with ironic immediacy, as one of the groups founding members , Richard File, parted ways with the group only weeks earlier.

If you were lucky enough to catch the Boiler Room set two days later at the Big Day Out, you would have noticed massive light screens, an incredible projection behind the band and a sound that lifted the roof off the airport hanger-style surrounds. The Metro show was a miniature version of this or, perhaps more succinctly, a concentrated version. A crowd had packed into the Metro like days of old, before the beers cost $6 each, and all were amped and ready to see what was in store. The Verve’s Urban Hymns album played loudly over the house PA, which brought back memories of Psyence Fiction, UNKLE’s first full-length offering that featured Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft.

The band took the stage, sans James Lavelle, for ‘Chemistry’, an instrumental introduction. James Lavelle then joined us and stepped to the mic for ‘Hold My Hand’, followed by ‘Restless’. A live version of 'Lonely Soul' from Psyence Fiction, with guest vocalist Gavin Clark, was met with roof-raising enthusiasm. ‘Reign’, from Never Never Land was definitely a crowd pleaser, and tracks like “We Follow the Light to the Lord” and “In A State” had many a toe tapping. These, along with an interspersion of tracks from the ensemble’s latest offering, War Stories, including crowd favourite “Burn My Shadow”, made it rather a ‘best of’ evening, that really was the best of.

I found James Lavelle to be somewhat striking in appearance – he was not at all what I had envisioned, yet possessed this great, charismatic energy that he used to boost the band, consisting of two guitarists, a bass player and a very-hidden drummer up in the left-hand corner. James pranced around behind his decks for much of the show, but his emergence as front man for a number of tracks was greeted with a great reaction from the crowd.

Throughout the show, I got the feeling that the UNKLE boys didn’t quite know how to take us Sydney-siders. They seemed to hold back a bit, as though not exactly sure how we would react. A packed out, shoulder-to-shoulder Metro crowd should have given them a bit of a hint, but it wasn’t until called back to the stage for an encore that they really grasped how appreciative we were. A stellar remixed rendition of “Rabbit In Your Headlights”, Thom Yorke’s contribution to Psyence Fiction, accompanied by the film clip playing on the screen behind the band, was met with a roar from the crowd, and the band lapped it up. The final track, “An Eye for an Eye” from Never, Never Land was delivered in a mesh of rhythm and cacophony that rivalled the roof-raising crowd at the Big Day Out two days later. The band were almost buoyant as they bounced around and really got into the music and the crowd, and it was frustrating that they waited until the final song to really let loose.

Overall, the show was an awesome display of the most undefinable music – at times heavy, with a strong electronic base, that left the massive crowd begging for more. And on a school night at that! For those who missed it, I guess I’ll have to rub it in now until they tour again. Sucks to be you.

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