A couple of weeks ago (27/02/14) a couple of friends and I went to The Institute, Birmingham to see Bonobo. I definitely got more than I bargained for.
First up was Catching Flies with support.Who knew that just one man and a couple of decks could produce an opening set of this calibre? He absolutely killed it! The whole time just jamming; he did everything with such ease. The crowd was loving it - I especially liked the remix of Jill Scott's "Golden" that he slipped into the set which not many people seemed to notice. For some reason I was expecting Bonobo to stay in keeping with the one man dj theme but what he actually did was far better.
When Simon Green stepped on stage with a drummer, a guitarist, a pianist, a three-piece horns section and a strings section, I knew that this performance was going to be something else. Opening with "Sapphire" from the latest record The North Borders he eased the crowd in before bringing on Szjerdene and her silky vocals to belt out "Towers" and "Stay The Same" for us. When the opening strings for "Kiara" chimed in I was ecstatic. I knew that he was going to play it but I didn't think it'd be so early on. Being my favourite song from Black Sands I was loving every single second of this performance. The bass rising from to ground to our chests - yes.
They played through a few more of my favourites, occasionally switching up the band formation and Simon himself switching between bass guitar and the decks, before bring on Grey Reverend to guest on opening track "First Fires". I must admit, this performance was more subdued than emphatic in comparison to the song's studio recording but it hit the spot nonetheless. Then Szjerdene stepped on again for a live debut of "Get Thy Bearings", her beautiful voice soaring over the instruments. This definitely had everybody drooling for new material from Bonobo. After a mass dance party to "We Could Forever" and "Cirrus" things slowed down again before the encore. The band came back on to play "Pieces" and "El Toro" including a seductive sax solo and a mind bogglingly skillful drum solo.
All in all, it was just such a chilled show and a ridiculously fun night, the crowd was buzzing and the vibes were glorious. It's actually tempted me to go and see him again in London Alexandra Palace later this year, funds allowing. Bonobo... bravo.
Overall Rating - 8/10
Here are some pictures from the night:
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