When you pare it down, it’s quite incredible how consistently successful Simon Green, aka Bonobo, has been. With each new release he’s enhanced and expanded his sound, each new album marking a new high point. Even by that standard, Migrations is still such a triumph. One of the best things about it is the way that through artwork, videos and all the other promotional material, this ethereal, haunting aesthetic has been created, an aesthetic which has now been brought to the live stage.
Interestingly enough, the last time I saw Bonobo he was playing Brixton Academy, when he toured The North Borders in 2013. There were some audio-visual components then, but nothing on the same scale as the set up he brought to the table on Sunday evening.
Even before you get to that, the layout was impressive. Included in the live band were seasoned jazz pianist Johnny Tomlinson, vocalist Szjerdene Mulcare and drummer Jack Baker, all of them having worked with Green in the past. Hearing Mulcare’s take on the vocals for tracks like ‘First Fires’ and ‘No Reason’ (originally sung by Grey Reverend and Chet Faker, respectively) was spellbinding.
The AV set up was built around 3 screens which hung behind the band like monoliths, and throughout the show they beamed the same kind of imagery present on the album’s cover and in particular the video for ‘Break Apart’ – sweeping, almost alien landscapes populated with strange glowing shapes.
In order to create this, Green went to LA to develop the live show with David Wexler, aka Strangeloop. Wexler has worked with the likes of Pharrell Williams and Flume, and he developed the ‘Layer3’ design which powers Flying Lotus’s famous ‘Cube’ stage setup. Seeing all unfold on stage felt like walking into Green’s mind.
The show was mainly made up of material from Migration, only 2 of the album’s 12 tracks weren’t performed live, and those that were blended seamlessly with the tracks taken from Black Sands and The North Borders. Band members faded in and out of focus, with Green remaining the one, bass wielding constant throughout. Green performs with a certain careful modesty, you almost wouldn’t know that he was the band leader, but for the rare moments when he steps forward to talk to the audience.
Even given that it was a Sunday night, the audience were most certainly in party mode. I was sitting in the upper circle and I could see the crowd pulsating to every note, beat, rise and fall. The expertly chosen support act – prodigious jazz outfit Yussef Kamaal – got them warmed up nicely and by midway through Bonobo’s set they were completely entranced. Now and again I looked behind to see a smattering of people rising from their seats to dance, despite an exhausted looking staffer patrolling the rows and asking them to stop.
Green makes relaxing, melancholic music. At home, it’s nice to fall asleep to, but on a live stage, it takes on a whole new form. It feels massive, and energising. The basis of the tracks is used as a framework to build something new. As ‘Cirrus’ came to a close, I heard someone just behind me say “fuck” with the ‘u’ elongated about as far as his breath would allow. I echoed the sentiment.
The main setlist closed out with Kerala, the new album’s leading track, and after the standard issue encore tease, the band re-emerged and played two old standards from the previous album – ‘Pieces’ and ‘Know You’. They then left the breathless South London audience to shuffle back out into the streets, and try to fit their brains back together in time for Monday morning.
Bonobo is, quite simply, one of the greatest live acts of this generation. Producing music electronically always makes the approach to live shows challenging. Some artists don’t do enough, some overdo it, but Green recognises how to turn his music from a digital composition into a live spectacle, but that’s always been the case, now he’s gone beyond that. The Migration show almost felt like theatre, it was weaving a narrative. I look forward to the next chapter.
Oh, also, here’s a picture of Green hanging out with Jon Hopkins and Tycho’s Scott Hansen, taken not long after the show. I’m including it because it’s beautiful.
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