Review: Goldie, Colston Hall

Drum and bass has undergone many dramatic transformations and innovations through its lifespan and this tour by one of its main instigators is a clear demonstration of that.

Beatboxer Reeps One opens the night, before Goldie takes the stage with a quarter of The Heritage Orchestra. The evening shows how the genre can be presented and performed even if it isn’t always to the taste of some purists.

Reeps One is simply astounding – a flesh and blood drum and bass machine whose vocal gymnastics bring the actual feel and pound of old Metalheadz tracks to life. This is pulsating and impressive, a one-man band delivering the spirit and sound of upfront d’n’b from its roots.

From the roots to the orchestral depiction of the genre, junglist grime-master Goldie has come a long way on the Journeyman UK Tour. This is demonstrated perfectly as man with the golden teeth has the whole of his latest album, The Journeyman performed by a specially selected orchestra.

A quarter of an orchestra tonight maybe, but like those artists before him in different areas of music, he’s obviously come to a point where he wants his work depicted by that pinnacle format of musical ensembles. Sometimes this can backfire and seem pretentious, but tonight it manages to capture the ebb and flow of his material from the soulful to the more edgy stuff.

Not edgy enough for some admittedly, but still pretty damn edgy in bursts here and there. From the soulful opener Horizons with Terri Walker’s vocals, then Castaway and Mountains performed by the other singers for the night, Tyler Daly and Natalie Duncan respectively, to the stalking and atmospheric prowler Beachdrifter.

Saint Angel is the first really intense drum and bass track, with some ferocious double drum dynamics by the two sticksmen, powering the rhythms along at breakneck speed. The keyboard-driven soulful mood of Tomorrow’s Not Today mirrors the eclectic direction of the album, while Are You Going With Me, despite its jazzy guitar and marvellous drums, becomes a bit mired in West Coast dreaminess. For this Goldie gets his wooden shakers out but for the most part he is engrossed in rushing around the stage prompting and encouraging the musicians in presenting his sounds, his art, as best and as creatively and as passionately as they can.

The rapid straight-ahead drum and bass of I Adore You is followed by the final album track Redemption, which sees the genre morphing into Detroit techno. This is followed by the ever euphoric Inner City Life, an anthem for the style. We also heard the bass heavy shimmering classic Kemistry, written as a tribute to Goldie’s former partner and DJ who died in a car accident in 1999. They encore with Sense Of Rage from his genre defining debut album Timeless. In essence this was an interesting, sometimes beguiling, but ultimately decent, slab of orchestral d’n’b…

Photo: Elfyn Griffith