Leftfield

Homelands Ireland 2000 review

Compared to the other major live bands (Primal Scream/Ian Brown), Leftfield - playing as a four-piece, complete with live drummer - delivered the goods. Whilst the tent wasn't packed (Carl Cox & Nick Warren were both playing elsewhere) there was still a large crowd to see Leftfield's first live performace this century. They weren't disappointed!

Whilst most numbers were instantly recognisable and closely followed the album tracks (Inpection/Check One, Phat Planet, Chant of a Poor Man) much of the set consisted of slamming big beat reworkings of the album tracks. Indeed, they pretty much stuck to the big thumping tracks from Rythmn and Stealth such as Double Flash, Dub Gussett and 6/8 War with that wonderful Leftfield dub echo much in evidence.

Leftfield have had the near impossible task of following up the legendary Leftism album and, in my humble opinion, didn't quite hit the mark with Rhythm and Stealth, but the live set blended the two perfectly and sent me home wanting to give R&S another try. They resisted playing Space Shanty but I'm sure that I heard more than a few loops lifted from the track in one of the numbers. Phat Planet worked beautifully, maybe it was the Guinness drums that struck a particular chord with the Irish crowd.

Overall, I expected to be disappointed by Leftfield and, whilst they haven't fully recaptured the crown from 4/5 years ago, I think we should all be grateful that they are back on the scene and will be assaulting our eardrums throughout the Summer. If you get the chance to see them at other festivals (Homelands England/Scotland, Glastonbury), take it. Nice one!