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home » festivals » Rock Ness » Rock Ness 2010
DJs dominate with 'bangers' at Rock NessRock Ness 2010 reviewThursday 17th June 2010 The second day was meant to really be about two things. To a lesser extent is was England's first World Cup game, which saw a huge number of USA flags being worn, and definitely creating a great atmosphere, but also about two very rare performances from both Leftfield, and Aphex Twin.
Bringing together some of the most influential electronic artists in recent years, Busy P, head of the Ed Banger record label, and former Daft Punk manager, teams up with DJ Mehdi, Xavier de Rosnay of Justice as well as Philippe Zdar of Cassius; a real all star collective of DJs. Unsurprisingly, their set was a mammoth one, playing for a total of 4 hours, and there wasn't a minute of it where I wasn't entertained. Taking the audience almost on a trip, starting off with some minimal electro and techno bass songs in the first hour, before building up to playing the 'bangers', with songs by Justice and Daft Punk seeing the place go wild. Although seemingly a case of too many DJs, this certainly wasn't the case, with the four of them knowing exactly what to play and when to play to create a great festival headline set. Having done for this many years, the experience the duo have gained definitely shone through in their set, knowing exactly what a festival audience need to hear to get them in the party mood, and with a fantastic visual backdrop as well, the 2manydjs set was a definite highlight, and a great warm-up for their full band set closing the festival. However, before them on the main stage was Plan B, the former grime rapper from London, now taking a soul edge to his music, seemingly taking a similar route to that of Amy Winehouse. With him and his arriving on stage in sharp suits, and a new polished sound, the whole thing seems to be all so rehearsed, and his new song style really sounds like the weak soul music that Winehouse made popular only a few years ago. This wasn't the case for Hamburg born DJ Boys Noize however, who, as he played his 90 minute set, would not stop dancing a long and allowing himself to really get into the atmosphere. Bringing together a mix of minimal electro, combined with bigger electro 'bangers', a sound he played a big part in making only a few years ago, and with the audience streaming to get into the tent, his late afternoon set definitely proved popular. With songs such as 'Bangkok' by Toris, and a whole host of songs from his own label's acts such as DIM all going do very well, his set was brought all the right things together, and before the likes of 2manydjs and Club 75 showed that Boys Noize is still a force with the very best. However, the most exciting performance of the day as Aphex Twin, who, having rarely made any live appearances in a long time, had a criminally small number of people watching him, with many choosing the football over his incredible live set. Starting off his a blaze of light and distorted computerized guitars, Richard James then launched into his brand of off the beat minimal electronica, and with a more than surreal visual show behind him, everything was in place for a typically moving, and even abnormal, performance, that was definitely an experience. With songs such as the popular 'Windowlicker' gaining the biggest cheer, it becomes clear as to why he doesn’t take his Aphex Twin show out live too often, and that reason is because every time he does, it's a really special experience.  review by Anthony Hetherington photos by Chris Mathews
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