Basement Jaxx's Felix Buxton (right) acknowledges fans at the duo's concert at Christchurch's Te Pae convention centre. Photo: Supplied / Lucy Hammond
Review - "Don't let the walls cave in on you, we can live on, live on without you."
Basement Jaxx advised it more than 20 years ago, on one of their biggest hits. But there was ample space to live on for the Christchurch patrons that gathered on Thursday night, for what was a rip-roaring dancefloor programme.
Basement Jaxx was the latest major-billing veteran act to visit these shores in a handful of months; the Christchurch show their third stop on a four-show tiki tour of the country.
It followed visits from Groove Armada and Fatboy Slim during (what feels like) a post-Covid touring frenzy, although plans for another event along the eastern coastline of New Brighton were eventually scrapped in favour of the carpeted arena of the new Te Pae Convention Centre in the central city. In hindsight a shrewd move, considering the unseasonable cold snap that has hit the motu this week.
But with two sold out shows on this tour, the Christchurch crowd - albeit on a weeknight - felt light. Promoters were offering two-for-one deals earlier in the week. No walls caving in here.
That did not deter the ardent fans who converged on Te Pae.
Basement Jaxx deliver their set to the crowd at Christchurch's Te Pae convention centre. Photo: Supplied / Lucy Hammond
Warm-up sets from Beccie B and local house mainstay Dick 'Magik' Johnson were sound, the latter raising the temperature with Cajmere's early-90s house classic Brighter Days ("Uh / oh / I need").
The Brixton duo of Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe are arguably the most revered of the dance heavyweights that have landed here in recent months. The pair's brand of house has proven to be audaciously eclectic despite feeling poppy - a quality which has paved the way for the 21st century wave of contemporary club acts and pop maximalists; Turf where Disclosure could operate on one hand, and M.I.A. perhaps, on the other.
But with the Jaxx in DJ mode and without a live band, how do the pair as mere curators operate in 2023, nearly a decade since their last studio album?
Well, typically reluctant to play it safe.
Basement Jaxx did not retread O.G. versions of their biggest songs, weaving road-tested remixes throughout their 90-minute set. From what I could tell, they did not veer beyond their second album Rooty, and they brazenly cut the drums mid-set as Henry Mancini's Pink Panther theme played, moments later revealing itself as PAWSA's The Groovy Cat as the sample made way for a muscular house takeoff.
Basement Jaxx's Simon Ratcliffe (left) and Felix Buxton (right) did not retread O.G. versions of their biggest songs, weaving road-tested remixes throughout their 90-minute set. Photo: Supplied / Lucy Hammond
The pair have been doing it for 30 years and while they were never going to go out of their way to court the punters with clear-cut favourites, they had the crowd in their hands throughout.
The overhauled edits of their early anthems translated seamlessly. Their ragga-flung single Jump n' Shout from their 1999 debut Remedy appeared via Erik Hagleton's relentless remix. The pair could have hit rewind and on that track and the crowd would've held no grudges. And Where's Your Head At was offered up by way of a festival four-to-the-floor rework from fellow British pair Wh0, followed by a drum and bass overhaul from London producer 1991.
But these guys are undeniably pop tastemakers too.
The crowd at Basement Jaxx's concert at Christchurch's Te Pae convention centre. Photo: Supplied / Lucy Hammond
They hit the sweet spot with Massivedrum's cover of Kenny Dope's 1995 disco-house anthem The Bomb! as "these sounds fall into my mind" rung out over Te Pae. This was followed by a syrupy club rework of Whitney Houston's iconic I Wanna Dance with Somebody which was never going to fail.
For an artist that has offered so many angles into their work for listeners, it was a show which probably either defied or exceeded your expectations.
For me, it was exceptional.
