As vocalist Szjerdene Mulcare calls him the “man on bass and buttons”, Simon Green with a white electric guitar, carefully tapping away at his synthesizer in a pool of light, was something quite heavenly. Both old and young, the crowd buzzed with anticipation, yet a subtle rowdiness came from others. Opening with his title track, Bonobo teased the crowd even more with the delicate notes of ‘Migration’. With  such a powerful song, I was expecting a unified sway in the crowd. However, I was met with rowdy men jumping up and down. But I have to say that this actually became very fun for the absolute zingers that are ‘Bambro Koya Ganda’ and ‘Cirrus’. The sound system needs to be congratulated for those two tunes; way better than on my tinny earphones.

Bonobo is a very clever man. His 12-piece band, including brass instruments, gives electronic music another dimension. All of them placed in front of bold, hypnotic visuals, moving seamlessly in time with the beat; it was entrancing to say the least. Conversations amongst the groups around us continued during Green’s slower tunes, which became quite tedious. Luckily this didn’t stop Szjerdene Mulcare’s voice soaring through the room. Taking over on vocals, Mulcare brought a complementing soulful vibe to old favourites such as ‘First Fires’ whilst elegantly dancing on her own.

By the end of the gig, the atmosphere had a festival feel to it. Ending with the explosive ‘Kerala’, the whole room was dancing, chanting many slurred renditions of ‘yeyeyeye’. The love for Bonobo was real with a feel-good vibe in the admittedly over-crammed crowd, although, for some, only for his upbeat tracks.

To put it plainly, I hate when people chat through the slower songs. And I also like space for shapes.

Louise Gilligan

(Image: Max Mad Mix)