The decision to host The Avalanches’ Since I Left You Block Party on the Northern Broadwalk of the Sydney Opera House was a clever one. The Opera House has experienced its fair share of noise complaints due to outdoor shows recently – from upset local residents who wanted the sound turned down to the Tame Impala punters who wanted it louder – but there were no such qualms on this side of the building.
What immediately lifted the mood upon arrival was the soothing yet upbeat sounds of Jonti, who launched into a set teeming with an array of swirling, colourful synths before a fitting backdrop of a beautiful sunset over the harbour. In between the hip hop stylings of the enigmatic DJ Jnett – who didn’t actually appear once during the whole night, leading to personal speculation that it was probably the sound guy mixing songs through his downloaded DJ app on his iPhone – Briggs erupted with his hard-hitting “bangers”. It was amusing to watch him leave the stage halfway through his set to make the crowd endure DJ Total Eclipse furiously scratching on the decks to a hip hop classic, only to ruin it by mixing it into a track that could only be described as a meme these days: DJ Snake’s ‘Turn Down For What’.
The misstep was pretty much forgotten when the legendary DJ Shadow arrived to the applause of the many fans who would have been there solely to see him. “Some of it you’ll know, some of it you won’t,” he said – and from Endtroducing… until now, Shadow dropped track after track that had the now very lively crowd utterly mesmerised.
Alongside the Hudson Mohawke remix of Shadow’s live staple ‘Midnight In A Perfect World’ to the ear-crushing hip hop anthem ‘Nobody Speak’, a real highlight was his visuals – this is Vivid, after all. The crowd was taken on journeys through rugged mountainsides that morphed into any kind of animal you could think of, and back to sped-up cityscapes that came to life as the set continued. Closing out with a brand new track that could have been mistaken for one of his own classic songs, DJ Shadow just about stole the show. A true hip hop legend absolutely in his element was always going to be tough to follow.
By now the Northern Broadwalk was packed, and one thing stuck out: this was a somewhat older crowd. The old ravers from the early noughties were out in full force to hear what has by now become a classic soundtrack to many of their lives – The Avalanches’ Since I Left You, which was advertised to be played in its entirety, start to finish.
Not only did this not occur, but the headliners launched into ‘Because I’m Me’, the opening track from comeback record Wildflower, to an odd reception from the confused crowd. The inclusion of Spank Rock and the baseball-bat-wielding Eliza Wolfgramm added the much-needed flair The Avalanches required to revisit some of the classics from Since I Left You, but there were audible groans when they dropped ‘Frankie Sinatra’ from the new record.
But not all was lost, and a surprise packet came when The Avalanches regained their rhythm for ‘Radio’. And at last, the two biggest gems of the show were the inevitable returns to The Avalanches’ signature psychotic experimentation on ‘Frontier Psychiatrist’ and ‘Since I Left You’, which left the crowd swaying from side to side in union, hungry for more.
Unfortunately, The Avalanches disappeared behind the curtain, and just like they did for 16 long years, left their fans waiting for an encore. Their legendary sample-based record didn’t quite translate live, but what The Avalanches lack in performance, they make up for in studio production and composition.
Since I Left You was really their masterpiece, and it’s sad to see it had to be this way – but The Avalanches’ Block Party only reinforced the fact that it takes more than studio chops to win the admiration of the masses.
The Avalanches’ Since I Left You Block Party took place at the Sydney Opera House on Saturday May 27. Photo by Daniel Boud
