Basement Jaxx, Isle of Wight festival, June 12th
Basement Jaxx played the Isle of Wight festival on June 12th
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Tuesday, 16, Jun 2009 05:26
Ross McTaggart gets a reminder of why this British dance duo have stayed at the top of their game for more than ten years.
The sun is just beginning to set over Seaclose Park on the Isle of Wight to the relief of hundreds of festival goers who have been left with red-spanked sun burn marks after the day's wonderful weather, but the temperature in the main arena seems to be rising with the anticipation of the arrival of British dance duo Basement Jaxx.
Taking to the stage it's immediately obvious that the Jaxx are fired up for tonight as Felix Buxton rocks out and jabs emphatically at his samples pad and Simon Ratcliffe strums furiously on his acoustic guitar.
For those who were expecting little from a group playing in the wake of the Prodigy Basement Jaxx pulled no punches and when the utterly infectious and uplifting Good Luck drops on the sun-kissed crowd a view from upon shoulders reveals the audience to be a seething mass of bodies all dancing and singing along truly in step with the good time vibe that Basement Jaxx specialise in.
Tracks like Romeo are turned into laid back soulful moments to remember with the aid of two wonderful backing vocalists and the live show is taken to another level by the presence of an extremely flexible backing dancer who appears in a badger mask and tinfoil finish tracksuit giving the whole set a sense of carnival and pizzazz.
And when you think things can't get much better they launch into Where's Your Head At? and the entire audience explodes into song yelling back the lyrics at Buxton who has moved from behind his plinth and now twists and turns in front of the crowd who stare in awe at his every move.
By the time they close with Rendezvous the huge crowd assembled to see them are without a doubt resolving to dig out their Basement Jaxx records when they get home and relive this moment over and over again and headliners Prodigy are left failing to inspire such good feeling and festival bonhomie with their own set.
Ross McTaggart