Concert review: James Blake, Auckland Town Hall

NZ Herald

3 Aug, 2013 01:56 AM3 mins to read

British singer-songwriter James Blake. Photo / Supplied

For a moment or two as we waited for James Blake to appear on stage, it felt like we'd entered the world of Prometheus, such was the intensity of the exceptionally constructed, spacey light show, and the deep, blooming, bass warbles.

The anticipation was palpable too, the sold out crowd holding in their pent up excitement until the moment the 24 year old English future pop pioneer would take the stage with his drummer Ben Assiter and guitarist Rob McAndrews.

They launched straight into the hip hop-esque beats, and slow-building layers of Air & Lack Thereof, from his debut 12 inch record released in 2009.

It's a track that neatly demonstrates his dubstep origins, but the electronic and sample-based nature of Blake's work didn't make this anything less than a truly entrancing live show.

Together with Assiter and McAndrews (he's known both band mates since childhood), every sound was constructed through the banks of keyboards, drum kit, drum pads, guitar, and of course Blake's distinctive angelic vocals.

I Never Learnt To Share was an opportunity to showcase that voice, beginning as a stripped back series of vocal loops and piano, before building into a heavy drum n bass cacophony.

The crowd came alive for Overgrown, the title track from his latest album, delighting in it's deep and tribal, yet beautifully delicate phrasing, before he moved into the more stately and regal layering of To The Last.

From there he threw back to one of his earliest hits, sample heavy CMYK (Timbaland and Kelis provide the vocal hook), which has become something of a live favourite for it's colourful, high energy bounce.

Then he moved into a more elegant, tender section of the set, with I Am Sold and in particular Our Love Comes Back having a heartbreaking gravity. They were followed by Lindisfarne I and II, the vocoder-heavy, baroque-flavoured, gentle pop.

The cover of Feist's Limit To Your Love, which gave Blake his first big radio hit, was a highlight with it's groovy piano part, and singalong-worthy vocals, accompanied by atmospheric spidery, prism-ish lights and impressively low bass sounds.

Then Blake upped the dance factor for the two most club-style numbers of the set, Voyeur and Once We All Agree, before reaching the concert climax with Retrograde. With it's stomp-clap-stomp-clap intro, and dramatic themes, it was a jubilant moment for the crowd and Blake.

They finished the show with a slightly disappointing version of gorgeous downbeat ballad The Wilhelm Scream (too much overdriven synth, and not enough vocals or guitar coming through the mix), but A Case Of You, which was delivered solo by Blake at the piano, was a final, fitting reminder that Blake is more than a producer: He's got the voice and charisma equal to Leonard Cohen when he lets them shine through.