Concert Review: Tricky, The Powerstation

Tricky. Photo / Supplied

Who: Tricky
When and where: The Powerstation, Tuesday night
Reviewer: Jacqueline Smith

Tricky, the now-sinewy trip hopper from Britain, is still high on the 90s, stalking about the stage to the pounding bassline of Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams before throwing himself at You Don't Wanna, hissing like a reptile and boxing the air.

Carried by the thick undercurrent created by his ladies - gutsy guitarist Kelly Appleton, sassy bassist Sara Farina, and the star of the show, sultry vocalist Francesca Belmont - he delivers a decade of heavy, trippy hits and new numbers from his latest, and ninth album Mixed Race.

He keeps his back to the audience throughout most of the performance - shrouded in conversation with keyboardist Gareth Bowan - and when he does turn around to loop his vocals, he seems to do be employing the sneaky art of lip-sync, but the audience doesn't seem to mind.

Tricky's in his own deeply twisted, hazy world and is determined to pull everybody in The Powerstation into it for an hour and a half.

He is buoyed by his co-vocalist, the serenely sexy Belmont, who softens his angry, raspy act with her soul.

She takes over the role of gritty Jamaican musician Terry Lynn, who worked with Tricky on the latest album, in UK Jamaican, doing a stellar job of the tongue-twisting rap despite losing some tempo from her back up.

Her breathless enthusiasm adds heart to the extended version of Ghetto Stars, while Tricky is his grungy, menacing best in Past Mistake.

While he addresses the audience just once - to promote his friend's book of all things - he interacts enough, and insists on hoisting as many members of the audience as can fit on stage with him for an extended Ace of Spades cover.

He repeats this rollicking house-party-cum-mosh-pit scene when he pulls even more fans on stage during the encore.

And then he goes missing. Turns out he's mingling with his fans in the audience while the band wraps up the bassline. Tricky.