DJ Shadow's Auckland show was pure noise porn

DJ Shadow. Photo / Supplied

Four shows, and four completely different performances. DJ Shadow's been a regular visitor to New Zealand, but it hasn't always been clear what version of the hip-hop mystery man we'd get.

Back in 2006, the Californian DJ played a stop-start set under a spaceship rig and monster screen at the St James. At Splore in 2014, he performed a back-to-basics DJ set full of songs for trainspotters.

And the last time he played the Powerstation in 2010, Joshua Davis was stuck inside a glowing orb, delivering a visually stunning but meandering set punctuated by the Californian DJ poking his head out of his sphere to check that everyone was okay.

All three of those shows felt a little like Turntablism 101, a little like a nerd showing off far too much his knowledge.

But as the Powerstation's overhead air conditioning units rattled, a jet engine rush sucked the air out of the room, and a floating astronaut appeared on the screen behind him, it quickly became apparent tonight's show was going to be a completely different experience.

This, part of DJ Shadow's This Mountain Will Fall world tour, was going to be the fun one.

That meant a nearly two-hour show chocka with hits, from his fizzing 2003 single with Zach De La Rocha, March of Death, rattling rib cages, to The Sideshow, an old school workout full of breaks and scratches, and Bergschrund's woozy antics tip-hopping all over the place.

It was also riddled with beautifully timed bass tricks that turned the set into pure noise porn, like the thudding Clams Casino remix of Stem Long Stem, or the headspinning Machinedrum version of Six Days, and Hudson Mohawke's clattering remix of Midnight in a Perfect World. Alongside his otherworldy visual display, it was an overwhelming, hypnotic mix.

There were still occasional moments for trainspotters: one untitled song was introduced as a "remix from 1995"; another, Corridors, was made by Shadow just three months ago and was snuck into an encore; and Nobody Speak, his fiery collab with Run the Jewels, was introduced with Caterina Valente's Ol' Man River - the sample the song is based on.

"This is the funnest part of my day," declared Shadow at one point. Unlike past shows, it really did seem like he was enjoying himself up there, smiling and pointing during Nobody Speak, regularly thrashing away on a sample pad with drum sticks, and slapping hands rising from the front rows before his encore.

As The Mountain Will Fall made those air conditioning ducts rattle one last time, DJ Shadow proved he's finally achieved the lift off he's been striving for with his live show.

How he tops this is anyone's guess.

DJ Shadow
Where: Powerstation, Auckland
When: Friday, June 2