Tricky, The Academy, Dublin
Rocking and bobbing like a bantamweight before he enters the ring, Bristolian trip-hop pioneer Tricky sets the tone for the night by standing centre stage with his back to the audience. For 50 percent of tonight’s show Tricky doesn’t even hold a microphone, which incidentally is swapped around by stage hands like most rock bands switch guitars.
Instead Tricky channels the music to the audience. The crowd react to a topless Tricky’s every move, like a classical conductor with a heavy dose of physical narcissism. At the same time he directs his band mates with a series of bouncing dance moves, violent head shakes and climbing arm movements. The band purposely build a song up sonically, let Tricky decide when was a good time to break it down again and then go about deliberately rebuilding it. A bombastic formula, with some tracks veering towards cocktail-lounge blues. However, when he does take the mic his vocal style being indistinguishably idiosyncratic, is raspy, dark, murky … and utterly moving.
But for the most part it is Danish vocalist Kira Skov that takes the lead. Her whispered tones on Maxinquaye’s ‘Pumpkin’ do the song particular justice, an unexpected nostalgic trip back to 1995, while she delivers a powerful bluesy vocal on Knowle West Boy’s ‘Puppy Toy’. The pair duet on The Cure’s ‘Love Cats’, merging textured vocals over wandering synth sounds. Skov performs a brilliant version of ‘Black Steel’ yet still Tricky didn’t “switch on” or indeed “switch off”. Instead he parades the stage puffing on a bifta/fag. Picture him giving a damn? I say never.
Tricky steps up to the mark when he takes charge of the punky ‘Council Estate’, lead single off Knowle West Boy, delivering a chaotic rendition rippling anarchy into the crowd. This is music for a jilted generation. ‘Vent’ has a basic blues riff that turns into pounding rock as Tricky howls and snorts, “I can hardly breathe!”.
Closing the 45-minute set with majestic Maxinquaye classic ‘Overcome’, the main man exits the stage immediately. The encore includes a garage rock version of ‘Tricky Kid’ off Pre-Millenium Tension. A 12 – 15 minute version of ‘Joseph’, with waves of crescendos that moved toward pounding beats and major chords as Tricky declaims, “You’re so special”.
Tricky relies heavily on his much-adored presence and subsequently on his band. He finishes the night he disappearing into the moshing, spiralling and frenzied crowd as the band blast out Motorhead’s ‘Ace of Spades’.
Photos by Loreana Rushe.
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