Review: Bryget Chrisfield. Photos: Gabi Rankine Creative.
Tonight’s support act, Close Counters, admit Basement Jaxx is one of their “favourite bands in the world”. This Naarm/Melbourne-based producer duo’s live incarnation features Finn Rees and Allan McConnell on keys/samples plus a drummer. Annalisa Ferrnandez is invited to the stage to supply guest vocals while executing some sick dance moves, which really gets the crowd going and turns their show into a party.
With its broken, syncopated beats and infectious “La-la-la-la-laaaaaaa” BVs, Freedom We’re Needing elevates us to a higher state of consciousness.
Close Counters serve sci-fi elements with a human touch, with the closing I’ll Be There For You landing like a warm hug. Be sure to check out their inventive remix of Marvin Gaye’s I Want You.
While the stage is set up for Basement Jaxx, a closeup of cheeky ape surveys the crowd from the giant screen at the rear of the stage. There’s a wide ramp in the middle of the stage with a circular hole dead centre – we’re already excited about what (or whom) might pop out of it. A percussion kit is set up on one side of the stage, a drum kit on the other – just in case we forgot Basement Jaxx will be playing a live set this evening.
The last time Basement Jaxx toured their full live show Down Under was 15 years ago and we’re gagging to lose control of our limbs.
The houselights dim, white light beams up through the hole in the ramp and Basement Jaxx’s Felix Buxton slowly ascends until we can see his torso and busy hands. Good Luck’s sweeping strings intro washes over the crowd and a guitarist materialises downstage right. Then a roar goes up as a pair of divas sporting long silver gowns appear on stage to deliver the powerhouse vocals: “Tell me, tell me, is life just a playground?”
A trumpeter emerges downstage left to supply Bingo Bango’s hook. Then enter the escalating mayhem of Jump ‘N Shout, resplendent with one of the vocalists suddenly demonstrating her acrobatic skills, tumbling across the stage. We notice Simon Ratcliffe, who also plays guitar throughout, has now joined Buxton in the manhole console. Our bodies have been hijacked by Basement Jaxx’s beats and muscle memory kicks in from endless nights spent burning up the dancefloor – it’s a fully fledged, sweaty party up in here!
As vibrant, multicoloured flower visuals rotate on the back screen during Raindrops, a dancer manipulates a giant, floaty, shimmering, diaphanous lily costume to magnificent effect. Do Your Thing, Red Alert (Altogether now: “And the music keeps on playing on and on…”), Romeo, Rendez-Vu, the banjo-led Take Me Back To Your House – the timeless bangers just keep on coming, with each song’s creative concepts transforming Basement Jaxx live into a spiritual awakening.
Their cover of Rosalía’s Berghain – complete with live vocals and a pirouetting, tutu-clad ballerina – is a wow-factor moment. “WHEEEEERE’S YOUR HEEEEAD AT?” – right when we thought we’d peaked, Basement Jaxx’s sinister belter (largely due to its labmonkeys-with-human-faces music video) enters the mix as monkey-suited performers go apeshit on stage.
A new Basement Jaxx track – Bambina (feat. Martina Camargo), sung entirely in Spanish) – spreads a message of hope for future generations and promises great things from the duo’s upcoming 2026 album release.
Basement Jaxx’s live show marries good vibrations with fantastical visual elements. While vigorously shaking skeletons to Basement Jaxx’s percussion- and hook-heavy beats, strangers share delighted glances and connect over favourite songs. A euphoric, communal dancefest.
