Roni Size – The Studio October 27, 2017

Twenty years since squaring up to the big guns of music at the time and triumphantly claiming the highly-respected Mercury Prize for best British album of 1997. Roni Size takes the anniversary of New Forms on the road with a series of Australasian dates, embracing the legacy of the album with stunning visuals to match.

For many at the time, including myself, the album brought the evolving sound of urban UK to the centre stage. With Jungle/DnB roots firmly situated in the concrete hubs of Bristol and London. The sound was a stark contrast to what was being pumped out at the time, -Britpop was still in full swing, the Spice Girls had taken over everything and OK Computer had just been released.

Arriving at K Road’s The Studio somewhat late, I had the pleasure of catching the support act Chiccoreli and home grown vocal talent Tali, whipping the dance thirsty crowd up-ready for the main event. Clearly a major talent in her own right, Tali gave an energetic performance with the beats spun by Chiccoreli. Thrilled to be performing on home soil, sharing the stage with Size whom she described as, “her old boss”, she was the perfect choice of support.

As Tali wrapped it up, the large rear projection screen behind the stage displayed a five-minute countdown timer. In true New Years Eve style, she led the crowd into a euphoric ten second countdown introducing a hooded Size to the Auckland stage. His stage set up, from what I could see, comprised of two laptops, each with controller keyboards side by side and a mixer centre stage. I guess there was a few other bits of hardware which I couldn’t see. The key thing here was he triggering stems, loops, samples and recreating sequences on the fly to timecoded visuals behind him. Highly impressive. I have ultimate respect for electronic artists who can nail it live and make it look so easy. A true master at his art.

It’s great to see how embraced this sub-genre of dance music is on these shores. Its appeal obviously still fresh judging by the higher ratio of young to old in the crowd. This certainly didn’t feel like a nostalgic trip down memory lane. When he spun the intro of the more commercially recognised track Brown Paper Bag, the crowd jeered with respect, with their one arms raised in the air, he then kicked it into gear dropping the bass which created a frenzied dance of appreciation.

The sound system did a fine job dealing with some deep, fat bass action as the subs pounded your body into submission throughout the hour and a half set. In-between cuts, he would sometimes jump on a dub-delayed microphone encouraging the crowd, clearly both parties loving the vibe.  The visuals looked great, crystal clear, bright, with evolving landscapes of colours and movement proving a fine interpretation of the sound.

Nearing the end of the set, Tali and others joined him at the rear of stage dancing along with the crowd. Jumping back on the mic, he made some thankyou’s before telling the crowd to, “get down to the sound of this last number” to which he introduced the sound of Bristol contemporaries Massive Attack’s majestic, Unfinished Sympathy to a DnB mashup mix. It was a fitting end to a great night of beats. Clearly in good spirits, Size then dished out generous pouring’s of his drink of choice to the front row of the audience.  A great celebration to a plate shifting album, I’m sure we’ll see him again.

Matt Lord

Click on any image to view a photo gallery by Reuben Raj: