Videocrash At Koko

Videocrash At Koko

15 September, 2008
by: Bendevere

For those partial to 'audio-visual' performance with the emphasis on 'visual', this line-up is something to get wet over - Hexstatic are the grand-daddies of the VJ revolution and Koko promised a full-sized cinema screen for them to spunk their wares over. Where do you put a full-sized cinema screen when you have four live acts in support? Why, you stretch it over the front of the stage, naturally, thus completely separating the acts from the audience. Fine for Hexstatic (who wants to stare at dour-faced men squinting at computers for two hours?), but spare a thought for support band Bad Science, who's biggest London booking to date saw them - as bassist Alex Crane put it - 'literally playing to a brick wall'. It's like watching a band through a muslin handkerchief, and front man Dizraeli, who usually thrives on audience interaction, is one beat from ripping his way out with his bare teeth.

Ninja Tunes live-act Pest fare better, having spent the first few years of their career hidden behind computers anyway. They work well in support as their set's like one long introduction to a song that never actually happens, and the beats are friendly enough to get the packed-in crowd's shoulders going.

And then it's headline time and we lose sight of the stage altogether. Seeing how Hexstatic's visuals are what set them apart, this is the natural conclusion to their live shows. One has to wonder with VJ sets - how much is live performance and how much is pre-programmed - are they even behind that screen? 

It's impressive enough, but it's an old trick and could also be compared to a really loud Indian cinema with no seats screening boring 80's music videos. And they just can't stop themselves playing their 1989 Coldcut collaboration 'Timber'. They do it every single time, and it rubs in the fact that their whole career is a spin-off of that one number. The crowd are all eyes-front and give up on dancing pretty swiftly. It's actually quite funny to watch - a caricature of the MTV generation, mouths open, eyes wide, heads nodding in unison; but the smoking crowd at the front door just gets bigger and bigger and bigger.

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Bendevere