The last time Shapeshifter put their mark upon Brisbane was at last year’s Parklife. That set blew everyone in attendance away – from the front row diehards to everyone lining the top of the slope at Botanic Gardens. Needless to say, Sunday night’s show at The Zoo was highly anticipated. Kiwi ex-pats and Australian fans alike all geared up to finish off the weekend with a night of drum ‘n’ bass Brisbanites are rarely treated to.
I was gutted to be too late in arriving to catch Dreadford, but was thankful to have witnessed a blistering set by de la Haye. The NZ born Junglette, who luckily for us made a home in Brisbane, was the perfect set up for the main attraction. The floor swiftly filled to near capacity after only about 15 minutes of her opening the set, something I’ve rarely seen before. Her blend of hard and fast DnB is applied to a tech-step that’s as rich in its heavy drum loops as it is in pounding electronic riffs. As she fires in a left-field but superb DnB reworking of Icky Thump, I’m left wondering why I haven’t managed to see her before. As the clock strikes 10, de la Haye’s last liquid DnB climax has sufficiently whipped the crowd into a frenzy and leads them perfectly into the Christchurch five-piece.
At the mere hint that their set has begun, and before they’ve set a foot on the stage, the crowd starts screaming and a penetrating bass heartbeat reverberates around the room. Naturally, as soon as Paora and the boys walk on the crowd lose it and it’s straight down to business. However, it’s not until New Day Come blasts through the speakers that everyone really gets into it. Looking on from the sidelines, the mass of bobbing heads and waving hands looks like a perfectly choreographed scene you’d expect to see during an Olympic opening ceremony. The room was briefly permitted a breather as the smooth and funky sound of Bring Change opened up. However, as anyone who loves that song will undoubtedly know, that break wasn’t to last long, as the coursing DnB soon kicks in and the electronic pulses shake the speakers into submission.
Too often is the term “electric” bandied about when describing a particular atmosphere. There was definitely something livewire in the vibe tonight, though. As Paora explained, the night was going to feature, “some old shit, some new shit, and some fat shit.” Some of it was old, some new, but all of it was fat – especially when this reviewer’s personal favourite tore through the Brisbane venue.
The problem with acts like Shapeshifter is that when you’re at home listening toSoulstice or Riddim Wise, unless you turn your speakers up so loud that they crumple in on themselves, or the police are called, then you are simply unable to capture the sound of them live. This is the dilemma I have when I listen to Electric Dream. When that deceptive electronic riff started up, everyone knew what was coming. Then Dreadford kicks in with the drums and that disco electronic suddenly isn’t so disco anymore – it builds higher and gets deeper. So by the time Paora comes in with his soaring and ever joyous vocals, everyone is ready to go nuts. The sound at the core of this song would make a stadium shudder, and when it explodes the crowd goes from being electric to balls-to-the-wall plain ape-shit.
There’s definitely something special about Shapeshifter, and a large part of why they get that kind of reaction is because what they mean to their audience. For no matter where they tour in Australia, I guarantee a huge slice of the crowd will be Kiwi. So when they ended their encore with One, a song that has pride of place in many Kiwi fans’ hearts, it was very special indeed. That signature piano drifted out, easing the crowd down with the soft DnB backing and the lyrics that remind you the world can be a great place. By the end of the night I noticed more than one Kiwi with tears in their eyes, and I could understand why.
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