Review: Basement Jaxx @ Hindley Street Music Hall 03/03/26
Electronic legends Basement Jaxx had the remedy for a lazy Tuesday night in Adelaide – one dose of classic house tracks to a packed crowd that had everyone dancing like no one was watching.
Words and Images Brad Pine
Basement Jaxx @ Hindley Street Music Hall 03/03/26
Iconic Brixton duo Basement Jaxx returned to Australia for the first time since 2019 and their first Adelaide concert since performing at the Garden Of Unearthly Delights in 2009. Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe have been making people dance since their formation in 1994, and watching them tonight, you can sense that they have no plans to slow down. Their current tour sees them joined on stage by other musicians as well as guest vocalists and dancers for a vibrant visual and audio experience.
As the doors opened to Hindley Street Music Hall, the crowd slowly seeped in, filling up the floor ready for the night’s entertainment. Compared to some of the more rock-oriented gigs I have been to of late, the clothing was less standard black t-shirts and more colourful outfits.
No sooner had the crowd got their drinks and started to settle in than Melbourne electronic duo Close Counters made their way onstage behind a mass of wires leading to an expansive DJ deck and keyboard setup.
Finn Rees and Allan McConnell have been acquiring a larger fanbase over the years, and that is no fluke. Taking inspiration from tonight’s headliners and other contemporaries, the pulsing jungle beats and piano improvisations provide an excellent foundation for the audience’s moves.
They were joined onstage by Annalisa Fernandez, with braids that could leave welts if you got too close. Her beautiful vocals and energetic dance moves complemented the duo’s mixes, including a cover of Marvin Gaye’s ‘I Want You.’
A tinge of blue light was overshadowed by a gigantic gorilla face staring at us as we waited for the main attraction. Felix was first on, with two percussionists dressed in space-age Romanesque capes close behind. One of the vocalists, Phebe Edwards, appeared behind Felix and belted out ‘Good Luck’ as another vocalist, Vula Malinga, joined her on the raised platform. This activated the crowd into full dance mode straight away.
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A third vocalist, Jai Amore, was introduced during ‘Jump ‘N Shout’ – he was dressed in a shimmery see-through jumpsuit and accompanied by dancers. In addition, the psychedelic visuals on the screen added to a chaotic yet enthralling performance on stage. Different personas and characters entered the space, including a giant flower for ‘Raindrops’ and Edwards and Malinga in silvery bomber jackets with oversized green (what looked like) tennis visors. I mean, it was a feast for the eyes as well as the ears.
Alongside the live optics, each song was accompanied by onscreen visuals to set the tone for the song. ‘Red Alert’ (a major highlight for me) saw an endless colour-filled tunnel with an asteroid rotating towards it. To complete the spectacle, a trio of dancers graced the stage throughout the night, clad in skintight silver, making it easy to adopt different costumes throughout. This song also had an appearance of what seemed to be a dancer dressed like a cartoonish rambutan. Back to the screen visuals – there were floating pyramids with rocket boosters across a never-ending desert. These visuals were brilliant, so hats off to all those behind the scenes working on those displays.
‘Romeo’ had the stage and the band drenched in red lights before an interlude which included a George Frideric Handel piece – is there anything better than classical music and house coming together?
As is customary with Basement Jaxx’s music, the humour shone through in ‘Oh My Gosh’ and ‘Jus 1 Kiss’, with the three vocalists playing off each other. Once again, weird visuals of massive lips spinning around in various groupings were projected on the big screen.
To end the set, their signature song ‘Where’s Your Heat At?’ had everyone screaming the vocals and jumping in unison whilst gorillas invaded the stage, tackling Felix and others in the process.
There was a short wait before the encore, with Basement Jaxx begging to ‘Take Me Back To Your House’. All performers appeared on stage at once for the final two songs: ‘Mermaids Of Salinas’ and ‘Bambina.’ Even though they might not have been as well-known as other songs, they still left the crowd in a state of house music euphoria.
As the crowd made their way out of the Hall, an instrumental version of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ had us singing along. The high that Basement Jaxx left us on was going to continue well into the night and the days after. The live band experience of Basement Jaxx is something you need to see – soulful singing, amazing dancing and maybe a gorilla or two.
