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Orbital
Troxy
★★★★★
TECHNO brothers Orbital are giving their diehard fans a real treat this year on their Green and Brown album tour — a complete run-through of their pioneering untitled first two albums, popularly known by the colour of their sleeves.
There is something that borders on the transcendental about the sound on these albums, with their intricate instrumentation and phasing, mesmeric anthems and unmistakably classic acid-rave flavour.
The bleep techno of the Green album comes thick and fast as the duo launch into The Moebius https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjvQj9RkTqI, an electro sci-fi wonder so rich in its percussive elements that it gives the effect of a drumming circle from outer space.
Then there’s the creeping bass on Oolaa, which sounds even better live given the rare opportunity to hear it cranked up.
What makes Orbital’s formative works so seminal is their marriage of entrancing melodies with the driving techno that made them such a hit in early ’90s rave culture.
No better is this displayed than on Chime, the tune that first catapulted them from the underground clubs and squats into the charts.
Playing out with the gloriously downtempo ambience of Belfast brings the first half of their set to a blissed-out close before a 20-minute interval.
Before exiting the stage an ecstatic Phil Hartnoll, one half of the DJ duo completed by sibling Paul, showers fans with “love yous” before stating “we’ve only just started”... given that they are about to play the Brown album in full — widely considered their greatest and most influential — he is not wrong.
The aptly named Lush 3-1 and Halcyon and On and On are among the greatest techno anthems of all time, while their dextrous synth wizardry, so expertly honed on the Green album, is further solidified on tracks like Planet Of The Shapes and Impact (The Earth Is Burning).
An encore of some of their more novelty tracks, including a remix of the Spice Girls Wannabe, feels a little incongruous after two-and-a-half hours of masterworks. But we won’t dwell on that.
Orbital continue their Green and Brown tour at Bristol’s Beacon on May 2, Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom on May 3, Manchester’s O2 Victoria Warehouse on May 4 and Dublin’s Vicar Street on May 5.
