Chemical Brothers Keep It Old School in Denver

Posted on Sep 2nd 2010 10:00AM by Colin St. John
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Kristian Dowling, Getty Images

Fast on their way through a territory long since ceded, Manchester, UK electro staple the Chemical Brothers stopped in Denver, Colo.'s Fillmore Auditorium to do what they do best: pump epic electronic bursts and psychedelic light streams out to a hyper audience that can't get enough.

At this particular show, Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons harnessed the power of their mid-'90s heyday by calling upon such tunes as 'Hey Boy Hey Girl' (from 1999's 'Surrender') and 'Block Rockin' Beats' (from 1997's 'Dig Your Own Hole') at just the right moments. Even amidst the super-impressive laser piercings and background film montages, which displayed everything from 'Unknown Pleasures'-esque radiations to tigers to cathedral blueprints, there was an overarching uncertainty to this show. Can an electro act that made it in the '90s -- be it Daft Punk, Moby, Aphex Twin or the Chemical Brothers -- be vital today?

The answer at the Fillmore last night was a resounding "yes." Of course, the older material made the heads bob and weave but tracks like 'Believe' (off of 2005's 'Push the Button') and 'Escape Velocity' were vitality in and of itself. The latter is a 10-minute-plus slice of the duo's latest record, 'Further,' and couldn't be more of a call to arms to keep it old school. Dancing with the young crowd in front of an aging act, the glowing chandeliers at the Fillmore lit up a charming dialectic of absolute and total fusion in all its forms.

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