Morcheeba, Brighton Dome, Brighton

Singalong-a-hip-hop

Fiona Sturges
Tuesday 08 October 2002 00:00 BST
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Late on in Morcheeba's show, the lights are turned down and a Jasper Johns-style target begins to take shape on the wall behind the band. Moving slowly from left to right, it eventually comes to rest above the head of Paul Godfrey on the turntables. While Morcheeba fans are a generally mild-mannered bunch, you have to wonder, had the target dropped a few inches lower, what unbridled acts of violence might have taken place. I, for one, wouldn't have been responsible for my actions.

As long-standing purveyors of polite hip-hop and down-tempo dance sounds, Morcheeba's gigs have always been silky and serene affairs. I'm all for injecting a bit of life into the proceedings, though what has possessed the rest of the band to stick Godfrey centre-stage, a goon in a pork-pie hat and the voice of Keith Chegwin, is anybody's guess.

He starts his prattling at the beginning of "Process," a woozy country-soul number book-ended by some gorgeous slide guitar. For a while, Godfrey tries to get us to sing along, although it seems, by his standards, we just don't cut it. By the end of the song, he and the vocalist Skye Edwards are trying to pit the girls against the boys in a screaming contest. Crackerjack! it ain't – this crowd are nearer 30 than 13 – and, needless to say, there's a mass exodus to the bar.

The atmosphere is punctured once more during a sudden rap interlude in "Love Sweet Love". Let's just say it's the first time I've ever had to stick my fingers in my ears during a gig. Following a storming version band's new single "Way Beyond", he tries to crack a joke and is rewarded with a loud heckle. That'll learn him.

Still, Edwards, looking ballerina-like in a floaty white dress and bare feet, seems to be having a ball. She's a charming presence and comes with the kind of hushed, honeyed vocals that makes your stomach go all soft. Godfrey aside, this is a show that reveals Morcheeba as formidable songwriters as well as a dependably impressive live act.

The band have long been making moves to shed their mid-Nineties trip-hop associations – their last album, Fragments Of Freedom, saw them revelling in upbeat Seventies-style soul and funk sounds, while this year's Charango finds them experimenting with Latin grooves – and going on the strength of tonight's performance, they've succeeded. Even the old numbers such as "Over and Over", "Trigger Hippie" and "Moog Island" stand the test of time. "Get Along" is atomised by another bout of rapping from Godfrey, although when the next song, "Public Displays", morphs seamlessly into Dolly Parton's "9 to 5", Morcheeba finally get the singalong they've been craving. Better late than never.

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