James Lavelle's first stop on his North American Tour was Toronto, was the gig like GU026?, What's Lavelle like as a dj?
James Lavelle @ System Soundbar (16-07-04)
James Lavelle has had a busy adult life, he started Mo’Wax, formed UNKLE, originally with DJ Shadow (now Lavelle and Richard File), did two Global Underground Mixes. So when word got around that James Lavelle was playing Toronto, I just had to go. I will confess, I thought Unkle’s album from last year was one of the best of 2003, I happily bought GU023, which led to my breakbeat addiction and I sadly bought GU026, which turned out to be the Unkle and Meat Katie show. I had to see if everything that everyone said about Lavelle was true, I had heard opinions from he totally rocked to he cannot beatmatch. James Lavelle started his North American Tour with the first stop in Toronto at my favorite club Systemsoundbar. Now for those who don’t know, System has been redone with a more powerful soundsystem and a cool DJ booth, the club is rarely full and you have room to dance, which in certain clubs is very rare. The great part about clubbing in Toronto is that it is Smoke Free now, whether smoking is evil or not, is up for debate but I hated to go home with my clothes smelling of cigarette smoke, this is the first time ever that I went home and my clothes did not stink of smoke. There was one person who did not seem to recognize the smoke free law, that was Lavelle himself, who kept lighting up cigarette after cigarette but he was the headliner and no one seemed to care.
Lee Osbourne opened with a driving mix of house, progressive and electro till 2am and then people were wondering “Where the heck is Lavelle?”. My friends who came along to see what the hype was about, did not know what he looked like, neither did 90% of the people at System. I told my friends, you will know it’s him, when you see a rocker dude that looks like he does not fit in. Lavelle shows up with an army jacket, cargo pants, black rocker dude glasses and a trucker hat, talk about unique. Apparently some bouncers thought he was’nt the deejay. So Lavelle gets going about 2:10am, he starts with a CDR of some sampled intro then it goes into a harsh metal beats and you realize it is a rock remix of GDMFSOB, probably one that Lavelle never released but it is a rock remix of the tune. The next song was Queens of the Stone Age – No One Knows (UNKLE Reconstruction), which is rock as well, some of looks on the faces of these people at System was priceless. Lavelle was not done yet with the UNKLE at the start, he then throws in Unkle – In A State (Sasha Remix), then goes into Unkle – Reign. This is so like GU026, almost an Unkle showoff, he finally went to some breakbeat tune. Lavelle’s set had a lot of energy, a lot of people were jumping like mad, the venue was half full but it had lots of room to dance. Lavelle’s problem is that he continues to play the same old stuff, he played Lexicon Avenue’s remix of Depeche Mode’s Only When I Lose Myself, Vector 13 – Rise and others. He did play some mean breakbeat tracks, hardly any progressive and the set was really uptempo and he was clapping, jumping around and making many hand signals.
Some of the songs that he played (you will realize why I think he needs new records)
DJ Shadow feat. Roots Manuva – GDMFSOB (Unkle Rock Mix) Queens of the Stone Age - No One Knows (Unkle Reconstruction) Unkle – In A State (Sasha Remix) Unkle – Reign White Stripes vs. Adam Freeland – Seven Nation Freeland (Bootleg) Nirvana – Smells Like Freeland (Bootleg) (these were in the first 10 songs) Freeland, Wink and Middleton – Rise Above Ian Brown – Fear (Unkle Remix) Tears for Fears – Shout C’Mon (Unknown Remix) Vector 13 – Rise Depeche Mode – Only When I Lose Myself (Lexicon Avenue Remix) (Needle kept skipping, so he eventually slowed the song out and just brought in a new one) Meat Katie – Import
James Lavelle is a talented DJ, he mixes very well and it is easily a crowd favorite but he needs to find some newer records, sure the fans loved every single minute of it but most are not clued in on records. This does show that GU026 was not just for show, GU represents what a deejay is playing currently and Lavelle seems to have added more Rock influences into his sets, whether you like it or not, is up to you but I enjoyed seeing Lavelle. He is certainly a true character, my only problem is that he continues to play the same old stuff and he does not move on. He is not the only DJ that has fallen into the self promotion trap, Adam Freeland has fallen in as well. It was an enjoyable night, nice to get out with friends and dance your ass off, Lavelle gets top marks for creativity here but it lacks uniqueness because he continues to play the same tracks but some tracks were actually new tracks and three that were so good, they continue to play in my head.
7/10
Big thanks to John T for sorting the guestlist for me and the others.
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