Day 19 - Warp - the mess is the message

Despite the latecomers, general commotion (including the man sitting in front of me having huge drops of water drop on his head from the roof), the doppelganger dance got us all in the mood for something really special. Suddenly, the two dancers disappear and Jamie Liddell steps up to give us a 'Game of fools' from the excellent 'Multiply', a soul song that makes you want to weep with joy. Then jumps behind a huge mixing desk to deliver a set that defies description - beatbox, soul, jazz – it’s a continuous stream of vocals and beatbox deepened with layer upon layer of delay and effects. On top of this were images from a number of cameras being mixed behind Jamie onto a huge screen. Madness - and the young audience LOVED it. The intermission allowed them to fuel up for the second half. This was refreshingly lively, none of your intermission ice cream for this lot.

A heavier session from Plaid with some great moving images on the huge screen –mosquito animation, Iraq war sequence, abstract Kandisnsky on speed, architecture loops, most with accelerated sound, led us eventually into the fast and furious Random Dance in their RGB tee-shirts. This made the Ballet de Marseille look like caged, faux modernism, shop dummies. The open stage, huge sound from Plaid and Dionysian dance were exactly what the festival needed – something real, now, bold and different. Here was a dance event where the crowd whooped with sheer delight during the performance and roared with genuine satisfaction at the end. No ‘Bravos’ here, just brave stuff that mixes soul, beatbox, jazz, dance, video and film into an experience that you still have in your head when you waken up the next morning. The mess was the message – but what a mess!

*****
5 stars