Faithless, Brixton Academy, London.

One of the many things that can be said about Faithless is that they do keep themselves busy. We missed the gig last December, then saw them in May at Alexandra Palaca, and then again last night at Brixton Academy. Three tours in a year – that’s good going by anyone’s standards.

Of course, doing that much touring, you could understand it if the basics were the same each time, or it all got a bit familiar. But with Faithless it doesn’t. Yes, the set-list was similar to the one at Ally Pally, but it wasn’t a match by any stretch. They started off with “Insomnia”, carried on through favourites such as “God is a DJ”, “Mohammed Ali” (never could spell that right), “Weapons of Mass Destruction”, “Bring My Family Back”, and finishing off with a stupendous “We Come One”. Of course there was a lot of other stuff too, but they’re the tracks that stand out in memory.

It’s a pity that Carling seem to have opted for becoming utter cunts when it comes to photography though. Where we were, I could’ve come up with some fantastic shots – the view was excellent, as was the clarity and distance. But after the last time, I wasn’t going to risk it again. I might make some enquiries about getting a press accreditation of some sort from them though – hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Overall, the show was something spectacular. No, the sound mix wasn’t perfect – some of the vocals were drowned out by the bass-heavy nature of the speaker stack – but pretty much all the people there knew all the words anyway. The lighting rig was awesome – I haven’t seen that many strobes and lights in such a small space in a very long time, the bass sound was the kind you can feel in your fillings, and all told the entire thing was superb.

In my opinon, Faithless are one of the very few bands you absolutely should see live, even if it’s not your “normal” type of music. They simply blow pretty much everyone else off the stage. Long may they continue to do so.