Photo: Press
A Moderat show tends to engulf the crowd. It is a cinematic experience, albeit one where often uncontrollable body movement is drawn from your very core.
Your feet have an uncontrollable need to tap, fingers drum and hips shake. The mass of Brixton Academy were almost universal in their unshakable need to dance for the near entirety of the Berlin trio’s two-hour set.
Moderat are of the few dance acts capable of putting out an album cohesive to those outside of crate diggers and dance aficionados but they remain at their best in a live arena.
The show is not flash. Sascha Ring AKA Apparat takes charge of vocals, occasional bass, and keys whilst the Modeselektor boys handle further controls in front of visuals mostly drawn by fellow German artist Siriusmo.
The backdrop is stunning at times and rarely anything less than hypnotising even in its more subdued moments. The audio-visual combination puts the audience in tune with the music rather than three men playing it.
The gig makes you long for a warm summer evening and an open air arena to dance the night away. The mask only slips at the Academy when a pause for a technical issue has Ring asking "Who the fuck is Murphy?" A sound guy we assume.
Showcasing their 2016 release, III, the show works through an amped up performance of the record. The early section is punchy as Ring’s vocoder shifted tones unfurl delightful hits ‘Eating Hooks’ and ‘Ghostmother’. By mid-performance we are drifting a little as the album’s lesser tracks ‘Ethereal’ and ‘Animal Trails’ take their time to evolve.
As the set moves on the trio start to litter the setlist with older hits much to the delight of the masses. The encore is rousing but suffers for the lack of ‘Let in the Light’ and they miss a trick by playing ‘Bad Kingdom’ before the finale, but these are minor gripes in an otherwise stunning performance.
