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It's never been easy for dance acts to bridge the gap between superstar DJ status and artistic relevance. No matter how euphoric the music may be, there's only so much interest in watching someone flipping vinyl. This particular conundrum is of no worry to Groove Armada. The Cambridge duo have been packing in the dance hedonists for the best part of a decade, cleverly fusing together a hybrid of funky house, laid-back grooves and sleek reggae.
Support came from Scottish disco-kid Calvin Harris. His take on nostalgic electro-funk was inspired with a seismic amount of cynicism. The ubiquitous 'Acceptable In The 80s' is already an early contender for single of the year, with Harris unearthing the sort of synthesized genius that makes other dance acts seem utterly predictable.
Groove Armada strode onto the stage awash with blinding pyrotechnics and breathtaking visuals. Of course, the duo know there's more to a live set than fancy backdrops as opener 'The Girls Say' was effervescent with GA's signature beats. The blissful 'Chicago' is a totally different beast live, stepped up with a lumbering bassline and choppy guitar hook.
The gritty soul of 'Easy' was intersect by a brilliantly wailing vocal and summoned the sweat-soaked crowd into shape-shifting madness. The duo changed musical tack with 'Madder', one of their most proficient tunes to date, which meshes together taut grooves with incandescent rhyme-styling. The Ibiza friendly 'At The River' sounded as fresh as it's first release a decade ago with Andy Cato's playful trombone hook coming to the fore. The straightforward pop of 'Friend' was cleverly doubled-up by a sample of Tubeway Army's 'Are Friends Electric'.
After over an hour of frenzied movement, GA unleashed recent single 'Get Down', a superb throwback to rumbling dancehall reggae but containing enough mainstream clout to make it top ten. The encore continued in the same reggae vein with 'Superstylin', a neat bomb-blast of rough-up verse with Cato's trombone again underpinning the groove. The set ended with the advertisers dream 'I See You Baby'. After being given the big beat treatment by Fatboy Slim several years ago, it was good to hear the tune in its original context, overflowing with house-inflected sass. With Groove Armada's fifth album 'Soundboy Rock' on the way, it's refreshing to see a dance act continuing to think outside the box. They'll be kept in the highlife for some time yet.
