More about: Beck

"If you like steppin' out, let me hear you scream 'Hell yes!," snarls a sharp-suited Beck Hanson as he hot-steps across The Roundhouse stage. "This is the first time we've played London in about 70 years."

The painful wait (it's actually 423 days since Beck's Song Reader show at the Barbican) is lost on no one. While iTunes Festival crowds are notorious for being a little 'catatonic', tonight the atmosphere in the room felt like a genuine celebration of the return of one of the greatest showmen that alt-rock has ever seen.

But first, a few words on the support. "How's it going dudes?" smiles Jenny Lewis, so cool she's almost horizontal as she skips from guitar to keys. "Feeling those California vibes?" Indeed we are, as the former Rilo Kiley frontwoman turned solo singer sweeps through a brief but career-spanning set of blissed-out Americana - the highlights being the West Coast twang of 'Just One Of The Guys', the sultry swagger of her former band's 'The Moneymaker', the chug-along brimestone-driven 'The Next Messiah' and the full-bodied chorus of 'Acid Tongue', complete with her white-clad band gathering around to share a mic. It was a succinct reminder of the artists' impeccable back catalogue but was merely the beginning; Beck Hansen was in the building. 

We had some trepidation as to what version of Beck we'd be getting tonight - the soulful acoustic Hansen, the alt-funk party animal or any other of his countless transitions. As the iTunes countdown ended and he kick straight into college radio anthem 'Devil's Haircut' before flowing liquid smooth into 'Black Tambourine' and the iconic 'Loser', it's clear that he has no shame in celebrating his past. 

As an artist, Beck has covered pretty much the entire musical spectrum, and tonight the chameleon shows off all of his colours. 

Few musicians on this Earth could naturally pull off the harmonica freak-out of 'One Foot In The Grave', the neo-funk of 'The New Pollution', the acoustic beauty of 'Lost Cause' and a cover of Donna Summer's 'I Feel Love' all within a few breaths - but Beck's DNA reads like the history of music, turned inside out.

As the entire band find themselves in a fight to the death during the melt-down at the end of 'E-Pro', Beck cordons off the stage with police tape. "What kind of laws do you wanna defy?" they ask before returning for the encore's first track of genre-defying, hedonism anthem 'Sexx Laws'.

Good question. Beck follows no rules, nor do his fans. The crooned request to "step inside my Hyundai" should not attract such a salacious response and the reaction that greeted 'Where It's At' was more explosive than we have ever witnessed at an iTunes show. Beck, in short, displayed real class. One of our gigs of the year without question. 

Beck played:
Devil's Haircut
Black Tambourine
Loser
Novacane
One Foot in the Grave
Hell Yes
The New Pollution
Think I'm in Love / I Feel Love (Donna Summer cover)
Blue Moon
Lost Cause
Heart Is a Drum
Wave
Girl
E-Pro
Sexx Laws
Debra
Where It's At

More about: Beck