Live Review: Bonobo

It’s a rarity in itself to walk away from a show feeling blessed and in a state of complete euphoria after having ultimately witnessed an absolute master of his craft. Such was the experience of attending the DJ set of English musician and producer Simon Green, aka Bonobo.

The sold-out event filled quickly before his 11pm appearance, as he walked onto the stage to cheers and rounds of applause and it was easy to see how he’s maintained such a loyal and dedicated following, halfway around the world and five studio albums into his career.

Bonobo opened with Kiara, a signature example of the diverse range present in his music. Forget labelling his sound with genres and sub-genres, Green is clearly in a league completely of his own, combining genres between but not specific to acid jazz, electronica, trip hop and chillwave. His style has a tendency to develop into emotional and subjective forms of storytelling, which are intricately layered. Green displays highly impressive attention to detail, apparent in every single one of his songs. In particular Silver, a track he hadn’t played live in over 15 years, shines with a beautifully mysterious and sensitive form of nostalgia. Bonobo’s sophisticated production style allows each track to develop their own personal identities. About halfway through his set, he played crowd favourite, Cirrus, off his last album, The North Borders, and the audience breathlessly soaked it up.

Towards the end of the night Bonobo threw in a few remixes. Dabbling in tropical, spacious deep house, he played the KiNK remix of Daniel Avery’s Knowing We’ll Be Here, and his own remix of London Grammar’s Hey Now.

Bonobo’s DJ set was practically flawless, showcasing the highlights of his varied taste in music and his ability to mesmerise, seduce and enlighten. It was a truly luscious, superb and captivating set, and reaffirms Green’s status as a musical virtuoso, a deeply intellectual and highly skilled artist at the top of his game.