Live Review: Leftfield, Ara Koufax

Yep, it feels like 3am on a Monday (25 years ago) in here and the aircon is on overdrive, waiting to catch our sweat droplets. Anticipation hangs thick in the air, dancers are giving DJ duo Ara Koufax (the new project by Naysayer & Gilsun's Sam Gill and Luke Neher) the thumbs-up and high-fiving their shuffling neighbours. Do check out Ara Koufax's new track Makers, it's sonic wonderment with plenty o' swag. 

An atmospheric, rumbling intro tape sets the scene and a drum kit keeps all the Apple symbols up on stage company. Once Neil Barnes and his two mates in Leftfield take position behind their designated stations, they crank out sounds but the accompanying visuals are not yet functioning. Barnes looks behind him toward the back screen and pulls a disgruntled face. But then the screen illuminates as if prompted by his disappointment! By song three, it's all rhythmic skyward finger pointing and 'avin' it flashbacks. Remember when you could smoke in clubs? What about when you could ask a random for a sip of their water in lieu of pick-up line? Song titles occasionally flash up on the screen to intro tracks and we dance to Little Fish while being reminded of the 'big fish, little fish, cardboard box' dance of yonderyear (Google it, there's a Bob The Builder tutorial). It takes a while for our muscle memory to kick in order for us to efficiently dance to these choons and we're sure gonna discover some long-forgotten muscles on the morrow.    

Barnes' T-shirt is a cracker: Darth Vader and a coupla Stormtroopers posing for a selfie in front of the Eiffel Tower. A geezer comes out for an impressive rapping guest spot. Then another dude appears on stage with super-long dreads and convulses while singing the captivatingly crunchy Swords ("I wear my sword at my side"). When the strobes kick in we all completely lose it. During Afrika Shox Barnes himself performs the robot vocals live. He also plays live percussion and melodica as required.     

Yes, we score an encore! Bottles of water are handed out to the warriors in the front rows. Phat Planet hijacks our limbs and now there's definitely some Melbourne shuffling goin' on. Barnes grabs the mic at the end of the show and tells us Leftfield always enjoy touring our country. "We nearly didn't get here, but we got here in the end," he says, acknowledging the cancellation of Secret Valley, the festival they were originally booked to headline. There's an excellent new Leftfield album (2015's Alternative Life Source), so we knew we'd get less Leftism material. But whaddayamean there's no Afro-Left? Shattered!