Live Review: Underworld

Just 24 hours after The Cure finished a monolithic run, techno’s lovely uncles, Underworld – Karl Hyde and Rick Smith – take flight under the Opera House sails with Cowgirl, an anthem that helped redefine Underworld in 1994 from jaunty art-popsters to captains of a new era of electronica. It takes the entire audience all of 12 seconds to rise to their feet.

A snake pit of lasers, a circular frame (which at one point comically pre-empted its cue, drawing a scoff from Hyde), and the so-simple-it’s-ridiculous song titles in big, bold letters on the back screen made for such a mega-mega atmosphere. Then there’s their current ongoing Drift project, in which the band release music and art every week for a year. To hear Underworld throw everything into four Drift songs live is like sticking new batteries in a favourite toy and watching it gleefully zip off down the street. Listen To Their No and Border Country prove intensely playful. This Must Be Drum Street throbs with an early ‘80s new-wave synth line worthy of Kraftwerk complete with the fun-fun-fun on the autobahn-like incantation, “Do you wanna buy my car?” while Another Silent Way starts off punchy before slapping on a smiley badge and going full aciieeed, partying like it’s 1989. 

Underworld @ Sydney Opera House. Photo by Simone Fisher.

Then they Spinal Tap-it, turning the whole evening up to 11 with banger (Spoonman), after banger (King Of Snake) after banger (Scribble). Even the relatively down-tempo numbers such as Low Burn, Ova Nova and Nylon Strung (all from 2016’s Barbara Barbara, We Face A Shining Future) start with a casual sway while arms creep up higher and higher and, before you know it, the whole room is bouncing like pogo sticks came with the tickets. 

There is no winding down at the end either with Two Months Off making way for the inevitable full Born Slippy (Nuxx) and it dawns on us that we really have been spoiled with nothing clocking under six minutes all evening.

An "unplanned" encore of the absolutely furious Moaner (surely the only product of the Batman & Robin film to have aged well) makes for an exhaustingly satisfying finish.