Live: Nicolas Jaar @ Sound Control

Nicolas Jaar
Sound Control
28th January 2012
4 stars

A fair amount of hype surrounded Nicolas Jaar’s return to Manchester, performing for the first under his own Clown and Sunset label. Having played in Leeds the night before, Sound Control provided the setting for the second UK leg of his Don’t Break My Love world tour. By 11pm, hordes of fans had begun to cram themselves into the venue, anticipating a musical experience to remember.

Nico recently topped the Resident Advisor 2011 Live Act poll, cementing his place as a world-class minimal producer. His style is unique and encompasses elements of techno, jazz, soul and a large amount of miscellaneous. I was curious to find out whether he would adapt his downtempo style in favour of a more crowd-friendly set. His arrival on stage, accompanied by a single guitarist, marked an opening 45 minutes that largely consisted of tunes from his latest album and current EP. A slow build up eased the crowd into a few hours of soulful, fist-pumping grooves. The crowd – well, those not shunned away due to capacity limitations – lapped up every second. Tunes such as ‘Stay In Love’ and ‘Owe Me’ were dropped with consummate precision, creating an effortless flow between tracks that many DJs simply fail to achieve.

When retreating for a fag towards the end of the set, it was clear that at least 200 people were unable to get upstairs. I cannot criticise the management of Sound Control enough for this. They had obviously oversold the tickets, and there were even rumours of having to pay an extra £15 to get back upstairs. After saying “bollocks to that” I retreated down a level, only to find Scuba and Damu tearing it up. They were arguably on par with Jaar; Scuba in particular ripped through banger after banger. The fist-pumping, chemical induced atmosphere was pretty special and proved to be a fantastic distraction to the whole not-being-allowed-upstairs palaver.

Again, if it wasn’t for the oversold nature of the gig, it would’ve been completely spectacular. Should Nico play Manchester again in the near future then I sincerely hope I am able to get a ticket. I also sincerely hope it’s not at Sound Control.

Nicolas Jaar – Stay in Love