Take Me 2 The Jungle

Basement Jaxx @ Central Park 7/1/2015
Good Luck / Unicorn / Power 2 The People / Red Alert / Taiko / Back 2 The Wild / What’s The News? / Oh My Gosh / Everybody / Never Say Never / Romeo / Jump N Shout / Buffalo / Raindrops / Do Your Thing / Rock This Road / Where’s Your Head At? / Rendez-Vu / Bingo Bango

Basement Jaxx “Back 2 the Wild (Jaxx Extended Mix)”

The problem with seeing shows in Central Park these days is that the volume of the music is so low that it doesn’t totally register as actual live music. This is a problem for any music that’s designed to physically move you – the bass frequencies are buried, and the snap of beats have little to no impact. When I saw Spoon a few weeks ago, Britt Daniel apologized to the audience for the quiet sound at their Central Park gig last year, and said that he was furious about it. I was at that show, and yeah, it was by far the weakest Spoon show I’ve ever seen, and that had nothing to do with their actual performance. It just barely felt like they were there.

I’ve seen Basement Jaxx once before, and it was one of the most transcendental live gigs I’ve ever witnessed. It was at Webster Hall, and it was very loud and everyone was dancing like maniacs in close quarters. I distinctly remember the floor shaking most of the time. Basement Jaxx’s live band show is a huge spectacle, with lots of singers and dancers and guys in gorilla suits. It’s the ideal manifestation of their musical aesthetic – joyful, soulful, hyper-physical, over-the-top. Their show last night in Central Park was all of these things, but definitely far too quiet. But despite that, the audience went crazy anyway, because how do you respond to all that stimulation without surrendering to it? How do you hear songs like “Red Alert,” “Back 2 the Wild,” “Do Your Thing” and “Where’s Your Head At” without flipping out? Why on earth would you go to a Basement Jaxx show if you didn’t come to dance? The Jaxx machine is so relentless and powerful that being a bit too quiet is not going to stop it.

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