Surgeon live at Gorilla review

Image Credit: Jack Kirwin

Anthony Child AKA Surgeon has been at the forefront of UK techno since the early 1990's. In a career that took him from the seminal House of God through Tresor and onto a worldwide stage, his watchword has always been evolution. Surgeon has been blurring the lines between DJing and live performance for over two decades, so we travelled down to Gorilla to catch the latest iteration of his live sound.

You may well have seen over the last few years that Surgeon has been taking a modular rig on stage with him (as in his blistering Dekmantel set, or his Lady Gaga support slot). This constantly evolving rig, coupled with a philosophy of starting every set with a blank slate means that each performance is a unique, never to be repeated experience.

It was a small but energetic crowd that awaited his set, boisterous and hyped. Having now entirely ditched the laptop, his performances have no barriers between the audience and performer, and he can respond to a crowd more intuitively than any standard DJ would be able.

When he last played in Manchester  his set was stripped back, with syncopated beeps and fizzes twisting round mathematically, before the set finally released into a burst of acid and melodic elements.

This time round however he read a different crowd and from the start gave us it hard and fast, with no melodic respite in sight. The pacey tempo and funky rhythms gave a pure transference of energy to an already pumped crowd.

Any melodic stabs where smudged and hidden under the relentless beat, as heavy 808 drums switched between four to the floor and afro-cuban clave rhythms. The soundsystem at Gorilla was loud and crisp without being overbearing or muddy, giving a great sound from anywhere in the venue, although Surgeon was clearly playing to the front of the crowd.

Vocal snippets and barebone melodic elements finally forced their way through the drum powerhouse for the final quarter of the set, however there was to be no grand release or resolution this time around, the set was kept dark and heavy to the end.

A rewarding experience for those in the crowd that could take the unrelenting nature of the set, this was Surgeon at his absolute rawest. It was a pleasure to see this iterance of the artist's sound with such an energetic audience. I can't wait to see what his ever-evolving setup throws up next.

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