The Bays at The Phoenix

Saw The Bays at the Phoenix last night. This is the band who don't release records, just tour, playing live improvised dance-oriented music. Drums, bass, keyboards and other electronic gadgets. Great stuff. A while ago I'd downloaded some of their free MP3's (a set they played in Haifa last year), and wasn't wildly excited by what I heard, but they made sense when I saw them live.


The Bays live at the Big Chill festival, 2002
The deep/minimal house stuff they played worked really well for me. If it had been a DJ set, I would have made a note of the DJ's name and looked out for it in future. Interestingly, though, had it been a DJ (playing exactly the same kind of set) it would have been much less exciting, and would probably not have been received with so much exuberant dancing.

A very nice vibe in the audience, good range and distribution of ages.

They veered into gentle psychedelic trance (that's what I'd call it, I'm sure other classifications could be applied) on several occasions, and finished off with a short drum 'n' bass set. The latter was a bit of a mess, as it happened, but I've been told they generally do some excellent D'n'B stuff. I've also discovered that they've worked with Brixton's finest MC, Ty, something I'd really like to hear.