Gig review: Underworld at The Piece Hall, Halifax

Karl Hyde and Rick Smith’s 45-year musical odyssey has encompassed many genres, from Kraftwerk meets reggae (Screen Gemz) to arty new wave (Freur) and frilly-shirted funk with synthesisers (Underworld Mk I), but it’s as pioneers of techno, progressive house and ambient they’ve made a much deeper impression on British music.

Here in the spectacular surroundings of Halifax’s Italianate Piece Hall, they draw on their catalogue from the last three decades, weaving new material in with classics from their 90s pomp when the albums dubnobasswithmyheadman, Second Toughest in the Infants and Beaucoup Fish created new possibilities for dancefloor-friendly electronic music with an experimental edge.

The early start to tonight’s proceedings, it must be said, wrongfoots quite a few, with long queues for security checks at the entrance gates when Hyde and Smith commence the first part of their set with the gentler likes of Low Burn, Trim and Dirty Epic. But by the time the smoke machines are in full effect and the beats per minute quicken, the courtyard is close to capacity.

Mmm Skyscraper I Love You sees Hyde in shamanic role, leading a wave of jerky dancing while reciting stream-of-conscious beat poetry about seeing Elvis and “porn dogs sniffing the wind for something new”. Behind a bank of gadgetry, Smith’s basslines and dancebeats intensify with the 2022 remix of Juanita and they rattle the ribcage in the pounding Tin There reworking of Pearl’s Girl.

After a half-hour breather, while a lighting rig is hung from the stage gantry, they return. Hyde might have swapped his T-shirt for a black shirt, but the mood is anything but sombre. Jumbo, one of their prettiest tunes, gives way to the four-to-the-floor beat of Denver Luna then the clattering drum & bass of STAR (Rebel Tech) and a reprise of Pearl’s Girl.

However, it’s in the hypnotic bass throb and kickdrum thump of Dark and Long (Dark Train) where they truly achieve transcendence. “From Romford to Halifax always” the giant screen behind them declares and the party is in full swing.

Two Months Off, Rez and Cowgirl are greeted like old friends; newer tracks like And The Colour Red and Fen Violet bring a manic air before Hyde suddenly become garrulous. “We like smoke and lasers, we like lights and groove,” he declares, then thanks his father, saying: “I would not be doing this if he had not bought me a guitar when I was seven.”

They finish off with King of Snake and an epic version of one of the ’90s greatest dance anthems, Born Slippy Nuxx, complete with smoke, lasers, lights and groove and a sea of hands in the air.

“Halifax Piece Hall. You. Are. Beautiful,” Hyde tells the audience and he and a beaming Smith embrace, then take a bow. Job done – and how.