Underworld @ Roundhouse

Underworld are back with a new album called "Barbara Barbara, We Face a Shining Future" and played 2 nights at the Roundhouse in Camden. I was at the second night they played.

There was no support act, just recorded music playing when we arrived. The venue announced beforehand that Underworld were due on stage at 21:00, but then signs in the venue said it was 20:50. Sure enough, they were on stage at the advertised time of 20:50 and would play right the way through to the 23:00 curfew.

The started off with a couple of tracks from the new album, "I Exhale" and "If Rah". Both tracks seemed a bit more punky than their previous work, sounding a bit more similar to LCD Soundsystem. Next up came the classic "Dark Train" followed by "Juanita" and was evident the crowd were more familiar with these tunes. Then it was back to the new material before being followed up by another classic, "Two Months Off" which really got the crowd going.

Over an hour into the concert, singer Karl Hyde explained that the night before during the next track they were about to play the venue had to be evacuated because the smoke machine set off the fire alarms. The track was "King of Snake" and fortunately they managed to get through the track no problem.

They finished off the gig with "Rez", "Cowgirl" and finally "Born Slippy". There was no encore, so they played non stop for the full 2 hours 10 minutes. Not bad for a couple of guys who are almost 60.

One complaint though, the venue itself was a bit too crowded for my liking. Some people prefer it that way, but there was very little room to dance and I don't think I've been to a gig where there have been so many people walking past me before, which makes it hard to concentrate on the performance. We heard a couple of guys complain about the same thing on the tube home.

Aside from this, it was a good gig. It wasn't the first time I've seen Underworld and hopefully won't be the last. They have been together for an incredible 36 years and show no signs of slowing down just yet.