Jon Hopkins [Live]

BY ALEX ZINOVIEFF
TUESDAY, 11TH MARCH 2014

Jon Hopkins produces electronic music unlike anything else there is in the world. It hops from heart-squeezing piano solo’s, to deep-house beats, to experimental electronic arrangements. This results in a varied fan-base. One side of the listeners will feel more at home with the beats, the other the nuances. Each, I would guess, also takes a special, even particular, satisfaction in the other side. This manifests itself, at a show of his, in an intriguing collection or ravers wearing horn rimmed spectacles, and intellectuals wearing nike air’s.

The show was in The Forum - a venue more commonly associated with a a conventional ‘band’ setup, and I’m afraid to say that the performance was affected by this. Everything about the show was like a conventional gig - except the music. People didn’t really know whether to let go and dance, or whether they were witnessing a sacred musical moment, and so should stand and ‘appreciate’. This meant that there was a kind of awkward half-way. After a while I just closed my eyes and allowed myself to be taken along by it. It was amazing, really amazing, but I couldn’t help but feel that it may have been better if it had been set up as more of a committed lose-yourself-in-a-sweaty-basement type scenario.

Jon Hopkins is right up there with my favourite musicians in the world. I put what he creates in the highest bracket that I have, and I think his record ‘Immunity’ is a masterpiece. His set was clever, and engaging, but I don’t think that the setting was the best vessel for it.

When I took my borrowed pair of nike air’s off when I got home I was still thinking curiously about the set. Jon Hopkins has a way of stirring intrigue, and of touching you in a way I can’t think I’ve ever experienced in electronic music before. If you we’re to listen to the live set as a download, you would think it is perfect - constructed by an electronic music genius. It was. Hopkins just needs to get his live vibe right.