Laurent Garnier has good reason to wince at the mention of 'Crispy Bacon'. Quite apart from the fact that his most famous single has been the staple of his encore routine for 13 years, there’s great irony in the perception that Garnier only has the one song to serve as his crowd-pleasing epilogue. If anything, it may even be somewhat injurious to what he prides himself on most; being a shapeshifter who gleefully aquaplanes over genres with abandon, restlessly reconstructing new sounds and styles in his own image.
His fondness of novelty extends to tonight’s setup, too; the accompaniment of a live band - saxophone, trumpet, keyboard and sometimes an electric guitar - adds substantively to the ‘wow factor’ that Garnier aspires to. Of his more eclectic offerings tonight, the low frequency rumble of 'It’s Just Muzik' shows a more aggressive stylistic tone—a rarity in Garnier’s catalogue—as do the spindly keys and foreboding creep of 'Pay TV' from last year’s excellent Tales Of A Kleptomaniac LP. He continues to skip ebulliently from dubstep and garage to quasi-African rhythms, but the duration of his setlist, in some way, sticks to his favoured template of thrilling, stratosphere-escalating jazz riffs.
Garnier’s show is equally impressive for the manner in which he addresses potential misadventure. Morrissey, take note: Garnier doesn’t get pissy over a stray bottle directed his way, slyly sidestepping before smirking at the offending culprit and carrying on uninterrupted. Even a technical interruption midway through, thanks to a faulty laptop, doesn’t seem to disturb his flow too much; all things considered, he handles the two minute blackout with admirable composure.
You’ll be wondering about the encore. 'Crispy Bacon'? Of course he did. Even if it may rest uneasily with his adventurous streak, a boozy shout from the gallery sees that the consensus is obliged. The similarly popular and arguably superior 'The Man With The Red Face' follows, and so confirms that even if Garnier defines himself by his prescience and sheer audacity, he remains an entertainer first.
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