Ten years ago Simon Green, aka Bonobo, played to 25 people at the Jazz Rooms.
Five albums later and the Brighton-born bass and buttons boy can sell out the Dome without much fuss.
That’s thanks to five albums of down-tempo electronica, trip hop and jazz, which have become standard issue fodder for after-hours chill-outs and creatives plugged into Apple Macs in Californian coffee shops.
The decade-long journey gave this show a celebratory feeling.
There was a four-piece string section and three-piece wind section to beef up the programming, plus Jack Baker’s flawless, at times Buddy Rich-like drumming, as well as guitars and keys. The first hour felt like one continuous mix, with Green keeping tracks flowing with little touches and wandering, shifting moods and atmospheres, which made for a subtle transposing of record to stage.
Then came Kiara, a track from his fourth record, Black Sands, and the sound of a 2am walk through Tokyo. With flickering city lights behind, Green switched between bass and triggering samples, and his knack for fusing electronic music with instrumentation unravelled. Even a flute solo managed to sound right on after a rollicking drum solo and some impressive sax from Mike Lesirge puffing under the spotlight.
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