Squarepusher @ The Roundhouse

My head is fuzzy today, so I'm going to keep this brief.

All I really have to say about this bloody fantastic show is that I thought it was a helluva lot better than Amon Tobin's. It may be unfair, but the two shows are linked in my mind because a) they were both electronic music shows that used massive visual displays as a big part of their appeal and b) they happened within a few weeks of each other, duh.

For me, Squarepusher succeeded where Tobin failed because he got the audio/visual balance right. Tobin was musically weak and boring, and the contrast between the tame audio and the flashy visuals emphasised that lameness. Whereas Squarepusher was musically badass, and so the visuals and audio reinforced each other, as they're supposed to.

Even leaving aside the quality of the music, I actually enjoyed Squarepusher's visuals more than Tobin's despite them probably being (I'm guessing) less technologically advanced, creative, and labour-intensive. They were simpler, but more effective.

I've seen Squarepusher live at least three times now, the other two occasions I can definitely remember being at the Royal Festival Hall a few years back and as part of some ATP thing about 18 months ago. The Festival Hall show was fantastic, whereas I can hardly remember the ATP one - my mate had to remind me of it last night, and apparently we weren't impressed, as my memory failure attests. Anyway, my point is only that I don't have a  Squarepusher bias: even he has to put a shift in to impress, and last night he did.

The Roundhouse itself was also a great venue for the event. I think I'm right in saying that the stage was positioned more towards the centre of the room than normal, and with the room being circular, that meant that the stage could be wider than if it had been further back, and therefore so could the visuals. Presumably the capacity was reduced as a result, so hats off to the Roundhouse for doing it: it was an excellent decision.

Finally, we discovered that the downstairs restaurant bar sells bottles of Delirium Tremens, so we were able to enjoy some of Belgium's (and lets face it, that means the world's) finest while watching the show - an unexpected delight that explains why today my head feels like someone has asked me to solve the world financial crisis while juggling cats. Just don't go spreading it around: if too many people find out there won't be enough for me next time.

Mmm, Delirium.