Faithless at the Manchester Arena Review
Faithless
Manchester Arena
5 December 2015
Reviewed by Wayne Corrigan
Ageless, Timeless, Faithless…
Lights off, lasers on and the band that changed dance music at the turn of the century took to the stage for the final show of a special four date UK tour celebrating their 20th anniversary and the recently released remix album ‘Faithless 2.0’.
The tour came after the announcement in August that they were coming out of their four year retirement and they definitely didn’t fail to impress.
Five years and one day on from their last appearance in Manchester they open with the Emergency/Machines R Us instrumental combination that showed off the guitar skills of new band member Peredur ap Gwynedd from drum and bass outfit Pendulum who are currently on a hiatus.
Then Maxi strides on stage, resplendent in the customary suit, and we are in to All Races All Colours, as ever the precursor to the first anthem of the night, God is a DJ… yes, as the mass of bouncing bodies in both the seats and on the floor shows, this is their church.
Muhammad Ali, with male collaborator LSK taking the initial lead, followed along with Crazy Bal’Heads and Mass Destruction before perhaps the one that everyone was waiting for, the crescendo building Insomnia, with those famous Sister Bliss keyboard notes that help to make it one of the greatest dance tunes of all time.
The 58 year old took a break and the latest female vocalist, following Pauline Taylor, Dido and Zoe Johnston, Kyla La Grange took front stage to give us the one new track of the evening, Hands.
The 2nd half of the performance rolled out more greatest hits and anthems including 1995 debut single Salva Mea, before finishing with the apt Not Going Home, that of course no one wanted to do.
Miss U Less, See U More and the now iconic ending of We Come 1 made up the encore, as Maxi said, you know the protocol
Could Manchester feel that energy, yes they could…
For more information and tour dates visit www.faithless.co.uk. The new album Faithless 2.0 is out now!
For other shows at the Manchester Arena visit www.manchester-arena.com.