Rufus at The Hifi 13/9/13 - Live Review

There are few bands that manage to mesh dance and indie together well, but RÜFÜS manages to do just that, and the result is pretty damn good. I visited the Hi-Fi on Friday to see them play their debut album Atlas. The support acts were excellently chosen; Safia and YesYou both dabble in similar genres. Safia were impressive and incredibly soulful, with some heart-tugging chords. The small man behind all his equipment had an incredibly powerful voice, however the audience was dispersed and rowdy.

YesYou were a standout performance, the duo were joined by Jordan Rakei and Tara Simmons- polar opposites both physically and vocally. While the tiny frame of Tara shook with the intensity of her high-energy, high-pitched voice, Jordan stood next to her almost double the size with a low, sultry tone. The true talent however lay in the duo themselves; Jono would not only be fiddling with buttons, but also have a guitar hanging off him, a bass on a stand in front of him and sing backup vocals. Meanwhile Gav was hitting not only real percussion, but a digital percussion pad as well. Even the vocalists were hitting buttons on their iPads, everyone seemed well-rehearsed and very good at multitasking. Considering I cant even draw while speaking on the phone at the same time, the talent was mind blowing.

After what seemed like centuries, RÜFÜS come on stage. The crowd suddenly got a lot tighter, my ribcage was crushed against the metal fence, as the opening synths of Modest Life shook the tight Hi-Fi space. Tyrone announced they would perform Sundream, a song about “waking up next to a sexy girl…or guy”, to which several females (myself included) received suggestive glances from their partners. It was sexy. Pulsing deep beats underlay the falsetto voice of Tyrone singing “I want to feel that you want it” over and over. A lot of couples showed each other just that.

The following songs consisted of the typical RÜFÜS mixture of techno, heavy synth and tropical steel drum sounds, dancing bodies thrust into each other, and Tyrone poured the remains of his water bottle onto the sweaty-faced front row (cue running photographers protecting their equipment).

As it was only the second night on tour for their new album, it was impressive to see Rufus pull off each song effortlessly, clearly well-rehearsed. To my delight they also played Paris Collides, a 2011 classic which had old fans ecstatic and new fans surprised but impressed all the same. While their newer songs have distincter, snappier lyrics, the song is fantastically eery and slow to build up. Tyrone demonstrated a deeper, gravelly tone to his voice. James played complicated beats on drums and percussion pad throughout, but was given two opportunities to blow the crowds mind. And that he did. While Jon played a steady build up of subtle chords on synth, James effortlessly thrashed out complicated, energetic beats. Drum solos might be expected at a rock concert, but here it was the last thing anyone expected- and all the more impressive. Meanwhile Tyrone was perched on the edge of the stage, crooning to the crowd. It was great to see a band using the space of the stage and dangling dangerously close to the crowd, rather than standing behind their equipment the whole time.

Then all 3 members disappeared offstage, with a half-hearted wave goodbye. The crowd rumbled with various demands for an encore, and unsurprisingly, Jon returned on stage. What followed was an eclectic mix of experimental sounds reminiscent of a large spaceship taking off. The audience didn’t know what to do, as his experimental sounds continued for at least 3 minutes and the rest of the trio had not returned. Eventually the other two appeared on stage, and with them came a steady beat and the final song Imaginary Air, their most unguarded and experimental song of the album. Heavy hearted, they bid us farewell (for real this time), and the crowd was left sweaty and breathless. RÜFÜS are a must-see.

Review by Martina Calvi

Photos by Josh Groom more here

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