Parker's ear for immersive arrangements is considerable, but there are moments, such as I'm a Man, that verge on the plodding.Ĭurrents is partly a chronicle of Parker's split with French singer-songwriter Melody Prochet, but it's a veiled process. Instead, on Eventually, he punctuates the song with dissonant synth belches, suggesting a spaced-out Tears for Fears.Īfter Let It Happen and the joyful skip and expressive clicks of The Moment, Currents grows moody, with mid-tempo rhythms or less that can chart downbeat 1970s pop on The Less I Know the Better or approximate vintage AM radio sparkle on Disciples before glinting synths kick in. He has no interest in the communal nature of club music and there are no ecstatic peaks in these songs. Parker is renowned for making Tame Impala's music by himself, a process acknowledged by the titles of his previous two albums: 2010's Innerspeaker and 2012's Lonerism. There's a hint of Daft Punk's throwback smash Get Lucky in the retro feel, but as the song extends itself, Parker adds a succession of baroque touches, including a surge of strings and treated guitar that make the track a mini-symphony. Rock'n'roll has become marginalised within popular music during the past few years, and while there are still popular and passionate niche genres (mostly of the heavier variety), the primacy of young men with guitars has begun to look pedestrian at times in the face of pop's female icons and electronic music's rise. West was challenged by closing night headliner The Who, who are fronted by the 71-year-old Roger Daltrey and 70-year-old Pete Townshend, which only emphasises the void West has taken it upon himself to fill.
It was a headline-catching comment typical of the Chicago rapper, but also exactly the type of thing rock stars used to loudly proclaim, as did Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant in 1975 when he surveyed Los Angeles from a hotel room balcony and said, "I am a golden god." A fresh shower of confetti and that’s that - the ‘Currents’ world tour wrapped up in a spellbinding fusion of music and visuals.Near the end of his top-billed slot on the first night of Britain's Glastonbury music festival several weeks ago, hip-hop luminary Kanye West proclaimed himself, "the greatest living rock star on the planet". It seems there won’t be long to wait, though: “One thing I can tell you London,” he starts, “the next time we’re here we’ll have a whole bunch of new songs to play”.įor an encore, the shimmering vintage crackle of ‘Feels Like We Only Go Backwards’, as fresh tonight as it was seven years ago, followed by ‘Currents’’ closing number ‘New Person, Same Old Mistakes’, not necessarily the type of show-stopping banger an arena show might usually close on, but then again, this is no ordinary arena show. Nothing unreleased gets aired, but recent single ‘Borderline’ is enough to whet twenty thousand appetites as a halo of lights descends from the heavens over the band like a flying saucer. Kev’s glossy vocals ooze over ‘Yes I’m Changing’ like a lava lamp, ‘Eventually’ kicks the energy back up. A brief interlude prefaces ‘The Less I Know The Better’, a storm of monumental, rumbling funk.Ĭuts from 2015’s outstanding ‘Currents’ make up the bulk of the setlist. “There’s the London crowd I know and love,” he beams, after ‘Apocalypse Dreams’ turns the cavernous arena to a skin-to-skin sweatbox. A huge screen above the stage provides trippy visuals, one second a desert landscape, the next abstract shapes or Kevin’s face soaked in wild colours. The night overflows with sensational moments from 2012’s ‘Lonerism’, ‘Elephant’ heaves itself up in almighty form, accompanied by a dazzling display of smoke and lasers.
#TAME IMPALA LET IT HAPPEN FROM ANOTHER ROOM PLUS#
Cram a festival field-worthy show into one room, mind, and the result is something of a spectacle, especially when said show opens with the zippy staccato synths of ‘Let It Happen’, plus a blizzard of rainbow confetti. The Aussie outfit aren’t new to this scale of performance in April they headlined Coachella, one of the most prolific slots on the music calendar, and a run of equally prestigious billings are set to follow in weeks to come. Except instead of prayer and ritual, tonight’s Tame Impala gig is the setting of an alien encounter complete with more lights, lasers, and synth goodness than you can shake a stick at. Guitar aloft, teetering on the edge of the enormous stage at London’s O2, Kevin Parker resembles some sort of psychedelic Jesus, the long-haired, spot lit focal point for a sea of adoring subjects.