If we accept as truth that Tricky made some of the most uncompromising and influential music of the 1990s- as well as his part in Massive Attack's Blue Lines, his debut album Maxinquaye with the voice of co- singer Martina Topley- Bird rewrote what UK rap/ blues/dub/ sound system music could be like and was instrumental in the development of trip hop. He then made Pre- Millennium Tension and Nearly God, both seriously heavy albums.
He's continued to release records, including 2020's Falls To Pieces and Fifteen Days (as Theis Thaws) and a new one comes out in July, Different When It's Silent. I haven't kept up with all his releases but the Theis Thaws single last year, Fly To Ceiling which had a David Holmes remix and another, Where Are You Lately, remixed by Radioactive Man, both got me listening to him again.
I got a ticket for his gig at Factory International in Manchester on Saturday night and a group of us headed down. The gig was, well, it was odd, some aspects of it were downright perplexing. Tricky is an artist and known for being fairly idiosyncratic and uncompromising. We were in the seated venue of the Factory arts centre which felt very formal from the off (there's a hall downstairs which is also used for gigs which is standing which would have been better).
The stage was dark, no spotlights. The three musicians at the back- a man on synths/ laptop, a drummer in the middle and a guitarist on the left- were all lit but the front of the stage where Tricky and two co- vocalists were, was in complete darkness. They stayed that way for the entire gig- not lights at all, just three shadowy figures either at the mic or moving back from it and waiting. The set was largely newer material and it was gripping stuff at times. The drummer (huge drum kit but only really used the snare, the floor tom and the kick) was good, the laptop/ synth operator did a lot of heavy lifting and the guitarist was on it, kicking up dirty, distorted punk riffs, slashing away when it needed it and playing quieter, single notes on the less intense songs.
Tricky did thank us after two or three of the songs but other than that there was little sense that we were involved in the gig. It felt more like a performance than a gig. At a gig, there's a shared experience, an energy between crowd and artist, a sense that the audience is part of it. It didn't feel like that. On some songs Tricky was barely present vocally. The two co- singers were great, very much in the sound and style of the songs he did with Martina in the 90s. Occasionally Tricky would rasp a few lines, approach the mic and gives us some of that half stoned/ half threatening magic. At times he was just a figure on stage in complete darkness. It's obviously his thing, they're his songs and it's his sound, he's in charge of it all- but a little more of him and maybe a flicker of spotlight or stage lights onto him would have been nice.
Halfway though the guitarist kicked into the familiar wah wah intro to Black Steel and the tension and intensity grew and the audience responded with cheers and applause. Black Steel is a seminal 90s tune, one of those songs that rewired the culture for me, a new take on Public Enemy's song, an anti- government, anti- military, anti- authoritarian tune with ferocious guitars and bass and huge punk drums. It was a significant part of the reason I was at the gig.
The singer on the right led it as the guitarist thrashed away and the drum got ready to explode, 'I got a letter from the government the other day/ Opened it and read it/ It said they were suckers'. I felt a jolt of excitement, a moment of electrification. Tricky wandered to the back of the stage, wandering round behind the drum riser. I expected he'd make his way back for the 'Many switch in, switch on, switch off ' lines', but he didn't. He came back after the song finished. A few songs later they played Overcome, the song that he shares with Massive Attack (Kormacoma on Protection) and again, a big moment for me and I'd imagine many of the audience.
'You sure you wanna be with me?/ I've nothing to give' is one of the bleakest opening lines in pop music and the song is one where love and sex merge with paranoia and dislocation, 'You're a couple/ 'specially when your bodies double/ Duplicate and then you wait/ For the next Kuwait'. It's dark and messy and reeks of the fug of weed. The band and singers play it perfectly. Then we go back to the newer songs, some of which gather steam, a few lines from Tricky here and there and then often just as it looks like the song's come together and going to fly, the guitarist and drummer locked in, they stop dead.
Forty five minutes and they're done and head off. Tricky leads the band back on for an encore, three more songs. 'Come on Tricky!' someone shouts from the seats below us. Still no lights, it could be anyone centre stage. Afterwards, chatting to a few other people near the bar, they felt the same. A few are pissed off, wanted or expected a little more. Most people are fairly sanguine- 'it's Tricky, it's what he does'. He definitely can't be accused of becoming a heritage act living off former glories and giving it some showbiz moves.
It was a little mystifying in a way and could have been so much more- some lights, some projections or films behind the band, a little bit more from the man himself. The band are really good and the sound is superb. The singers are great. It's up to him of course and god knows he's had to deal with some terrible stuff in his life but I was left with the feeling that Tricky was only partly there.