The xx at Electric Picnic: 'These former gourmands of glum were perfect party starters'
NIGHT had fallen as the xx began their Electric Picnic headline slot. A backdrop of gathering darkness would once have been made to measure for the London three-piece. But with their most recent album, I See You, they’ve thrown open the shutters and let the light in.
So it went at Stradbally, with Oliver Sim, Romy Madley Croft and Jamie Smith abandoning their traditional severity. In place of the melancholy for so long their call sign, the stage was bathed in warm light: oranges, reds and purples that reflected the tone of the new music.
Sunny new tracks such as Dangerous and Say Something Loving glided on spring-coiled beats, weaving guitar and melodies demanding to be hummed.
About last night...@the_xx #EP2017 pic.twitter.com/gA2oZZnWAF
— Electric Picnic (@EPfestival) September 2, 2017
With the elaborate light show cycling through its rainbows hues, Sim, a once notoriously shy frontman, threw himself about, as did bassist Madley Croft. At the back, producer Jamie Smith presided over keyboards like the pop equivalent of a mad scientist.
As raconteurs they'll never be world class. Sim confined himself to some remarks about what an honor it was to play Electric Picnic; Madley Croft was even more quietly spoken.
Then, who comes to an xx gigs for the banter? This was an tour de force of brittle intensity – full of sound, fury and significance.
The band’s upbeat new disposition has not been universally embraced – but Electric Picnic lapped it up (the doubters will have been assuaged by catalogue standards VCR and Crystalised). With the weekend really just beginning, these former gourmands of glum were perfect party starters.
