It hasn’t been easy trying to see James Blake while at school. Whenever he’d announce a US tour, he’d only come through D.C.’s 9:30 Club and it would be at the most inopportune times. Whether it would be during finals period or on a weekday when I couldn’t juggle schoolwork and going to a concert in D.C., seeing James Blake perform live seemed to be a quixotic goal. But I remained patient and optimistic, knowing that Blake would perform in D.C. at the right time during the school year. So when I heard about the James Blake show this past Saturday, Nov. 2nd, I knew I couldn’t have asked for a better day and that I had to go.
Unfortunately, I missed the opener Nosaj Thing, a promising experimental producer who is known for his very visually elaborate live show. However, James Blakes’ performance by itself more than made up for it. I had seen his 9:30 Club performance back in late May on NPR, so I kind of knew what to expect, but seeing it live in person just brings his material to a whole other level.
To start, Blake walked onto the stage by himself and performed “I Never Learnt to Share,” a song that starts off with a simple vocal loop that eventually explodes into layers of synths, bass, and vocals. Despite the depressing nature of the lyrics (“My brother and my sister don’t speak to me, but I don’t blame them”), you can safely say that every girl in the room let out a screech of joy with every dip and turn Blake’s voice took as he created that vocal loop. It was even hard for me to not let out a sound of excitement as he seamlessly created layers upon layers of his own vocals, which formed beautiful harmonies and undertones that you just can’t find with many other musicians. Then the synth lines and bass kicked in and shook your entire being in the most soothing way. The song finished with you wanting more, and the two other members of his live band (a drummer and a guitarist, who produces his own music under the moniker Airhead) appeared on stage, but this was merely Blake warming up; there is much more in store for the rest of the night.
The rest of his set list contained his hits of old (“Klavierwerke,” “The Wilhelm Scream”), new (“Overgrown,” “Retrograde”), and as he put, during the first break between songs, “everything in between.” He also promised to get all of us into “a zone,” which you can’t exactly describe with words in a cohesive sentence, but everyone in the audience definitely seemed to feel it.
Songs like “Digital Lion” and “Limit To Your Love,” while already enjoyable in their studio form, were remixed on the spot and transformed into incredible dub-techno inspired tracks that just got your feet moving. It became an emotional dance party with these majestic and operatic sound landscapes of acid synths, body-shaking bass, and haunting, yet beautiful vocal harmonies that contain a groove that was just too hard to ignore. This was done for many of the tracks for the night, including “Klavierwerke,” “CMYK,” and “The Wilhelm Scream,” and is what sets Blake’s live material apart from its studio counterpart.
Hearing the lead single, “Retrograde,” off his recent Mercury Prize winning album, Overgrown, was also quite an event in itself. Despite that fact that he has probably played this song countless times over the past year, Blake still puts so much emotion into the performance; there is no sense of jadedness or disheartenment present. “Retrograde” is arguable one of the best songs released this year and Blake’s outstanding performance of it further cements that idea.
For his encore, James Blake did a solo performance of the track “Measurements,” off his self-titled debut album, a very simple, yet elegant song that consists of an intricate vocal melody with a sparse bass and keyboard accompaniment. While Blake joked before that he does vocal loops and harmonies for practically every song and that this was nothing new for him, Blake does so with such mastery and variation, especially with this song.
