Basement Jaxx bring the party to Cardiff Castle’s penultimate show
Words: Chloe Michelle
Photos: Phil Jones-Jeffreys
Photo: Phil Jones-Jeffreys
★★★★★
If you’ve never heard of Basement Jaxx, I can almost guarantee you know a handful of their discography. Personally, my introduction to them stemmed from CBBC using ‘Where’s Your Head At’ as their theme for the majority of the 2000s. Knowing they were bringing a show to our Welsh capital, I couldn’t miss the party!
Joining them in Cardiff were a handful of artists - No Fun!, Alex Mills DJ, Ezra Collective and Eats Everything.
I arrived later that the gates as did the majority of ticket holders but I made it just in time for Ezra Collective to get the crowd grooving. What a treat as a first act to walk into. With no lyrics, we were greeted to fully instrumental jazz vibes. Amongst the almost full to the brim crowd were hundreds of dancing participants, including some of the band themselves as they made sure to take their party into their fans.
As soon as Eats Everything came on stage, the crowd got that little bit wilder. I don’t know what he did to the crowd but they suddenly became extra rowdy and party activated. I think Depot did a great job with the line up to warm everything up as by the time Basement Jaxx graced the stage, we were all pumped and ready to go!
Photo: Phil Jones-Jeffreys
Now, I’m not too sure how to explain their staging other than saying - silver steel futuristic dresses, acrobatics and men in a hole. You heard right - both of the men of Basement Jaxx; Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe, were conducting their set from a hole in the stage. There were so many people on the stage, it was difficult to know where to look but everywhere you did look, you were watching something spectacular. The opening song ‘Good Luck’ was a good way to show the crowd what to expect but as soon as they moved into ‘Bingo Bango’, we were bouncing like it was nobody’s business.
They did in fact do a cover of an unexpected song. It was very brief but it definitely made me giggle. I did not attend a Basement Jaxx show thinking I was going to hear ‘Get Low’ by Lil Jon, but alas, I did and I was absolutely okay with that.
They knew we all wanted ‘Where’s Your Head At’ so they made us wait until it was coming to the end of their set but it was a great way to end a party in the castle.
Photo: Phil Jones-Jeffreys