Portishead - Roseland New York

Sometimes i feel guilty for not liking an artist or an album. For example, Tom Waits, or Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' Murder Ballads, or the third Portishead album, aptly titled Third. I flicked over to NPR on the drive home just in time to hear a flashback of Brian Eno telling Bob Boilen about how excited he was by a Portishead track, and they'll be my focus tonight.

Like i said, i feel bad for not liking Third. After the agonizing 11 year wait, i wanted real trip hop again. I still don't like it, especially now that the other iconic band famous for exponentially extending the space between albums dropped what i consider to be an acceptable Tool album. Double especially considering when Failure finally decided to make another album after a decade plus hiatus, they said to themselves "it has to be a real continuation of Fantastic Planet, or we should just abandon the whole thing now."

Luckily, i'm in charge and i can decide to watch the Roseland concert like it was the last thing they ever did. It's basically both amazing albums played astoundingly well in front of a live audience.

Trip Hop is straight out of Bristol, and Portishead, Massive Attack, and Tricky are its imagineers. The official definition is down tempo, sample heavy, jazz/soul infused hip-hop, with an emphasis on atmospheric/environmental textures. Hip-hop on downers without rap is what it is.

For the uninitiated, Beth Gibbons has a very unique voice that can do things you've never heard before. This performance isn't as harsh as the studio albums, though.

As you'll see, it takes a hell of a lot of gear and people to do this stuff live, but it's glorious. Really, the only things unenjoyable are Adrian Utley's gum chewing, and goofy audience members. If you've never seen it, then you're missing out.

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