House & Garage Orchestra
The Globe, Cardiff
Sat 24 Nov
Orchestral renditions are becoming increasingly more prevalent on the fringe of live music, reimagining everything from Daft Punk’s Greatest Hits to Dr Dre’s The Chronic. The garage prophet himself, Mike Skinner, once asked “has it come to this?” and it seems the time has indeed come: to rebirth the genre’s seminal creations with the inevitable added intensity and grandeur of the orchestra.
A likely nostalgic experience, providing reminiscent hallucinations of the golden era of clubbing – for those that were around to witness it. All brought by a full orchestral sound and even accompanied by some of the original tracks’ singers and MCs: Kele La Roc, Sweetie Irie, MC Neat and others. Naturally it’s expected that the plethora of iconic anthems house and garage have brought about will be reincarnated. The likes of Flowers, A Little Bit Of Luck and Closer Than Close will undoubtedly be heard in all their new-found symphonic glory. Whether the tempo and rhythms will stay true to the genre remains to be seen.
UK garage defined a swathe of British culture for a long period of the 90s and 00s, and is now being displaced from the sweating night club, brought to a theatre and reenacted organically with actual drums and trumpets. Has it come to this?
words Charlie Piercey
Tickets: £17.50. Info: 07590 471888 / globecardiffmusic.com