Review: Tricky at the Belly Up
March 26th, 2009 . by Jilly
Tricky performed to a sold out audience at Belly Up in Solana Beach, CA on Monday. Although Tricky has moved on from his trip hop roots, his audience has not. Like it or not, all anyone wants from him is another Maxinquaye. I know the era has come and gone, but he’s too prolific of an artist to be forgotten.
Whatever Tricky does is remarkably entertaining, gesturing up to the sky, banging the mic on his chest, dancing around, smoking and more smoking. He has such a stage presence. The audience is putty in his hands. He has set the mood. Most of the singing was done by Francesca Bolton, who has an incredible Martina voice, but lacks the presence of Tricky.
He really got the audience worked up with the Public Enemy cover ‘Black Steel’ and also performed great covers of ‘The Lovecats‘ and ‘Dear God‘. The crowd went wild for ‘Overcome’.
Still, this is Tricky. I may not love everything that he makes, but his music is smoky, sensual, and rich and his performances are to be savored.
A few of my favorites…
‘Evolution Revolution Love’
‘Broken Homes’ featuring PJ Harvey
‘Overcome’
‘Wanna Die’
‘Black Steel’
‘Christiansands’
