In partnership with Frontier Touring
With nearly 30 years at the top of the game, The Chemical Brothers are a one-in-a-million act that not only pioneered but prevailed. Unlike many trailblazers, they were not consumed by the fire they ignited but instead managed to stay ahead of it. Still touring and releasing groundbreaking albums in 2023, The Chemical Brothers are the very definition of perennial.
Ultimately, The Chemical Brothers’ longevity is owed to two main factors. The first is the most obvious and self-evident truth that they wrote, and continue to write, songs that people love. Since the era when physical sales ruled the earth, The Chemical Brothers have shifted upward of 15million records. In the streaming world, they top 3.5million monthly listeners on Spotify alone.
The other secret to their enduring success is that their live show is regarded as one of the world’s best. This is affirmed by The Chemical Brothers’ ability to sell out arenas globally – excitingly, their tour will make landfall Down Under next year – and their near-constant inclusion on the world’s most sought-after festival lineups – with six jaunts at Glastonbury, and a staggering seven visits to Coachella, to name but two.
Enter Adam Smith and Marcus Lyall; the production geniuses who have masterminded The Chemical Brothers’ live show for over 25 years. Along with lighting director Jean-Christophe Aubrée and audio engineer Shan Hira, Smith and Lyall present The Chemical Brothers in a stunning concert experience that is a tightly conceptualised and executed marvel of sight and sound.
The production team use the setlist as a roadmap – working with cinematographers, dancers and performers to create abstract characters, which are then projected onto a giant screen at the back of the stage. Behind it is a kinetic lighting rig perfectly mapped to the video content… projecting through the screen, becoming part of the characters and giving them extra depth.
On top of all this is a house rig of lights, lasers, strobes and just about anything else you can think of, providing endless possibilities for syncing the music with stimulating optics. Much as the setlist changes regularly, so too do the visuals, meaning that seeing one show is not seeing them all. Each tour is a new and exciting experience that encourages repeat visitation.
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The results are as jaw-dropping to witness as they are groundbreaking to make. While the band are tethered to their equipment, the choreography of the lights and projections is their stage presence – the third member of the band. Up close or from a distance, the audience is drawn into an immersive fantasy world of sensory hallucination.
- READ MORE: Prepare yourself for The Chemical Brothers’ exclusive show in Victoria with these 12 songs
Hence The Chemical Brothers’ universality. Their music has proven to be timeless – appealing to older, long-term fans, while continuing to enlist each new generation. Age is irrelevant, as is the depth of one’s fandom. From the hardcore fan to the casual, such is the spectacle of The Chemical Brothers’ live show that it is magical with or without the context of knowing each song.
So even though their emergence was part of a movement that emanated from the ’90s UK nightclub scene – a very specific time and place – The Chemical Brothers transcended both. Their music stayed cutting edge, they never stopped making records or touring, and as a result their popularity continued to grow over the years, like a snowball rolling down a mountain.
The Chemical Brothers’ immortality is also rooted partly in the inclusion of their music in movies and TV shows. From The Sopranos to Vanilla Sky to Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, these are works that have their own enduring popularity. For The Chemical Brothers to be embedded in a movie or TV show is a permanent tribute… a reminder of their lofty place within pop culture at large.
The Chemical Brothers are bigger today than ever – with no signs of slowing down anytime soon. They have an incredible legacy, are still producing vital work, and their live show is a pinnacle of production. Thus, their enduring relevance is simply a question of quality… they are, without question, one of greatest electronic acts of all time.
The Chemical Brothers tour Australia in February-March 2024, performing one-night-only east-coast shows at Riverstage Brisbane (February 27), Sydney Showground (February 29) and A Day On The Green at Mt Duneed Estate Geelong (March 2). Find tickets and more info here