Reviewed: Chris Liebing at Village Underground

Most people are overly sceptical about magic and with good reason. The general instinctive perspective seems to be that nobody believes wizards are real, that is until they see one in real life of course.

On Friday night we took to Village Underground, deep in the heart of Shoreditch to watch the Techno sorcerer that is Chris Liebing. We were graced with a marathon 5+ hour set of storytelling proportions, perfectly accompanied by the setting of one of London’s premier underground venues.

For those of you that haven’t had the pleasure of visiting Village Underground, it is an intimate warehouse space set just off the hustle and bustle of Shoreditch High Street. The venue itself plays host to everything from concerts and club nights to exhibitions, theatre, live art and other performances.

Given the above, you can imagine it is the kind of place that is ideal for creating a utopian Techno cave environment. Just as we were expecting, it did not disappoint in the slightest; the robust brickwork and contained space made for some super acoustics and were abused in the best way possible by Chris during his onslaught.

Sporting a tricked out setup, including the renowned PLAYdifferently MODEL 1 mixer as used by some of the greatest artists on the planet such as Luciano, Dubfire, Loco Dice, Paco Osuna & Richie Hawtin to name but a few; the music was only ever going to reach the creatively masterful end of the performance spectrum.

For the most part of the artistically beautiful journey that we embarked on with Chris, we experienced abstract layering of different sounds that progressively captivated not only us but the entirety of the sold-out crowd too.

It’s plain to see why Mr Liebing has such a highly engaged following behind his weekly AM/FM podcasts, as what we experienced was nothing short of an educational exhibition of non-format engineering. At times he would take already great productions and then use what looked to be a Native Instruments Maschine Mk3 sampler to add additional colour and personality that matched the dark and sinister aura of the room.

Put simply, Chris’ set was living testament to his status within the Techno community. He is, without a doubt, a true music pioneer of our time and someone that any aspiring artist could learn a thing or two from.

We came expecting greatness, and thanks to the amazing hospitality and incredibly raw, gripping Techno music we left with an ear to ear smile, completely satisfied by the fact that we had been on the receiving end of one of the highest calibre performances available anywhere on the planet.

Photo Credit: Rob Jones   Instagram – @hirobjones