Leftfield to get things up and rolling, this Monday – recorded live at Glastonbury 2000 by BBC Radio 1 on June 24, 2000.
Leftfield formed in London in 1989, a duo of Neil Barnes and Paul Daley (the latter formerly of The Rivals and A Man Called Adam). The duo was influential in the evolution of electronic music in the 1990s, with Mixmag describing them as “the single most influential production team working in British dance music”. As with many of their contemporaries, such as The Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim, Leftfield are notable for their use of guest vocalists in their works. Among them are Toni Halliday on “Original”, Johnny Rotten on “Open Up”, Djum Djum on “Afro-Left”, Earl 16 and Cheshire Cat on “Release the Pressure”, and Grian Chatten of Fontaines D.C. on “Full Way Round”. The term progressive house was coined to define their style, a fusion of house with dub and reggae.
There was a hiatus in recording and live performances between 2002 and 2010. When Barnes revived Leftfield, Daley declined to be involved, preferring to focus on his solo career. After touring for a few years, Barnes finished writing new material for a third Leftfield album, Alternative Light Source, which was released in 2015. In 2022, they released their fourth studio album, This Is What We Do.
In June 1996, while the group was playing at Brixton Academy, the sound system caused dust and plaster to fall from the ceiling; subsequently, the group was banned from ever returning to the venue. The ban however was taken by the band as a ban on the sound system and not themselves, which was confirmed when Leftfield returned to Brixton again on Saturday 20 May 2000.
In November and December 2010, Leftfield did a series of dates around the UK and Ireland. Friday 3 December’s gig saw more plaster fall from Brixton Academy’s ceiling.
Now it’s your turn – crank this one up and see if any plaster falls off YOUR ceiling.
Here’s Monday.
