Soulwax have debuted new material as well as an ambitious stage show on their recent 2024 UK and European tour. Check out footage and photos below.
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The Belgian dance-punk icons performed their first live shows in five years with a 13-date run that kicked off on the continent before hitting the UK over the weekend.
NME attended the London date at The Roundhouse in London on Friday (February 2), where the Dewaele brothers were backed by a huge new live production and joined by a band that included three drummers and number of other musicians across synth and guitars.
While the trio of percussionists was a repeat from the band’s previous tours in support of predecessor albums ‘From Deewee’ and ‘Essential’, this time the electronic pioneers swapped the white outfits for all black in a show with a more cyberpunk edge – echoed by the interpretations of old material and the feel of the new songs aired.
Stephen Dewaele and David Dewaele of Soulwax, live 2024 (Photo by Mariano Regidor/Redferns)
Blake Davies of Soulwax performs in concert with Soulwax (Photo by Mariano Regidor/Redferns)
New song ‘Hot Like Sahara’ has been used to open the set, reminiscent of the rock leanings of the band’s earlier material before taking on a more dark and sci-fi dramatic turn. Other new material aired includes the paranoid post-punk-indebted ‘Idiots In Love’, the aggressive synthy rave-rock of ‘New Earth Time’, and the blissed-out mid-set breather of ‘Polaris’.
Watch footage of the new songs and from across the tour below.
Speaking to NME back in 2017, David Dewaele explained how the album ‘From Deewee’ was written with the “live set-up of three drummers in mind” – and that new material would also be in that vein.
“What we’re doing now is just trying to take that concept a bit further,” he said. “This won’t be a complete departure. It’s a system that works, and we don’t really feel that we’ve exhausted the whole idea of it. We’re all really good friends and it’s fun to be on tour, so we’re just like, ‘Let’s make another one’.”
After the London Roundhouse show, the Dewaele brothers played an intimate afterparty as 2ManyDJs at The Moth Club in Hackney.
Details of Soulwax’s sixth studio album and further tour dates are expected in the months ahead, but the Dewaele brothers will be bringing their legendary Despacio soundsystem and club night – in collaboration with LCD Soundsystem‘s James Murphy – to their the Wintercircus in Ghent, Belgium on March 16 and 17.
2ManyDJs will also be performing a DJ set at London’s Field Day as part of All Points East on Saturday August 24, on a day headlined by Justice and PinkPantheress.
Back in 2022, 2ManyDJs released the seminal ‘As Heard On Radio Soulwax Pt.2‘ to mark its 20th anniversary,
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