Jon Hopkins @TheForum, KentishTown, 22/02/2014
I bought tickets for Jon Hopkins in September when Shan had told me that his set at Bestival was amazing plus I had fallen in love with his album Immunity, nominated for a Mercury Prize last year. The night was sold out months ago and the anticipation was big, so big that I had to cut my holidays in Amsterdam a day short to make it back in time for Jon Hopkins.
The news at his official site read : “I am playing my biggest live AV show to date on Feb 22nd at the London Forum.”, so I have to admit I had great expectation for the night.
He came on stage around 11:30, after an unexplained 45′ minutes of uncomfortable standing around time. Yet 50 minutes later i couldn’t feel reconciled. Having read his quote on his official site and knowing that he would play only for an hour, I was expecting a set for the fans, a set for festival people. Afterall, it was a Saturday night at the Forum, a dark enough place to dance off to electronic music.
His set had brilliant moments (see Collider) but it lacked continuation. Many times I felt like a kid who was given a cone of ice cream and as I was about to take a bite of my favourite part, the ice cream fell down on the floor. One of those moments was during Open Eye Signal, mainly because I was expecting an extended version rather than exactly the album version, and not even as loud as I usually play it at home.
Disappointed as I was, I still enjoyed him on stage. He has a great dynamic and I loved his dance moves. In general I was receiving a good vibe from him and during his limited great moments, his talent and originality overpowered everything else.
Support came from Daphni, Luke Abbott and Objekt, with the last one taking over after Hopkins with a very good dance set. Despite feeling personally hurt by Jon Hopkins, it was still a good Saturday night as I got to feel “kinda” cool arriving at the venue straight after the airport carrying a suitcase, I got to catch up with friends and listen to Jon Hopkins.
My Life in gigs 