Concert Review: DJ Shadow, at Roxy, Prague, Connecting the Past and the Present

DJ Shadow has always been a well-rounded artist, creator and at the same time performer of his compositions. From his debut, with the multi-platinum Endtroducing..... from 1996, Joshua Paul Davis has made his style and tremendous originality clear.

He has done the same with Action Adventure (2023), however, this time there are no features, guests or collaborations of any kind; the album represents the artist as a whole and embodies an important point of his artistic life. He has disclosed: "If this is to be the last...because indeed, one never knows...it would be a fitting end to a charmed life in music."

And it was precisely with this same attitude that he took the stage before a full house, which had previously been delighted by an enchanting set from the Kentucky-born, Los Angeles-based DJ Amtrac. The lights went out and a message was broadcast behind the console: "Welcome to the DJ Shadow Action Adventure Tour. Everything you are going to hear is music by DJ Shadow."

The show started with some of his famous beats and a short hip-hop-style vocal introduction. The opening was then passed to the catchy "Slingblade", a track taken from the 2019 album Our Pathetic Age, a piece with ambient and dreamy characteristics. It eventually evolved into a medley with "Three Ralphs", from the album The Mountain Will Fall (2016), followed by "Scale It Back", from The Less You Know, the Better (2011).

Then came the enthralling "Power Curve", a Hybrid cover, combined with the engaging piece "Small Colleges (Stay With Me)". After this the more rhythmic and hip-hop-based section began, sending the audience into visible delirium and making the whole venue jump. Pieces like "Kings & Queens", "Systematic" and "C.O.N.F.O.R.M.", brought the performance to a festive level.

However, suddenly the mood changed, and the performance started sinking into a more experimental and electronic direction, with two songs that are part of DJ Shadow's experience with the group UNKLE, with whom he produced the famous album Psyence Fiction. It was from this album that he chose to bring to the stage (an extremely apt choice) "Lonely Soul" and the bombastic "Guns Blazing (Drums of Death Part 1)".

DJ Shadow's ability to engage with the audience reached its peak at this point and his communication skills seemed to have reached the entire audience. Thus came the songs "I Am Not a Robot", "Urgent, Important, Please Read" (as he said before performing it, his favourite song) and the touching "UBU". Subsequently, some pieces from the latest album were presented but mixed with earlier compositions from his career.

Therefore, we heard "You Played Me", the new single from Action Adventure, but interspersed with parts of "Enuff", a piece from the 2006 album The Outsider. Then followed the beautiful "Divine Intervention", "The Sideshow" and "March of Death". For a moment he approached more recent sounds, with the pieces "If I Died Today" (from Our Pathetic Age) and "A Narrow Escape", one of the most incisive pieces from his latest album, as well as "Ozone Scraper", also from Action Adventure. "What Does Your Soul Look Like?", a track from his first album, was thrown in to break things up.

The last part of the performance was a crescendo of rhythms and noise sounds and DJ Shadow, who had tirelessly used scratch and synth throughout the concert, started playing rhythm parts on the drums. Here the climax of the concert was reached, the audience responded to the impulse, and he seemed visibly satisfied with the crowd's reaction.

Thus, between small breaks to communicate with the audience, the most experimental and powerful pieces of his repertoire arrived, including "Give Me Back the Nights", "Walkie Talkie" and "Six Days", the latter two from his second album, The Private Press (2002). The end of the concert was entrusted to two pieces very representative of his style and sound, the unforgettable "Horror Show" and "Nobody Speak".

At this point, when everything seemed over and we were all satisfied and saturated by the musical experience, DJ Shadow returned to the stage, after the audience kept cheering for him to perform another couple of pieces. So it was time for the mighty "Drone Warfare" and "Rocket Fuel", and to close there couldn't have been a better song than "Organ Donor", from the album Endtroducing....., which seemed to close a perfect circle.

The show was exciting and engaging, not only because of Joshua's contact with the audience, who responded perfectly to the performance but also because of the visual support; some videos recalled themes from the 1990s (video games, old advertisements and film clips) but others depicted a world closer to our own, with images of fire, war, references to Israel and space landscapes.

It was a universe where the old met the new and everything was mixed, just like the music DJ Shadow presented. The past joined the present in conflict and in harmony, while generating ideas, visions and sensations that are part of today, but at the same time tickling the memory of the past.

DJ Shadow

07.03.2024

Roxy, Prague

Setlist

Slingblade

Three Ralphs

Scale It Back

Power Curve

Small Colleges (Stay With Me)

The Mountain Will Fall

Kings & Queens

Rosie

Systematic

Been Use Ta

C.O.N.F.O.R.M.

Lonely Soul

Guns Blazing (Drums of Death Part 1)

I Am Not a Robot

Urgent, Important, Please Read

This Time (I'm Gonna Try It My Way)

Blood on the Motorway

UBU

You Played Me / Enuff / You Played Me

Divine Intervention

The Sideshow

March of Death

If I Died Today

A Narrow Escape

What Does Your Soul Look Like?

Ozone Scraper

Twilight Ride

Seein' Thangs

My Lonely Room

Give Me Back the Nights

Walkie Talkie

Six Days

Horror Show

Nobody Speak

Encore:

Drone Warfare

Rocket Fuel

Organ Donor