MAX COOPER – THE OLD MARKET, HOVE 29.10.26
Belfast born and now London based 46 year old Techno/House/Minimal DJ and producer Max Cooper was tonight back at The Old Market in Hove for the first of two dates of mightily impressive 3D/AV Live immersive audio-visual performances! Max returned to the venue where his set on 3rd October was yours truly’s ‘Gig Of The Year’ for 2024 – Read my account of that evening HERE.
Max has released more than seventy original tracks and remixes, and more than twenty accompanying video works and his live shows are customised to every venue, with every show a unique experience, he works together with architecture and space to deliver his unique blend of scientific and human stories that move off the screen to wrap the audience in sculptures of light and sound. Max has performed at numerous prestigious festivals including Glastonbury Festival, Fuji Rock Festival, Bestival, Latitude Festival and Awakenings Festival, and Brighton’s On The Beach.
This evening’s visit to TOM is showcasing amongst other things Max’s latest album ‘Feeling Is Structure’ plus material spanning his celebrated catalogue, alongside new compositions that continue his exploration of the human experience through music. It’s an all standing 3D/AV event that apparently tells the story of the foundations of our world, and our place in it, as a living feeling experience. It has been reported that Max uses Ableton equipment and Akai APC40 controllers, but this evening I can spy the word Pioneer as part of his equipment including two laptops.
We are based at the very front of the sold out event. The expansive stage has a very fine mesh curtain at its edge that can easily be seen through. On the stage near us is a projection unit with I’m guessing one also to the rear of the room high above us. Thus there are at least two projectors, however, unlike his previous Old Market performance, both of the side walls also have moving images on them, and so creating a three sided affair with a double does out front. To the rear of the stage is Max with his equipment which sits atop of sturdy metal stands. He’s certainly pulled out all the stops this evening and at 7:59pm the show commences – let’s go on a journey!
Tonight’s performance lasts an impressive 2 hours 38 minutes, but time really does fly by quickly as we are lured into Max’s world. The music is delivered in almost one long megamix with only a few pauses in between in order to allow for the punter’s approval. The whole of my vision is filled with flashing images which go with the music and so it could be confusing to the brain, I mean who needs drugs maaaan when we’ve got this?
It’s a slow ethereal start with sedate images dancing before our eyes. There is at this stage absolutely no indication of the varying styles of electronic music that are going to be offered this evening.
My mind immediately takes me back around 45 years to the Lazerium in Baker Street, London, where I used to frequently travel up to watch their shows of the moon, the planets and the night sky which were projected on the domed roof by an impressive black construction in the centre of the room. The sets were comfortable and set to a reclining position so your eyes looked upwards and you were whisked away.
In the evenings the shows would give way to lazer concerts which were even more impressive and you would have sharp lazer beams flying around the room as the particular passages of music played out. I can recall attending a Jean-Michel Jarre music event there, and on other occasions you would get music from the likes of Tangerine Dream, Pink Floyd and the like. The groundbreaking sounds of the likes of Tubeway Army (Gary Numan), Depeche Mode, Soft Cell and John Foxx were just around the corner.
Max’s set tonight comprises instrumental numbers, with just the occasional vocal sample littered here and there. Eight minutes into his set and the very first booming bass synth notes kick in and we are suddenly in the territory held by the likes of Jam & Spoon. I look behind me and a number of punters are starting to get in the groove and letting their inhibitions float away as they start to dance.
At 8:10pm I feel my phone in my pocket signal a notification, do I get it or not? I choose to and I’m greeted with the very sad news that Captain Jean Luc Picard aka Patrick Stewart has passed away! This saddens me having seen every Star Trek Next Generation episode and film, I grew up with the original you know. Who would have thought that Captain James T Kirk would outlive Picard?
Back at The Old Market and the first durrty beats kick in at 8:13pm and three minutes later the acid house bleeps arrive. The section draws to a close at 8:19pm and tune two follows until 8:24pm, where the third offering takes over. In an event like this the crowd can do whatever they like, and despite the music now solidly being in the dance-vibe, some are sitting on the floor in wonderment and feeling the vibes through their posteriors, whilst the feast unfolds in front of their eyes. The films and projection work have come about by the work of many people, which I don’t think people realise. Yes it’s just Max on stage, but who did everything in the videos get created in the first place. All is revealed at 10;37pm when the rear wall behind Max lists all of the collaborators, there’s easily a hundred of them!
At 8:28pm the next tune arrives with images of sacred Japanese gardens and the like. At 8:33pm the next song signifies a shift in style and it reminds me of the work of Paul Van Dyk. 14 minutes later and the true trance beats kick in and by 8:53pm we are in a world populated by Kraftwerk at their most funkiest. Around 9:00pm and the beats and videos have shifted into Underworld territory with the shuffling repetitive beats. The chest-pound beats arrive at 9:13pm and we are really in full flow now, many are dancing, and at 9:17pm things go into overload mode.
There’s a respite at 9:19pm as the backing beat is ethereal and there is still a booming beat. The visuals here are particularly interesting as they have the feeling of being in space and witnessing the collapsing of a star. Four minutes later and the dubstep-trap beats arrive and take over, which the punters are up for. At 9:37pm there are some seriously phat beats on offer, and at a quarter to ten we are in full drum and bass mode. At 9:52pm there are quickening almost jaunty industrial style beats on offer, and then four minutes after this the true booming beats are back, but with an ethereal backing beat.
At two minutes to ten the sharp electronic beats are greeted with cheers from the crowd, clearly many recognise the tune. At 10:03pm another track arrives and nine minutes later there’s another change of beats. At 10:16pm there’s another one which affords many handclaps throughout the room. Five minutes after this the beat doubles in speed and there are many whoops of approval from the crowd. It’s the choice cut so far and I think that this might be Pontapè by Renato Cohen, it’s an absolute banger. A mix of Josh Wink’s ‘Higher State Of Consciousness’ is afforded into the mix next, no doubt the Max Cooper remix. At 10:33pm the quiet beats return and the music could easily be from a moody film and four minutes later the sounds ebb away, Max holds his arms aloft and claps the crowd and we reciprocate.
It’s been yet another true masterclass from Mr Cooper, may he “live long and prosper”.
