Live Review: Justice – 12th February 2025 – Alexandra Palace, London, UK
5 min read
Catching a bus to Alexandra Palace last night as we made our way to see French dance duo Justice perform the second of two sold out shows, I had a feeling that I haven’t had since my festival going twenties and thirties – that youthful and liberating feeling of making my way by bus to a muddy festival site in the countryside. That’s the feeling of the hilltop venue that provides quite spectacular views of the city as we made our way into the show along with thousands of other fans eager to let their hair down mid-week. Admittedly – and for someone who has easily attended over 500 concerts at this point in my life – embarrassingly, last night was the first time attending a show at the famous Ally Pally and I really could not have asked for a better show to introduce me to the performance space.
Having rushed from the other side of London to this show, we unfortunately missed what was described as a lengthy but impressive support for the duo, but made it just in time for a quick pint before finding our spot in the crammed crowd of pumped up fans – some who had enlisted the help of not just a pint or two to get them into a more electrified and colourful mood – if you catch my drift! This wasn’t the usual type of pop shows I often place my focus on but at the same time, I’ve been to more than my fair share of festivals and dance shows to not be entirely shocked by needing to help hold up a bearded, bare-chested twenty-something as he stumbled by; starry eyed with hands flailing in the air as if trying to capture imaginary fairies from above him and smiling like a Cheshire cat. I also don’t think I’ve seen as many bearded men in beanies or bandanas at a show in my life.
As the room darkened at a little after 9pm, Justice members Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay emerged to a roaring applause, taking their positions at their decks and slowly ushered in the pulsating beats of what would be a spectacular mash-up of early career notables, Genesis and Phantom from the duo’s 2007 debut album, Cross.
That opening would signal a night of song fusions for the 10,000 dance hungry fans to lose themselves in as their idols on stage delivered reverberating hit after hit and delivering each with a seemingly effortless approach. Even when a mid-set technical malfunction occurred and resulted in the pair needing to exit the stage for a few moments, the dup seemed completely unfazed and to anyone unaware of the show design, would have missed the moment entirely.
The band recently took home the Best Electronic/Dance Recording Grammy Award for their hit Neverender which features the slick vocals of Tame Impala and proved to be one of the highlight moments of the show with it making an appearance several times in the show and being backed by 10,000 voices singing back its catchy vocal melody while the venue was lit up by an array of lasers and pulsating squares of light that helped silhouette the French icons as they would occasionally look out at the bouncing crowd and throw out the occasional nod or wave to their fans.
As the band dished up hits that spanned the entirety of their 20 years, these shows were as much about the production as it was the music. While I have read countless times of shows at Ally Pally not measuring up due to the sound quality, that was certainly not the case with Justice. The epic-ness of the sound that washed over the crowd was goose-bump inducing and you could feel the bass reverberate through the floor and right through your body as the perfectly programmed light show made the event visually spectacular. Above Augé and de Rosnay were a dozen or so sections of lights which would act like a transformer of sorts; regularly twisting and turning above them and creating metallic shapes that would serve to compliment each song in a unique way. It was truly mesmerising to witness; One Night/All Night being one of the most intoxicating to watch with a hundred rainbow-coloured beams of light flashing over the audience and projected downward onto the dance duo beneath.
The show – just like their music over the years – also carried a rich, sexy seventies/Studio 54 feel with the pair wearing a mixture of gold sequins and velvet as they dominated the decks while the backdrop of screens erupted with bursts of gold and jets of warm shades of orange and yellow, especially during numbers like the anthemic We Are Your Friends which had the crowded whipped up in a frenzy as they chanted the lyrics back to the duo on stage.
While the duos early years have also been been garnished with accolades and achievements, it seems a little strange that Augé and de Rosnay have only fairly recently become a mainstream phenomenon given they have been together for the best part of 20 years, but with the disbanding of long-time French dance music torch bearers, Daft Punk, Justice have very quickly taken the position as the world’s leading electronic act. And its party due to such incredible stage shows like this weeks pair at Ally Pally that many are citing as being one of the best live performances in the world right now and after attending one of this weeks shows, we couldn’t agree more.
Setlist
Genesis / Phantom
Generator / Love S.O.S. / Alakazam!
Mannequin Love / We Are Your Friends / Tthhee Ppaarrttyy
One Night/All Night / D.A.N.C.E.
Safe and Sound (WWW)
Neverender (Extended)
Canon / Neverender
Incognito / DVNO
Stress / Waters of Nazareth
Afterimage (Justice Remix)
Chorus (WWW)
Audio, Video, Disco (WWW)
D.A.N.C.E. (Live Version) / Safe and Sound / Neverender
Encore:
Planisphere / Phantom / Heavy Metal / Civilization / Mannequin Love
Phantom Pt. II / Heavy Metal / We Are Your Friends
::: RenownedForSound.com’s Editor and Founder –
Interviewing and reviewing the best in new music and globally recognized artists is his passion.
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Brendon manages and coordinates the amazing team of writers on RenownedForSound.com who are based in the UK, the U.S and Australia.
