Spare Room Be our guest…

The Big Day Out promoters have announced a side show by UK big beat act Groove Armada, who will play Auckland’s Powerstation the night before BDO on Thursday 14 January.

From the press release:

“For almost 15 years, Brits Andy Cato and Tom Findlay have been building the biggest beats in all the land. Their string of party starters, chill out classics and stonkin’ anthems is intimidating and intoxicating: “Superstylin’”, “I See You Baby”, “At the River”, “Get Down”, “Song 4 Mutya”, “If Everybody Looked the Same”, and most recently, “Drop the Tough” and, with Aussie Nick Littlemore on vocals, “Warsaw”.

The duo’s new album, Black Light, will be released in February, making Big Day Out punters some of the first in the world to get a taste. Tom calls “Warsaw” the “harder edge of the record”. As for the rest, Andy says it’s a return to the raw, live, warehouse vibe. “There’s no doubt that it’s the best music we’ve ever made. There’s some really special songs on there.” This last point has been driven home at recent gigs, Andy says, where “people who’d never heard a note of it before had the same instinctive reaction to it that we’ve been having for the last few months”.

Provoking that instinctive reaction from the stage will be the new-look, slimline Groove Armada four-piece, with Tom picking up his work rate on bass and keys – “I’m doing more than just my emails up there now,” he quips. Then there’s MC Mike and the team’s latest addition, frontwoman Saint Saviour.“She was the talk of the town,” Andy said after their first shows together. “She came on in this incredible catsuit, two costume changes, amazing singing, she just owned the stage.”

Groove Armada – the Powerstation, Auckland, Thursday 14 January. Tickets from Ticketmaster.
Video: Fatboy Slim mix of “I See You Baby” from 1999’s Vertigo