A great karaoke party with a superannuated Bez
Giorgio Moroder Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith
In Love Saves the Day,
Tim Lawrence’s excellent history of disco, Italian dance music pioneer Giorgio Moroder is described as an “anonymous alchemist who knew how to turn base vinyl into a gold record”. The second half of this sentence remains true today: having practically invented disco in 1975 with Donna Summer’s Love to
Love You Baby, Moroder went on to write or produce hundreds of pop hits and film soundtracks. But any notion that he remains an “anonymous alchemist” was blown out of the water by this, his first live tour. Aged 78, Moroder took to the stage in a silver bomber jacket and matching aviator shades, arms aloft, his white moustache taking on a blue phosphorescent hue under the Eighties strobe lighting.
A collaboration with Daft Punk in 2013 and his first solo album for 23 years in 2015 have given him a Johnny Cash-style late career boost. But this was a curious gig. Moroder stood behind a waistheight screen front-ofstage, surrounded by a live band, string section and troupe of four singers.
He was ostensibly playing keyboards but I’m not sure how much he actually did beyond provide the vibe. It felt more like an extremely good karaoke party than a concert. Amid neon graphics, we were treated to banger after banger. Together in Electric Dreams and Flashdance... What a Feeling were followed by Top Gun’s Take My Breath Away and Danger Zone.
Moroder’s brilliance was in evidence beneath the glitzy façade. The throbbing Chase from 1978’s Midnight Express must rank as one of the most evocative pieces of film music ever. And it’s doubtful that Gorillaz’s
On Melancholy Hill would exist without Moroder’s soundtrack for The Never Ending Story. Meanwhile tracks of Summer and David Bowie singing over live versions of Macarthur Park and Cat People, respectively, were used to great effect.
Moroder was tapping into a live music template that’s becoming increasingly popular as the original generation of pop stars and producers age. Nile Rodgers has been doing it for a while. Even this summer’s Stevie Wonder Hyde Park concert is being marketed as a Song Party, its poster bedecked with – yes – retro-futuristic neon lights.
But at least Rodgers and Wonder still play instruments. Moroder really reminded me of Tony Blackburn doing a nightclub PA or a superannuated Bez, the Happy Mondays member who did little more than jig about. I can see his set working well on a balmy Hyde Park evening or perhaps headlining Glastonbury’s party-focused West Holts stage. But in this all-seated venue it at times felt more like a hen night.