Rock and Pop: Short Circuit @Roundhouse
Published: 19 May, 2011
by ALLAN LEDWARD
DISCIPLES of the bleep were dragged out of their bedrooms for a few days of technical nerdery as the Roundhouse went electro over the weekend.
Featuring some of the biggest names connected to the Mute label, the festival reached its synthetically generated high note on Saturday night as man-machine grandmaster Vince Clarke performed with Yazoo bandmate Alison Moyet – Nobody’s Diary leaving the packed venue in raptures – before a hit single show with Andy Bell in Clarke’s Erasure incarnation.
Undertone turned musician rights protector Feargal Sharkey, then sang The Assembly’s Never, Never – another of Clarke’s successful past projects.
As well as the big names, the festival featured more obscure artists, as well as film and sound workshops, and interactive installations.
Moby, who played his own part in Short Circuit on Friday, moved down Chalk Farm Road to Proud on Tuesday night for a blistering DJ set alongside Pete Tong to promote the American’s new album, Destroyed.