Justice – A Cross The Universe
An electronic/dance act performing live is always a tricky thing. Now, once you get that format down it is hard to really capture the moment on the record. It is a little different from a rock band as a lot of a seeing a dance act perform is a lot of the atmosphere and the situation. One of the best live albums I have ever heard was Underworld’s “Everything, Everything.” As anyone who has heard their debut album the band have the songs that will be able to get the people going crazy. “DANCE” “DVNO” and “Tthhee pparrty” in any setting will also get people fired up.
I have never seen Justice live so I can’t really compare the two experiences. It seems that the band live just use it as a live DJ set which, is still cool and nearly impossible to perform these songs live. There were a few songs that come over really well. “Stress” was the first one that really got my attention. The track is a bit frantic but you can hear the crowd during most of the song in the background and that makes you feel like you were in the mix there. Then we had the “We Are Your Friends (Reprise)” which, had a few chants of the “we are your friends” line by the crow before Justice throw down some nice and hard beats.
The live album is a solid effort. I found myself getting very much into this mix. The encore by the band was a great touch. “NY Excuse” is one the new classics that is very underrated in my eyes. I just have a feeling it does not do the band justice(that was unintentional) as you know being their at the gig could not be replicated. It is still better than nothing.
By John Siwicki
