UntitledLive: Neu! Reekie! @ Central Hall, 9 June

Live Review by Katie Hawthorne | 19 Jun 2015

Neu! Reekie!’s really outdone itself. Other than highlighting the Central Hall in Tollcross as one of the city's most unsung venues (stained glass, a gorgeous balcony, loos with actual bog roll) – the brains behind Edinburgh’s most riotous avant-garde events crafted a line-up featuring political poets, dance music maestros and Edinburgh’s loudest council botherers.

With poet Hollie McNish heading up the ‘words’ department, and long-serving producer/DJ Andrew Weatherall who’s probably had a hand in anything you’ve listened to and enjoyed in the last, like, twenty years, the party’s already firmly started. The floor’s full, people are swaying, cans in hand, on the upper levels and whoever’s in charge of the lighting tonight is doing an ace job. It's a shockingly sunny day, but inside feels like the belly of a underground club come 3am.

Leith's experimental electronic leaders Fini Tribe take to the stage, serenaded by whoops and whistles. Now operating as a duo, David Miller and John Vick are appropriately attired in ankle-length lab coats and their complicated set up – like an electronic Aladdin’s cave – makes for some seriously arresting visuals, too. We all reach whole new levels of sweat.

After a quick break for fresh air, it’s back in to crowd the floor before Young Fathers. The final night of a lengthy tour in honour of excellent album White Men Are Black Men Too, welcoming the trio feels like a home-coming. The crowd is all-ages, word-perfect, and Alloysious Massoquoi, Kayus Bankole and G Hastings look rightfully triumphant. Mixing tracks from their earlier Tapes and the Mercury winning DEAD in with the new, the set is a masterclass in genre muddling, fire-starting. Clinging to the same mic-stand, dropping eye-widening acapella, the three-piece look a symbol of strength, tenacity and unity. #UntitledLive is a celebration of words, music, booze and dancing - and tonight, of Edinburgh too.

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