Dance music live to a lot of people means a couple of faceless people hunched behind some crazy-looking device where they press a few buttons and, over the course of a 90-minute set, an array of noise comes out of the speakers.

When buying an album with anything to do from the world of dance music, it’s often hard to imagine how it will be pulled off live, but thankfully Basement Jaxx are able to ditch the idea of two blokes standing behind some laptops and instead deliver a performance that shows they've put both thought and effort into how it will be presented live. Walking into the arena, it was pretty much expected that there’d be a huge set-up at the back for the Basement Jaxx to stand and do their thing. Surprisingly, there was an array of electric guitars, acoustic guitars, drums, bongos and a brass section! It looked as if all the songs that Basement Jaxx were going to perform would be stripped down from their traditional electronic roots and reconstructed using apparent 'real' instruments.

One other problem of performing live dance music can sometimes be the use of vocalists. Basement Jaxx have, in the past, used the odd few like Dizzee Rascal but tonight it was good to see that the original vocalist singing on familiar tracks like Oh My Gosh and Take Me Back To Your House. Maybe if someone else had been brought in it would have killed off the way we know and love the song. All the vocalists were full of energy and were bouncing around the stage making the crowed move their feet and generally have a good time; the constant changes in costume from tracksuits to ballgowns was slightly weird but also a different touch and worked well. 

Disappointingly, a lot of empty seats could be seen at the arena tonight, but it’s not because Basement Jaxx aren’t a high-profile band. Pretty much here we feel it’s a promoter’s problem with not picking out the right venue for them. Previously when they’ve toured this corner of the world they’ve performed in venues only a quarter of the size, making it a bit more intimate. Gig at arenas always seem to confuse us as well. For example, maybe it’s us but you expect a bit of pushing, especially dancing at this sort of gig, and sometimes your view to be blocked. It’s extremely frustrating for us when annoying women have a go at you for apparently being too tall and blocking their view. So on came the traditional banter of apologies from us being blessed with height. Sorry short people. Minus these stupid people annoying us and telling us to move we can say that the gig was better then we expected it to be.

Unlike bands like Underworld, Orbital [RIP] and The Chemical Brothers who do use the traditional way of standing behind desks to create sounds, it was interesting to see the Jaxx deconstruct songs and re-edit them for a live show. Take the track Romeo for example, a big hit when it came out with its funky bass line and bollywood inspired video, it got all of us here at hecklerspray off our fat arses and inspired us to try and shake our hips. When performed live it was done on just an acoustic guitar which put more emphasis on the vocal and made it sound even better.

While there was the breakdown of tracks some of the classics were still there and caused people to go slightly crazy. One of the closing songs was one of Basement Jaxx’s signature tunes, Where’s Your Head At? It started off with a slow build-up of electro funk noise until the beat was slowly built up and dropped into the main body of the song, also showing the non-believers on live dance music that improvising can still be used for effect. Alongside the editing and playing around with songs, there were a few surprises in the set that no-one was really expecting.

Justin Timberlake’s Sexyback was randomly added in the frame of things and so were many other recent dance favourites. Whilst they were only fragments, it was interesting to see other artist’s work being used to improve on their own performance. All in all, it was a good night enjoyed by all, expectations of what they can do live was raised and maybe shows the way live dance music is being performed. The idea of people smashing buttons on synthesisers is vanishing and the addition of guitars and live drums like Caged Baby and The Go! Team do is becoming more common. Only thing that ruined it for us was walking to the bus stop in the pissing rain. Can’t have everything, though, can we?