M83
Civic Theatre
New Orleans, LA
April 6

M83 spent a better part of the late and early-2000s in the limelight, capturing global fame with a flurry of recordings gaining international notoriety and relatively unparalleled critical acclaim for 2007’s breakout Saturdays = Youth and 2011’s ambitious double LP Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming.

Only 30 hours before the long-awaited release of Junk, M83 opened a five month world tour in the heart of New Orleans in the intimate downtown Civic Theatre. For tour routing / geographic reasons, very few international artists choose NOLA as their jumping off point for such a big tour, and perhaps it was the city’s French connection that made New Orleans an appropriate place to kick off a US run).

At just around 9:30, M83 hit the stage, appropriately beginning the show with the wide open “Reunion,” a tune driven by simple beats, driving guitar work and lustful lyricism:

Across the time and space
A never-ending dance
A blooming and a trance
You make me feel my soul

Once the opening cut had whirled the crowd into a bouncing European soccer style frenzy (with fans on the floor jumping and shouting the signature “oh-ohh” refrain in unison, beautiful), the phenomenon that takes it’ name from a spiral galaxy had been officially reignited and taken flight.

The first of eight songs from Junk to be performed on Wednesday night, the funky lead single “Do It, Try It” was in sonically stark contrast to the opener and indicative of a more beat-focused and thematically all-over-the-map approach Anthony Gonzalez is taking these days. Whereas M83 before Junk almost seemed hell-bent on creating a definable ‘story’ arc with their records and live shows, nowadays, we’re entering an era where the live show can switch dimensions, blasting a room to outer space and touching down at a glitzy nightclub at the drop of a hat. House-y synths and funky bass marked many of the new tunes and while the majority thrilled, there were a couple new ones a little too heavy on the schmaltz and light on substance that may or may not take hold after a few test runs on the early portion of the tour.

Much like My Morning Jacket’s Evil Urges tour, MGMT post-Congratulations or even as far back as Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk era, M83 is adding a few different new shades of color to their catalog and deepening the sonic reach of their live show (the addition of the multi-talented keyboard player Kaela Sinclair is a huge value add). The overhaul may in fact lead to an ability to keep an eclectic festival crowd in the tens of thousands engaged for 90 minutes more than ever before, a skill set that will prove crucial if M83 is to gain a new generation of fans on the summer circuit.

The nocturnal and downbeat “Solitude” begged for live strings and, even without, played well after alongside vintage quintessential M83 cuts “Steve McQueen” and “We Own the Sky”. Simply put, the tune gorgeous and the white-walled theatre provided the perfect blank canvas for the luminous and well-thought out visual production (reminding me of a toned-down version of Radiohead’s light design on the tours following In Rainbows) accenting the magnificent orchestral music played on-stage.

For my money and personal musical tastes, “Couleurs” is hard to beat, an adventurous banger that manages to naturally induce synesthesia and shows that Gonzalez, had he the desire, could’ve probably just as well excelled on the EDC circuit (but we’re glad he didn’t). Driving the momentum forward, the older tune seems as relevant as ever in 2016 and could just as easily fit right into an STS9 setlist (or any number of livetronica powerhouses) and it absolutely propelled the energy of the room midway through the set.

“Outro” served as both an apex and bookend, placed in the obvious set-closing spot (although what a show opener / mood setter it could be?!). Shortly after a brief encore break, the ambitious, gargantuan “Intro” relit the afterburners and allowed the lovely and talented Sinclair to beam her room-filling voice in grand fashion before pair of new tunes “For The Kids” (which fell a little flat) and “Laser Gun” closed out the night.

While Junk may prove a little more difficult to consume in one sitting (and that may be a larger point about the modern music listener’s tendencies), with the addition of the new material the live show is as exciting as ever, albeit maybe lacking the cohesiveness shows five years ago may have produced. Even if M83 has perhaps settled nicely into a comfortable space somewhere between a club band and festival headliner, they’re still bringing one of the most enthralling and brain-sticking live shows in the world this year, and that’s a beautiful and dare-I-say (still) epic thing.