Jon Hopkins makes ‘Ritual’ noise at sold out Brighton concert

JON HOPKINS + LUXE – CORN EXCHANGE, BRIGHTON 25.7.24

Jon Hopkins is a London based electronic artist, producer and classically trained composer, whose solo and collaborative works have received widespread acclaim, as well as Grammy, Mercury Prize and Ivor Novello nominations. 

Hopkins has forged a reputation for music that marries the dance floor to the devotional, and for live performances that are visceral, generous and charged with a rapt, sensuous beauty. His output flows from rugged techno to transcendent choral music, from solo acoustic piano to psychedelic ambient.

Initially gaining exposure through his work with Brian Eno and Coldplay in the mid ‘20s, Hopkins gradually found his voice as a solo artist, blending intricately crafted beats with serene, meditative textures. He has many producer, remixer and film credits to his name (including Peter Jackson’s ‘The Lovely Bones’ and Gareth Edwards’ classic indie sci-fi film ‘Monsters’, which earned an Ivor Novello nomination for Best Original Score) also the National Theatre Live production of Hamlet. 

The ‘Singularity’ worldwide tour saw him perform sold out solo live shows and festival dates across the globe. This was followed by the ‘Polarity’ tour which tethered together the two disparate elements of harsh and fragile in his music in concert halls across Europe, including Royal Albert Hall in November 2021. Festival appearances as far away as the USA New Zealand and Australia have since followed and 2023 saw select exclusive appearances across the globe, including Hopkins’ debut at the BBC Proms series, again at London’s Royal Albert Hall

Jon Hopkins will release his new album ‘RITUAL’ on August 30th. A 41-minute ceremonial epic that unfolds over eight chapters, it is by turns devotional, empowering and nurturing. ‘RITUAL’ taps into an ancient and primal energy through cavernous subs, hypnotic drumming and transcendent melodic interplay. Tense, immersive and ultimately triumphant, it is a culmination of themes explored throughout Hopkins’ 22-year career and acts as the kinetic counterpart to 2021’s ‘Music For Psychedelic Therapy’. ‘RITUAL’ is both emotionally and sonically heavy, whilst retaining a warm, live feel, where the juxtaposition between softness and intensity forms the core of the whole. 

Hopkins recently announced a quartet of performances, these being on Thursday 25th July at the Corn Exchange in Brighton, Friday 26th July at Bristol Beacon in Bristol, Saturday 27th July at Junction 2 Festival in London and Friday 16th August at Green Man Festival in the Brecon Beacons. Thus we find ourselves attending the first of this quartet of events and I have to say that I’m rather excited at the prospect, as I haven’t been inside the newly renovated building and that will be half of the excitement for me. In fact, I haven’t been within that part of the Brighton Dome complex for decades. The one memory I do have is attending the Exploited, UK Subs & Peter And The Test Tube Babies concert there around 40 years ago, when it had to eventually be abandoned due to a riot and the police were called and I remember them arriving and whizzing up the stairs. The wayward skinhead types were throwing the chairs everywhere! 

Tonight’s performance could not be any more polar opposite if you tried! The building’s interior now looks like a large baronial hall or a smaller version of London’s Natural History Museum. It’s very impressive to say the least. This evening’s event is one of the first ones since the Corn Exchange’s rebirth and I really hope that many, many more modern music concerts will be taking place here as it’s an absolute gem!  

I was honestly not sure what Hopkins set would be like this evening, whether it would consist of any of the aforementioned genres, namely, rugged techno, transcendent choral music, solo acoustic piano or psychedelic ambient. Turns out my luck was really in! I positioned myself at the crowd barrier and was totally elated for 110 minutes, from 8:45pm until 10:35pm. It honestly felt as though the weekend had come early as the music choices erred on the side of rugged techno and so the Corn Exchange had suddenly become an official indoor rave! The venue was packed with folk of all ages and nationalities, in fact it had sold out! Hold on tight, put your seat belts on as Jon Hopkins is in da house. But this evening isn’t his first time performing here, as just over a decade ago, 10th May 2014 to be precise, he was one of the acts on The Great Escape bill. A couple of years before that Hopkins had played St. George’s Church, as well as making a welcome return to Brighton, again in 2014 and 2020, where he played next door at the Brighton Dome Concert Hall.

Back to this evening and the rumbles began emanating from the stage at 8:45pm and the house lights were all extinguished. It’s hard to see what’s going on. But I can spot a DJ table which has two laptop screens and behind them is a mystery of electronics, with no doubt a whole host of knobs to tweak. It’s all very atmospheric indeed! There is a large screen to the rear of the stage and to the front left and right plus back left and right, there are rows of thin lights which add to the mysticism. Hopkins takes to the stage and we are off! There is no lighting at all on Hopkins throughout the performance, but the light in the room comes from those attached to the stage rig as well as the screen to the rear. 

Throughout the entire performance there were whoops of joy from the punters and when Hopkins raised his hands and did some handclaps, this added to the whoop factor! There were some serious (mainly instrumental) banging tunes on offer tonight, it was, at times, like listening to the pumping beat on Underworld’s ‘Born Slippy’ over and over again. There were more bangers than Walls! Then occasionally he would take it right down and we were in Jean-Michel Jarre territory. Not being aware of Hopkins material, I’m unsure of the exact tracklist of the set, but there is an indication below. Suffice to say, by 10:35pm myself and my friend were soaked in sweat, having been bopping along. In fact, after the performance, my friend who has thus far attended many gigs during 2024, informed me that this was her best gig of the year so far! This is praise indeed. There’s no doubt that this evening’s gig was very special indeed. 

‘RITUAL’ is available to pre-order on DomMart-exclusive double clear vinyl (with artwork print and etching on one side of the vinyl), standard double vinyl, CD and digitally. Pre-order: DomMart | Digital 

 Jon Hopkins partial setlist:
‘Ritual (palace)’ ?
‘Open Eye Signal’
‘Collider’
‘Luminous Beings’
“Unknown”
‘Singularity’
“Unknown”
‘Emerald Rush’

www.jonhopkins.co.uk

Support for this evening came from London based DJ, producer and composer LUXE who to her friends is Lucy Hopson and she was joined on stage by Coco Iman on violin and Zara Hudson on cello. Once again, I was unaware of the artist’s style and musical output, but as the trio elegantly graced the Corn Exchange stage at 7:31pm, I was expecting something classical, on the account of their choice of instruments and general demeanour of slow elegant movements, as well as Lucy’s long dress. Prior to their commencement, I had noted that there were no less than six sizeable floor speakers facing us, with two extras on top of that, it looked a serious setup, and one which I hoped was in situ for all forthcoming concert performances, but there’s a possibility that they came with Jon Hopkins, which would be a real shame as they were mentally crisp clear! The lighting was terrific too. In fact this reminded me of ACCA up at Stanmer. 

LUXE were under way and this evening were performing thus far unreleased material, bar possibly the final number which came out on Method 808. The opener would be best described as atmospheric instrumental film music and I was hooked! It would have possibly been easy for Lucy to simply play everything via the electronics, but adding the live element of the violin and cello gave the tune great depth and furthered the atmosphere. For the second number, Lucy, was not only solely on electronics, but also played the flute and then reverted back to the electronics. The bass notes were reverberating through the metal floor plate that I was standing on, and it was travelling up into my body….fabulous stuff!  

The music skipped between ethereal floatiness to ear splitting booming bass notes to pumping dance. Part way through the performance we get a clash of the classical meets modern blips and beeps, where two different worlds collide and a music zone in which LUXE operates. She added her voice to some tunes, but not as wording but as musical notes. I would really love to relive this performance and so I hope a return will be on the cards.  

LUXE:
Lucy Hopson (aka LUXE) – vocals, flute, electronics 
Coco Iman – violin
Zara Hudson – cello

linktr.ee/soundsofluxe