Tricky at 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (07 May 2018)

The sold-out show started with Young Magic, playing to a dimly lit stage. The lack of light will get worst by the time Tricky goes on stage, but we’ll get to that later.

Young Magic is based out of New York, although singer Melati Malay mentioned before their song “Something in the Water” that they are, in fact, “all over the place” (including Jakarta and Australia among the places she mentioned). They seem really happy to be on tour with Tricky, and proved to be a good opener for the Knowle West Boy, because Young Magic’s sound is very influenced by trip hop.

We previously saw the group in July 2012 and May 2016, and mentioned, “The music of Young Magic had a much more ambient feel than that of the headliner. Singer Melati Malay had a very haunting vocal style which can only be described as spooky. The darkness and deepness of the voice has a very somber feeling but when you mix that with the intricate drum work done by one drummer on a live set and the other drummer on an electric set, it becomes something extremely unique and something you just can't ignore.”

With only a little over 30 minutes of set time, the band chose to stick with mostly songs from their first two albums, Melt and Breathing Statues.

As for Tricky, if you didn’t know, he began his music career in the influential band Massive Attack as rapper “Tricky Kid”. He left Massive Attack in 1994 to concentrate on his solo career.

Tricky is joined on stage by drummer Luke Harris, guitarist Paul Noels, and Polish singer Marta Złakowska. Złakowska did a great job providing all the female vocal duets (filling in Martina Topley-Bird’s part, for example).

The odd thing about this Tricky tour is that, per his request, that there were no stage lights (except the bare minimum for his band to see what they’re doing). The artist also requested that absolutely no cell phones or any light/flashes, etc., during his performance.

The result was more like a live art and music performance. Fans, bopping their heads in the front with their eyes closed, didn’t seem to mind the complete darkness at all.

With 13 albums under his belt, including his most recent album Ununiform (False Idols), Tricky just concentrated on his solo material… and the occasional cover song (Hole‚Äôs ‚ÄúDoll Parts‚Äù).

Tricky, still the mysterious figure, only talked a few times, thanking us for selling out the venue, and also goodbye and have a good night.

Fans who stayed past the first encore were rewarded with a second encore, which included “Hell Is Round the Corner”, taken from his debut Maxinquaye. Tricky closed out the entire show with The Breeders cover “Do You Love Me Now?”

If you love trip hop/electronic post-rock, you owe it to yourself to see Tricky on this tour. Tricky’s latest Ununiform is out now on False Idols.