Nov 1996: Tricky at the Haçienda, Manchester

His new album was called Pre-Millennium Tension. He wasn’t in a good mood. But eventually, his talent shone through.

Screengrab from video for ‘Aftermath’

TRICKY’S new album is called Pre-Millennium Tension, and rarely has a record been more aptly titled: it seethes with a forbidding sense of paranoia, a dark yet hypnotic collection of mesmerising doom and gloom. Forget shiny, happy pop. The ex-Massive Attack rapper from Bristol is a man who sees the world through cynical and analytical eyes.

Last night at the Haçienda, there was no shortage of tension. Arriving on the dimly-lit, tiny and low ceilinged stage with the minimum of fuss, the first song — a track from his debut, ground-breaking LP of 1995, Maxinquaye — was cut short with a grunt of “Stop the music” and a request to turn down the virtually nonexistent lighting.

It wasn’t a good start. With the stage plunged into darkness and the Haçienda’s notoriously bad sight lines playing havoc with the crowd’s ability to see, it was hard work trying to connect with the performers on stage.

For the first half hour or so, it wasn’t helped by Tricky’s general mood. He halted more songs midway, complained about photographers’ flashes, and generally acted the prima donna, his back turned to the audience.

Apart from the hypnotic ‘Overcome’, it was left to the beguiling voice of Martina Topley-Bird to provide a glimmer of spine-tingling clarity amid the murky swirl of the music.

[embed]

Eventually, Tricky appeared to remember he wasn’t the only person in the Haçienda and some of the intrigue of his music began to rub off on his stage presence.

Leaning into the mike stand, clutching it as if wringing someone’s neck, he gritted his teeth and began to sound like he meant it.

It just about saved the gig from being the lost opportunity of the year, proving that when you’re blessed with the raw talent of a maverick artist like Tricky, even on a bad day there’s usually something to get a little bit excited about.

Originally published by the Manchester Evening News, November 1996