Asian Dub Foundation


Global beats and political commentary


Pyramid Stage - Sunday

“F*ck Blair and f*ck Bush” said the ADF as they departed from the stage, after 90 minutes of global beats and political commentary. Those five words acted as a lucid summation of their entire performance, being as it is the quintessence of the ADF, both musically and politically.

They raged through punk guitar riffs, sitar solos, indo-dub basslines and raga-jungle beats with precious little concern for musical custom. In many ways this is a reflection of their political agenda; that of global peace, justice and human rights – focus rarely seen in Whitehall.

Cleverly, they had constructed a set-list comprising of excerpts from all three albums. After cheerily singing “jumping for justice” during the classic Free Satpal Ram, the crowd joined in with the criticism: “not enough schools and not enough homes, just phoney care in his Millennium Dome” during Real Great Britain.

In many ways, you could use the sleeve notes of ADF’s three albums to chart socio-political events of the last five years since their debut album Rafi’s Revenge. BSE, the inquiry into police racism allegations against Sir Paul Condon, September 11th plane crashes, and global war all featured within the lyrics of songs played. Arguably, this attention to political detail is, sadly, at the expense of the music quality.

Although band members are fantastic musicians in their own right, as the instrumental solos attest, they aren’t collectively sufficient. An over-reliance on a DAT machine and vinyl samples left people concerned as to the overall live content of the set. Despite this, however, their lyrical brilliance should not be underestimated, nor the innovative approach taken towards combing different genres from across the globe.

Andrew Davidson

Cool websites

News Stories

General Links

PlayLouder

   
     
Sound & Vision Filming at the Festival Webcasts Radio TV      The DVD The Film
Red Zone Arrival Information Camping Camper Vans Orange Information Medical Crime and Security Places of Worship
Blue Zone Acoustic Stage OneWorld Stage Kidz Field Leftfield
Purple Zone Pyramid Stage Other Stage New Tent Dance Tent Cinema
Theatre Zone Cabaret Circus Big Top
Green Zone Craft Field Fields of Avalon Green Futures Green Kids Greenpeace Field Healing Field Kings Meadow Lost Vagueness Poetry and Speakers The Glade The Green Roadshow Tipi Field