Leftfield

Frontman Neil Barnes has endured several difficult years, but this was the dance music act back to their ferocious, euphoric best

Leftfield Live In Concert In Norway At Parkenfestivalen 2023

I’ve encountered a handful of different groups perform at Manchester’s bedazzling New Century Hall; and it’s the indelible mark of a moment in time when everything, the audience, the artist, the architecture, the weight of the expected occasion, synchronised into one beating heart.

Released at the start of 1995, it’s 23 years on from the release of Leftism – an album that changed the face of dance music and redefined what an electronic produced album could be.

I have to fess up now I didn’t really know the band or much about its impact on progressive house music, much to the disgust of my friends.

However, the opportunity to see them outdoors on a summers evening for us is an even bigger draw.

It is 22 years since this Mercury prize-nominated house and techno album was released, refracting the energy and idealism of the rave era through a wantonly eclectic prism of dub, jungle, reggae and world music sounds.