July 14, 1998
Tricky's bag of tricks run empty

The next time Tricky comes to town, I'm working the lights.

 No more hiding in the dark, the way the Bristol, England, trip-hop artist did at the Guvernment Monday.

 And let's do something about that stage show, while we're at it, shall we? Maybe we could find a better place for Tricky and singer Martina Topley-Bird to stand. That is, assuming it was Topley-Bird.

 Okay, so I'm nitpicking.

 But these few adjustments might have made the difference between a great show and the snoozy one Tricky laid down for the sold-out crowd of 1,000.

 There were a few flashes of brilliance as Tricky, Martina, vocalist Carmen Ejogo, and a four-piece band loomed in the shadows and churned out repetitive beats, rhymes, and noise.

 With his consumptive voice, Tricky sustained, for the set's 90 minutes, an impressive level of frustration -- shuddering over a sampler like it was a pinball machine that had just eaten his quarter.

 Red lights occasionally blasted across the stage to reveal the manic Tricky croaking out unsettling, improvised mantras like Money Greedy, from his latest album Angels With Dirty Faces.

 "Look ma!" he sputtered. "Top of the world, ma!" This went on for ten minutes.

 There should have been enough passion in polyrhythmic dirges Overcome, from Tricky's 1995 debut album Maxinquaye and Christiansands -- from '96's Pre-Millennium Tension -- to combat the dullness of the dimly lit stage. This is the sort of trippy music that begged for more concert-enhancing tricks like visuals and heavier bass levels.

 Tricky also raised a few eyebrows when he ignored Broken Homes, Angels With Dirty Faces' gospel-flavored lead single.

 He locked into an unshakable groove with an unrecognizable version of Slick Rick's '80s hip-hop nugget Children's Story, and the claustrophobic encore Vent, which footnotes Grandmaster Flash's classic, The Message.

 But, with too many gaps in between, Tricky's music deserved a better presentation.

JAM! Rating: 2 out of 5