JUNO REACTOR – ‘Shango Tour 2001 Live in Tokyo’

Just a glance at the disc made me realize what I have in my hands: it is not only ‘the best of’ compilation and LIVE recording, but also a DVD format with dolby digital sound…

Jumping anxiosly through the menu I pressed PLAY waiting for the familiar logo. It began with a stage entrance of Juno Reactor Shango Tour crew in their full numbers : Ben Watkins wearing his “Lover’s Rock!” uniform, Amampondo their tribal costumes, and Alex Paterson Chelsea F.C. jersey. Classic. Greeted by cheers they met Tokyo crowd, which is a standard Tokyo crowd, wearing urban techno classic gear of course.

Music is classic as well. Compiled from all their albums with some rarities added ( 'Biot Messiah' from "God Is God" UK CD Single), this DVD can easily be called ‘The Best Of’ issue. And what an issue! Fourteen tracks filled with exotic percussions, animal sounds, technoid noise, crowd noise, throbbing rhythms ('Conga Fury', 'Hulelam'), and mesmerizing vocal samples ('God Is God', 'Guarding Angel', 'Masters of the Universe'). Everything, and in colour!

I watched Juno Reactor live show so I knew what to expect and still I was COMPLETELY DISMANTLED by this edition. If you haven’t been at their concert, that’s one more reason to get this DVD. The only non-masterful thing are animations that run with the songs, but who cares after all… most of the time you’ll be jumping around the room not watching the screen. The only thing missing, is us in the crowd. Ingenious.