Monday, September 8, 2008

Drums banged, bass boomed and keyboards oozed garish textures during Tricky's performance at the 9:30 club Saturday, but a qualified sound engineer should have fished the man himself out of the background. Too often Tricky -- a skilled electronic musician who all but invented the trip-hop genre on his 1995 album "Maxinquaye" -- seemed to be no more than a bit of noise buried in the din of his own ensemble. Sure, the MC still displayed some of his old menace at times, staring down the audience with a defiant and unnerving glare, raring to pick a fight with anybody and everybody. But that was only when he was willing to face the crowd in the first place.

For most of his 90-minute set Tricky stood with his back to the room, lighting cigarettes and jittering as if he'dmaybe had a few too many espressos. Luckily his late-'90s innovations -- the warbling rhythms and soulful melodies present on back-catalogue gems such as "Vent" and "Overcome" -- could still buoy the show. A tight backing band and supporting female vocalist did justice to a host of Tricky classics, including "Black Steel," and also newer compositions such as the minimal but groovy "Veronika." But through it all, even though he never left the stage, Tricky seemed strangely absent. It was only during a few all-too-brief moments of unexpected inspiration that he took up the mike, got freaky with the drum monitor and reminded you that it was his concert you were watching.

-- Aaron Leitko