On the final stop of their 2024 North America tour, Justice delivered a performance for fans, both new and old, that absolutely sealed their brilliance.
You can look at this performance from a lot of perspectives, but my heart is set on this being Justice’s senior year of school. The days of freshman year’s Marshall amps and black leather jackets, shaggy hair, and vintage t-shirts with high-top shoes are gone. Enter stage two sleek looking men, Gaspard Augé & Xavier de Rosnay, in gold and black sequenced coats, black pants, and modern dress shoes with multiple reflective screen backdrops on a minimalist stage. Hyperdrama is the Justice’s fourth studio album, and the live experience brings the advancement of not only "freshness and spontaneity" as de Rosnay coins it, but also a continuous blast of energy across their records.
You won’t find any original studio recorded track of the past. Everything, from productions, track articulation, and more was planned over three to four years with their lighting designer, Vincent Lerisson. Even the tour’s route itself had multiple routes plotted and rerouted but all signs left with one finish, and that was for back-to-back nights at Radius Music Hall in Chicago.
As compared to Woman World Wide’s tour, opening with “Safe & Sound,” the two Frenchman went back to their stronghold opener of “Genesis.” A dark stage, and one vertical light panel signals the beginning of introducing the song. And the lights between the reflective screens created a perfectly thin symbol, that of the cross the “t” in their band name – the center and pillar of their existence. This tour’s version of Genesis is the best yet. And it doesn’t drag on for a moment too long. The ears began to pick on starts immediate samples from “Phantom” and “Phantom II (Soulwax Remix)”, both of which hit my heartstrings – the first songs I’d hear from the band, back in 2008.
As a die-hard fan, I couldn’t help myself but know the entire setlist prior to the show. I watched the livestream debut of the tour in April at Coachella while my wife slept. While I knew what songs were to be played and when, I didn’t know how brilliant, crisp, and acutely timed the sound would carry in alignment with the light production. Strobes, gold flickers, changing colors, light outlines, and flashes of intensity and intentionality once “Generator” blasted the people filled warehouse (go to 2:15 to see how they did it at Coachella this year). A small hat tip to “Love S.O.S.” siren and vocal sample showed they weren’t simply providing one-to-one songs but blended, re-imagined approaches across their catalog.
The bedazzled mixing continued with “Alakazam!” x “Mannequin Love” x “We Are Your Friends” x “TTHHEE PPAARRTTYY” – a three-album assembly. When the chorus from “Mannequin Love” kicked in with the white outlining lights of the various light projectors, monitors across the stage, there was a bright outline of hands and phones raised in the air catching the early high peak moment. Hearing Uffie’s voice sing "The Party" as an interlude for the “One Night/All Night” main sample to kick in certainly urged a massive roar from the audience. There’s something to be said about the Kevin Parker vocals in “One Night/All Night” and “Neverender.” The match was meant to be between these musicians. The combination of “One Night/All Night” and hit song “D.A.N.C.E.” bring a full rainbow of colors in a very ornate house looking moment on stage. The hanging projectors, screens, and visuals come together as one. It’s the defining track of the live tour. In 2012 they did it for “New Lands”. In 2017 they did it for “Safe & Sound”. There’s always one song they will purposefully re-create and adapt to a live setting and to see it in three different tours just proves their m.o. – “ live show for us is meant to be celebratory”. They celebrate their sound and deliver it in a new light.
At this point, how can it get better? “Safe & Sound” Woman Worldwide edit, combined with “Neverender” and a sampling of Justice remixes are next. The golden flickers and stars in space visuals with Kevin Parker’s voice make you feel as if you’re inside a studio 69 spaceship to Mars. Gaspard raised his arm, breaking stage character just for a moment, in the main build of “Neverender” as the lyrics go “Because…I remember…. the hardest were the times I don’t forget…” And I’ve watched other performances, and it appears this is a common move he makes, perhaps one of his favorite moments of the show.
Again, there I am wondering how could this get any better? “Stress” gets another deeper, cleaner retake in a more focused techno style. However, the one common thread of this song across each tour is the glaring red lights. It is the ONLY time they use red coloring, lighting in their show. The siren and pulsing red lights create a stunning visual with two silhouette figures on stage heads nodding and one leg kicking.
The encore was a blended super medley across every album: “Planisphère” x “Phantom” x “Alakazam!” “Helix” x “Civilization” x “Heavy Metal” x “Pleasure” x “Phantom Pt. II (Soulwax Remix)” x “We Are Your Friends” x “Mannequin Love”. Looking back on it, it was a curve ball for every moment of that closing. The start with “Planisphère” took the cake. I’ll take ANY bet this tour would be the first time they ever played that song. If you’re musically curious, they have a four-part series for the song. It’s brilliant.
Before we knew it, the opening of “Genesis” closed with a super-medley of Justice songs. Gaspard and Xavier were much more relaxed and “in flow state” than their first show via livestream at Coachella this year. They barely moved on stage for that performance. This time, they had full body movement, confidence of repetitions, and enjoyed the close of the North America 2024 tour – in my hometown, sweet home Chicago.
All photos by Julian Ramirez