Review: Orbital - dance icons take Bristol Beacon crowd back to 1990s and a surprise appearance from Liz Truss

Iconic electronic dance pioneers Orbital pressed delete on the past 30 years and took a sell-out Bristol Beacon crowd straight back to sweaty raves of the early 1990s.

Brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll are back on the road for a short UK tour to warm up for a highly anticipated appearance at Glastonbury.

It will mark 30 years on from their legendary 1994 Glastonbury set, which is often cited as one of the greatest gigs of all time and a set that turned the festival on to live dance music. In short, this is the band that came to define rave music and they have influenced countless acts since.

The current shows are also to mark the reissue of their eponymous 1991 debut album - known to fans as ‘The Green Album’ - and the 1993 second album, known as ‘The Brown Album’.

Wisely, the Beacon had removed seating in the stalls to create a huge dance floor for the gig, which was hot and sweaty from the off.

Although there were a few Gen Zers in the crowd, it was largely original 1990s ravers now in their 50s.

For many, it was a rare night out and there was plenty of ‘parent dancing’ going on - some of the accompanying teenagers looked mortified as mum and dad threw some hands-in-the-air shapes on the sticky, beery dancefloor like it was a 1991 acid house warehouse party. Those videos will be doing the rounds around college today.

These days, the nearest many of the older Orbital fans get to a warehouse is a weekend trip to IKEA, and the only pills popped are a couple of paracetamol for creaking joints after a gentle game of walking football. 

Performing on a podium surrounded by synths and sequencers, the Hartnoll brothers remained in silhouette with only their trademark head torch glasses providing any stage light.

Behind them, eye-popping visuals and a truly dazzling light show peppered with strobes provided the main focus.

On stage for just short of three hours with a 20-minute interval, Orbital played the two first albums in their entirety, barely coming up for air between tracks.

First single Chime - one of the definitive rave tracks of the 1990s - saw the most frenetic dancing of the first half, as did Desert Storm and Belfast.

From the Brown album, Lush 3-1, Impact (The Earth is Burning) and Halcyon were among the highlights.

The dancefloor classics kept on coming until the end with an encore of Spicy (a Spice Girl remix), Dirty Rat (their collaboration with Sleaford Mods), Where Is It Going? and Satan, during which devilish red-washed images of dictators, world leaders and even Liz Truss flashed on the screen. 

As the clock struck 11pm, the sweat-drenched fans left the hall and headed home like the teenagers and students they were back in the early 1990s. A few dazed souls looked as if they didn’t quite know where they were.

There were probably a few people missing from the school run or early work meetings this morning, but it was worth every minute.