Anyone who saw only the first Portishead performance at this weekend’s ATP I’ll Be Your Mirror music festival is going to feel ripped off when they hear about the second. Not only did the oft quiet trip-hop trio play “Chase the Tear” after teasing it the night before, but the band brought on not one, but two guests.
Public Enemy frontman Chuck D, who had just finished filling out the second slot of the night, first joined on during “Machine Gun”, as he did back in 2008 for Barcelona’s Primavera Sound. His bit involved a verse from “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos”, as well as yelling out the name of the song seven or eight times.
During the encore, Portishead announced “new friend” Simeon, the surviving member of Silver Apples, who had performed the day before with experimental supergroup Silver-Qluster, would lend a hand on closing number “We Carry On”. There is some history behind that, too; Simeon covered the Third track shortly after the album came out.
Mouth-watering as this all is, we’re not sure it eclipses Portishead’s first U.S. performance (third overall) of the Amnesty International single “Chase the Tear”, which the band began to play Saturday before giving up amid some confusion.
Enjoy what videos are available below (we will replace the grainy Simeon video once a better one avails itself), and make sure to look out for our full ATP: I’ll Be Your Mirror review soon.
“Machine Gun” feat. Chuck D:
“We Carry On” feat. Simeon:
