Portishead / Roseland NYC Live( 2LP/RED/POSTER/25th Anniv)
Portishead – Roseland NYC Live captures Portishead at their most atmospheric and powerful, recorded during a landmark 1997 performance at New York's Roseland Ballroom. Backed by a full orchestra alongside the band's trademark electronics, turntables and guitars, the performance transforms familiar material into something even more cinematic and dramatic.
Drawing heavily from Dummy and Portishead, the set includes unforgettable versions of tracks such as "Sour Times", "Glory Box", "All Mine", "Mysterons" and "Roads". Beth Gibbons' haunting vocals take centre stage, surrounded by sweeping strings, brooding rhythms and the distinctive production of Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley.
The orchestral arrangements add remarkable depth to songs already known for their dark and immersive atmosphere. Rather than simply reproducing the studio recordings, the band reworks them for the live setting, creating performances that can feel intimate and fragile one moment and enormous the next.
Roseland NYC Live has become one of Portishead's most celebrated releases and a superb demonstration of just how distinctive their music could be outside the studio. Beautifully atmospheric, emotionally intense and wonderfully cinematic, it captures one of the defining bands of the 1990s at the height of their powers.