The DVD “The Neon Judgement – Live at Machina Festival” captures the
memorable show that this cult Belgium band performed in November 2005. The event that celebrated the first eight years of electronic music site FiberOnline took place in a huge club located in São Paulo called Broadway, which became one of the big references in the dance music scene since the beginning of the 80´s.

Formed by Dirk da Davo (vocal, synthesizers) and TB Frank (vocal, guitar and programming), The Neon Judgement celebrated, at Machina Festival, its 25 years of services dedicated to the music with an odd electronic ritual. The images show band and audience enveloped by a “cult” atmosphere that only veteran artists can offer, in a unforgettable show that gathered about 1300 fans, among regulars from different temples of the underground scene, from past and present.

The concert starts with and experimental introduction by Dirk da Davo, who tested the knobs and palettes of his analogue synth - which probably was used in the recording of “TV Treated”. This classic, originally released in 1980, was remixed in 2004 by top DJ and producer Tiga - one of the main figures of electro’s new sound - who had his first contact with the Neon Judgement music by his parent’s records collection. 

The Belgium duo is a classic example of the influence that alternative electronic musicians from the beginning of the 80´s have in the generation of musicians, producers and DJs from followed decades, in Brazil and worldwide. Beside Front 242, they’re considered the pioneers of EBM (electronic body music) and the list of their admirers includes some of the protagonists of the contemporary electronic music like Dave Clarke, Headman and The Hacker (just to name a few).

The set list of the live performance should be focused in the tracks from the box released in 2005, which includes all the singles from 81 to 85. But the band surprised the audience from the beginning with two classic tracks from 1987, “Miss Brown” e “Chinese Black”, with their chorus sung enthusiastically by the same audience that used to dance to these songs in alternative dance floors from that decade.

Tracks that have been considered obscure like “Too Cold to Breathe” (81) and “Nion” (85) were remembered and preceded the axe’s show on Broadway’s Club stage, in an impeccable sequence of the most revered songs of TNJ, like the proto-electro of “Fashion Party” (82) and the futuristic post-punk vein of the classics “TV Treated” (82) and “Factory Walk”, originally released as a single in 1980.

The camera’s close ups on stage captured unusual moments of the concert: A Sisters of Mercy t-shirt thrown to the stage, a sudden “punk” insight of the guitar player, an outrageous gulp of classic Bourbon hurled at once down his throat.

At the end of the concert the duo connects past and present in a highly danceable remix, for the everlasting “The Fashion Party”.

The Neon Judgement – Live at Machina Festival” is, above all, a gift to the Brazilian fans and shows the synergy between audience and band in an exclusive show, involved by an atmosphere of intimacy.