Daniel Lopatin gives meaning to it all. The composer, producer and all-round sonic visionary best known as Oneohtrix Point Never brought his extraordinary live show to the Barbican as part of NTS 15, backed by a visual masterclass from Freeka Tet. 

What makes a good live show a great live show? For me, it’s when it’s more than a show, rather an experience. It should be more than just a musician or a band playing songs that the audience knows and loves. It has to transport its audience into another world – the artist’s own utopia. You should be completely encompassed in who they are, what they’re trying to say, and how they are doing it.

If the above is true, then you can’t get a much better live show than Daniel Lopatin’s visit to the Barbican on Friday night. The producer, musician, composer and everything in-between – best known under his alias, Oneohtrix Point Never – has long been a savant of intellectual, challenging and emotionally engaging electronic music. 

Over twenty-plus years, Lopatin has carved a unique, hyper-futurist and ever-evolving sound that plays on ambience and experimentation. He’s shared 11 albums under the moniker – including last year’s career high, Tranquillizer, and is also an award-winning film composer known for his work with the Safdie Brothers, most recently scoring Marty Supreme. He has worked with some of your favourite artists, from James Blake to Charli XCX, Iggy Pop to The Weeknd. Even Björk is a fan.

So, as my trusted +1 and I polish off a pre-pint and trundle on over to the beloved Barbican, expectations are high. There’s a buzz of anticipation in the centre’s main area, as punters grab drinks and fill the time chatting. The show is a part of NTS 15, a series of events across London to celebrate a decade and a half of the powerhouse cult radio station, and this evening feels like the crowning glory. 

For the first two-thirds or so of the set, Lopatin is joined on stage in the Barbican’s distinguished hall by Freeka Tet, a digital artist who is joining the current tour. He stands sideways to the right of his counterpart, hidden behind a front-facing screen, while Lopatin stands central, backed by a large projector on which visuals start appearing as the music starts, and we hear Tranquilizer in full.

The visuals, framed through a series of small TV screens that Freeka moves between the focus of, range from glitchy digital distortion to gorgeous colourful patterns to found-footage style montages. It’s a visceral experience, one which occasionally you have to take a second away from out of fear of getting completely lost, completely immersed, in the devastating beauty of it all. 

The album, a peak achievement in Lopatin’s catalogue, pops out of its subtle skin when accompanied by the visual, a trippy, atmospheric, nearly hour-long masterpiece that can feel vastly uncomfortable one minute and then vastly beautiful the next. Such is Lopatin’s peerless ability to surprise and conduct his audience.  

It’s hard to tell if hours or minutes pass, but suddenly the music and images cease, and the lights come up somewhat. Lopatin and Freeka applaud back to the audience and exit the stage. For a moment, it seems the show is finished, but the Brooklynite appears again, giving thanks to the London crowd, and welcomes in the climactic part of the show – a run through of the classics. 

Freeka doesn’t return to the stage, so in his place, a hallucinatory light show accompanies some of the highlights of the Oneohtrix Point Never back catalogue. It’s the visionary in his truest, purest form – blowing minds with intricate and experimental electronica united with trip-inducing visuals.

I leave the Barbican a changed man. My +1 and I sit in excited silence as we draw smoke from our roll-ups, in utter disbelief at the effect one man and his box of tricks can have. A Oneohtrix Point Never show is the ultimate experience, the ultimate show. Treat yourself to an existential crisis next time he’s in town.

Words – Ben Tibbits