New Intensity From Tricky

Tricky, the darling of down-tempo dance, put on a sometimes manic, sometimes angry, but always intense two-hour performance Saturday night at the El Rey Theatre.

Backed by vocalist Martina Topley Bird, the English rapper transformed his telltale trick-hop into something decidedly punkish. He screamed, rapped, swayed, and shook his head violently while his band provided grand feedback, beats and bass.

Tricky always has been adept at doing strange new things with hip-hop: hip-hop blues, hip-hop ska (“Nightclub”), hip-hop punk (“Black Steel”), hip-hop ballads. He even made songs from “Pre-Millennium Tension” (his last album, which lacks the range and energy of his earlier work) into something mesmerizing.

It was, in fact, strange to see Tricky so magnetic, dedicated and demystified. During his stop at the Viper Room last year as leader of his “Nearly God” side project, he was an intimate yet shy performer. A subsequent appearance at the Atlas Bar & Grill found him literally hiding behind a loudspeaker as he blathered blunted raps over deejay-spun beats.

But at the overcrowded El Rey, he stepped up to the role of performer and orchestrated a well-disciplined band that transcended preconceptions of this new wave of dance.