Chumbawamba Energizes Message of Liberation

Anarchy is seldom as attractive as it was in the hands of English octet Chumbawamba at the Palace on Tuesday. The Leeds-based “anarchist collective” drove home its messages of political and sexual liberation with funky beats, exuberant vocals and boundless energy, charming an audience that seemed to have come for the ubiquitous hit “Tubthumping,” but stayed in large numbers because it liked what it heard.

The 80-minute set was mostly danceable pop, plus a few folk tunes, drawn from the eclectic, 15-year-old group’s major-label debut, “Tubthumper,” and a string of earlier independent albums. No dour dogmatists, the men and women of Chumbawamba bounded gleefully about, changing costumes, swapping vocal and instrumental duties and pausing only occasionally to explain their beliefs. The lyrics quoted playfully and pointedly across pop eras, from Buffalo Springfield to Spice Girls, while the music juxtaposed raging rhythms and lilting melodies, with nary a discordant note.

Such an idealistic group entering the pop arena can expect to be accused of selling out, but what good are revolutionaries who preach only to the converted?

Besides, for all the revelry, the message came through loud and clear. Listeners may dig the populist “Tubthumping” more for its hook than its understated anger, but the Palace crowd proved more attentive, receiving the older protest ballad “Homophobia” nearly as enthusiastically as the hit. If revolution were always this compelling, everybody would dance along.