Leftfield @ O2 Apollo, Manchester, 20 May

As far as album anniversary shows go, you’ll be hard pushed to find one as varied and all-encompassing as Leftfield’s run through of the ground-breaking electronic record Leftism. Celebrating its 22nd anniversary, tonight’s performance at a sold out Manchester Apollo is a sonic journey and testament to an album revered for blending genres and setting a benchmark for cohesion in electronic records.

From the opening bars of the dub-tinged Release the Pressure, during which the crowd bellows back every one of Earl Sixteen’s lines, there’s a remarkable immersion into every element of the show from both the performers and the crowd that is made all the more powerful by the incredible backdrop.

Neil Barnes now performs as the sole member of Leftfield in a live setting, conducting the night from amongst his array of instruments with drummer Sebastian Beresford and long-term studio engineer Adam Wren the other two constant figures. It’s a unique set-up that, with its simplicity and the set’s loyalty to the structure of the original record, make it all the more vital for the visuals to stun and the guest vocalists to captivate. And that they do.

Djum Djum seems possessed during his incessant bellowing and conducing of the theremin through Afro Left, and Toni Halliday controls the stage during the inducing trip-hop delicacy of Original, which is juxtaposed by the binary code that trawls the screen amid the song’s lyrics. Throughout the set the visuals take on striking narratives that energise the songs and evoke the interwoven yet contested forces of nature, technology and humans.

Infamously banned from Brixton Academy after damaging the roof during the initial tour of the record as a result of their behemoth of a sound system, there’s still no restraint shown as the balcony of the room starts rattling when the set moves away from the somnambulant likes of Melt into cataclysmic monsoons like Song of Life and Inspection (Check One).

Noticeably late on the record considering its urgency, breakout track Open Up collates the night’s energy into one rapturous moment. An absentee tonight, John Lydon’s presence is still potent as he leers through the original video during an extended mix of a song that captures the collective spirit of punk and electronic music, a factor that is reflected in the remarkably varied crowd.

Finishing on the cathartic 21st Century Poem, which has Lemn Sissay throwing every inch of his being into each word to jubilant cheers, Barnes addresses the crowd for the first time with a heartfelt thanks and a rendition of Happy Birthday for Sissay. It’s a jarring, back-down-to-earth moment that tops off what feels like one big celebration of the varied and astounding.