I was absolutely floored after seeing Justice last night--their live set has gotten tremendously, incredibly good, and here's why (although admittedly a very late review in their current tour as it's almost over):

1. They completely reworked their entire set.

There are remnants of bits they put together for their "A Cross the Universe" tour still lingering, but for all intents and purposes everything they have going on in their current set is new, fresh, and inspired. They worked in their new material tremendously, but they also re-worked they way that they perform some of their old material, bringing in an actual keyboard for one of them to play on while the other manages everything else.

2. They went from too-pretentious to just-pretentious-enough.

When they played Metallica at the end of their sets back in 2007, I wanted to punch someone. They tried to go too far toward hard rock without being hard rock, and I thought it was terrible. This time, they seemed to grow up a bit. They still had a good amount of French arrogance (no offense to the French folk on here ), but it wasn't over the top. They managed to tone down their trying-too-hard-to-be-metal and toned up their we're-actually-electronic-music-artists. Seeing the two of them take turns actually playing the keyboard with their backs to the audience was very humbling for them, and I thought it allowed for some warm moments amidst the screeching beats.

3. They took a cue from Daft Punk and completely transformed their work for the live set.

The best electronic music performers I have seen have managed to take the best performance elements from a number of different genres of music--the "spontaneity" of jazz, the psychedelic-meanderings of classic rock, and the lovely mind-meld of the rave scene that most of us electronic-music lovers have found and embraced since our first live experience. Justice deconstructed their near-entire catalogue of music and reconstructed it for the live set in a way that resists the formal track-by-track performance much in the way that Daft Punk did for their Alive 2007 tour. The end result is movements of dance music that hinge on the various samples in many of their tracks, stretching many of them into 15 to 17 minute versions that keep coming back and hitting harder and harder.

4. Their build at the end of their set rivals the Chems' live version of Believe

It does, really. Believe still is, for me, the best, most intense peak that I've come across, but the fact this made me question it is absolutely fantastic. Take a look at this YouTube video. The breakdown happens at 1:45, and the final peak doesn't hit until 4:45. Three minutes of build with an on-the-way peak toward the final build peak. That's some fantastic energy work right there. No doubt.

That's about all I've got for now--absolutely glad I got to see them this time around. A+

Totally agree with you! I was stunned when the first guy to report back from the opening show of the tour didn't like it. Honestly I don't think anything short of Justice showing up in a 20-foot cross and "atoning" for AVD Alive 2007-style would please some of these people! But it's nice to see that the inexplicable stigma that fell on the record is wearing off and people are finally coming around to it (just like Xavier and Gaspard predicted).
And you didn't even get to see one of the best parts of the show - Horsepower used to have a killer acid breakdown!

I did not keep track of Justice as I did for Vitalic. I got fed up of all the hype surrounding them and did not even listen to their second album. Not that I ideologically didn't want to, but because I didn't feel the need to, and to be honest I still don't.
They played in Lille at the beginning of the year but I wasn't interested, partly because of the obnoxious teenage audience we see at that kind of shows.

I saw them four years ago at a festival. I was 15 and totally into them, I went to that festival especially to see them, I didn't know anything (or almost) about the other bands, which I watched anyway. One of these bands was The Chemical Brothers and I think you can guess what happened in my mind at that moment... (well at least Pumisher and Krisper can guess).

MadPooter, on 05 November 2012 - 9:57 PM, said:

You're going pretty far there, if I remember correctly that build-up was already in the previous live show so that's not new, and that's NOTHING compared to the build-up in Believe, really.

The bloke off the internet, on 11 November 2012 - 5:10 PM, said:

You should approach things with a slightly more objective eye. Just sayin'...

Dude, The Chemical Brothers > everything, is as objective as it gets.

The bloke off the internet, on 12 November 2012 - 2:10 AM, said:

You have missed something. The 2nd album is much better than the first one. I love its rock-ish sound!

WhiteNoise, on 12 November 2012 - 12:21 PM, said:

This

Bouh, on 12 November 2012 - 4:53 PM, said:

To be honest I don't even listen to the first album any more.

i really gave the new one a try, but so far i only really like Helix and Civilisation. Audio video disco is also good but not that spectacular IMO.
Maybe my expectations were different. I totally adore Planisphere, phantom and the genesis/let there be light duo. And lets not forget the tension and panic from Stress. These tracks stand way above anything that is on Audio Video Disco.

It is not the "softness" of the new album that makes me dislike it. One minute to midnight is one of justice's finest works IMO.

Maybe i will fall in love with their next work.

The bloke off the internet, on 12 November 2012 - 9:01 PM, said:

is the least intelligent response on the Internet I have come across to date. Do you actually think just saying "this" is clever, or has any actual meaning?

Canon is my favorite track on the second album so far, very powerful and unique.

I have never been a huge fan of their first album. In my opinion it lacks coherence. Plus I can't stand the hype going around "dance" and "we are your friend".

MadPooter, on 14 November 2012 - 9:42 AM, said:

Calm down

MadPooter, on 14 November 2012 - 9:42 AM, said: