Brian Eno has a theory that the actual sound a pop band produces is as important as its tunes: just a few seconds of the Beach Boys, he argues, is enough to identify them. Faithless, with the ruthless efficiency of the successful dance act, have a tense, white-hot synthesiser tone that they've made their own. It distinguished early club hits like Salva Mea, and it has been ripped off by a thousand Ibiza trance anthems since.
This is the final date of dance mag Muzik's awards tour that also featured distinctive new acts Groove Armada and Hybrid, but Faithless are the stars. The other side of their sound is a funky, futuristic groove thing, lit up by the raps of Maxi Jazz and the shimmering vocals of Terri Symon. The Astoria sways happily through two of these slower numbers: She's My Baby rolling on a breakbeat, a bass note, and Maxi Jazz's Kalashnikov rap.
Stage left, the spiky blond crop of Sister Bliss - one of a handful of powerful female producer/DJ figures in dance music - bounces coolly behind her keyboards. Then she unleashes that noise, the soaring, melodramatic riff to Insomnia. The hall lights up with a blazing white strobe light and all hell breaks loose. There are sleek city girls dancing wildly, gangs of spiky-haired gays, ageing baldies, grinning teenage boys; they're pogoing in the stalls and hanging off the balconies.
Over two albums, Faithless have matured from what seemed little more than a clever idea - producer and DJ concoct a "proper" live dance act with rapper and musicians - into a formidably innovative band. For the encore, Drifting Away, Dave Randall's acoustic guitar sprinkles baroque, Spanish melodies over gentle synthesisers. Maxi Jazz's lyrics have grown into a vulnerable yet masculine take on his emotional life. Bring My Family Back, performed with steely guitar and a trippy backbeat, is a tale of urban dispossession delivered with chilling pathos.
He saves his finest lyric for the set's finale. God Is A DJ is another of those searing trance moments, and the best attempt to capture the escapist power of clubbing since Indeep's 80s classic Last Night A DJ Saved My Life. As The Astoria celebrates, he recites the mantra: "This is my church. This is where I heal my hurts." Then he ad-libs, "Not an exclusive church. An all-inclusive church." In front of him is proof - the most varied audience the Astoria has seen for a long time, smiling as one.
