Live Performances
Fluke's live shows are in many respects similar to the live performances given by The Chemical Brothers in that both these artists employ stunning visual effects combining lasers and projected displays. Furthermore, Fluke's performances come in two varieties of show; performances as Fluke where the shows consist of entirely original Fluke material and shows under the alias "The Fluke DJs" whereby a combination of Fluke tracks are mixed with others in the style of a DJ Set. Unable to attract major crowds, Fluke resorted to "festival-style" tours along with other acts to draw in a sizeable audience as was seen with their participation in the "Electric Highway" tour in 1997 where they were joined by The Crystal Method and the "Pukkelpop" festival where they headlined along with Metallica amongst others.
Contrasting with many other electronic acts, however, Fluke's members were never entirely relegated to standing behind consoles. This was due to their conscription of session musicians to play guitar (Neil Davenport) and percussive elements (Robin Goodridge) live on stage. From 1997 onwards their shows were further enhanced with the inclusion of the dancer and singer Rachel Stewart as a real-world incarnation of the band's mascot Arial Tetsuo. Originally a character from the Wipeout 2097 video game, Tetsuo was subsequently adopted as the band's "fourth member" following "Atom Bomb"'s inclusion in the Wipeout 2097 soundtrack. This also gave the perfect excuse to incorporate a female vocalist to counter Fugler's deep and somewhat monotonous spoken vocals. While Bryant and Tournier were indeed behind synthesizers, Fugler and Stewart were able to entertain the crowd visually with dancing and singing while Fluke's resident lighting technician, Andy Walton, provided a suitable technology-driven accompaniment to the music. In 2004, Stewart parted ways with Fluke indefinitely, instead focusing on a new project with ex-EMF band member James Atkin, named Beauty School.
| “ | We threw ourselves into being a live band, but it was always important for us to give people a real show rather than just stand there twiddling knobs. | ” |
The number of Fluke's live shows decreased significantly after the release of Puppy owing to their personal commitments to young families. However, in the few shows they have played since, they have opted for the Fluke DJs setup, which utilises "a battery of laptops and the odd deck" rather than focusing on their live stage band, an approach which Jon Fugler subsequently referred to as "good fun, but ultimately flawed for the dancefloor."
In 2009, Fluke began to perform live again, including all three members, with a show scheduled for the 10th of October, 2009 at The Tabernacle in London.
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