Faithless is back on stage after the death of frontman Maxi Jazz in 2022. The electronic music formation had to shorten its show at Pinkpop, but got a second chance at Concert at SEA. “We want to honor Maxi’s spirit.”
“I’m quite emotional today,” says keyboardist Sister Bliss, one of the founders of Faithless in 1995, to NU.nl before the show at Concert at SEA. “The last time I was at this festival, in 2016, Maxi was with us. That was one of the last shows. Those memories come back and then you think: why isn’t he here now?”
Faithless is seen as one of the most successful acts in electronic music of the nineties and 2000s. They scored big hits with songs like Insomnia, We Come 1 and God Is a DJ. People still put their hands in the air for those songs in 2025, but with phones in them. Jazz is still a prominent part of the show during these songs. When his voice is heard, he appears on the big screens.
Jazz brought the often socio-political lyrics of the group to the audience in his own way. The artist passed away in his sleep in 2022 after struggling with health problems for years. The last time he was on stage with Faithless was in 2016.
“We want to make a show that is worthy of him,” says the 54-year-old Bliss. “We want to keep his message and his spirit alive. He had already lived a great life before joining Faithless. He wanted to share that wisdom with people through his words.”
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Faithless – which besides Bliss consists of producer Rollo, who never appears on stage – was not actually planning to tour anymore. Bliss wanted to make albums and do an occasional DJ set, but Faithless shows were not an option after Jazz’s death. The band eventually gave in when the fans kept asking for it.
“They wanted to have a place to come together to commemorate Maxi, and that’s what our shows have become. But we also want to be a platform for a new generation, to show that there is a future,” says Bliss, who is now on stage with vocalists such as Amelia Fox, Nathan Ball and Lily Gonzalez. They can also be heard on the new album.
Bliss mimics a rollercoaster with her hands in response to the question of whether it is slowly getting easier to perform without Jazz. “The funny thing is that it feels like he’s just there. I wear earpieces that make his voice come in a lot. He is there, but he is finally free from the difficult last years of his life.”
A large part of Faithless’s success is thanks to the Netherlands, says Bliss. “You guys were hooked even earlier than our home country, the United Kingdom.” She remembers memorable performances at Pinkpop in the late nineties, where a slight earthquake was created, and in Amsterdam’s Westerpark in 2010, after the Netherlands had won a World Cup match. “I can still see the sea of orange in front of me.”
Extra bitter that their performance at Pinkpop last week partially fell through because the group’s truck arrived late. “It was misery at customs,” Bliss sighs. “We had been there since the morning, but our stuff just wouldn’t arrive. It was incredibly stressful. We had to cut significantly into our setlist at the last minute, while we really tell a story with our entire show. Now it was like bad sex where no one climaxes.”
“This has only happened once before in all these years. This was really one of the worst experiences,” she says, although she is proud of the half hour that they still put on there. Concert at SEA feels like a second chance.
Later this year, the new album Champion Sound will be released in four parts. The first part can already be found on streaming services. “Each side sounds very different. It’s really a vibe. And we were able to use some unused vocals from Maxi. So there is still a bit of his wisdom in it.”