August 29, 2010, they came, unleashed a firestorm, and left in a flash.

It was a perfectly bombastic and electrified night at the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday. The Chemical Brothers were in rare form as they took to the stage for an insanely “up for it” crowd. Not known as dynamic performers, the seminal British electronic duo actually seemed rather excited about their Bowl performance – surprising those who experienced their rather lackluster 2009 DJ set at Coachella.

KCRW’s dashing Music Director, Jason Bentley, appeared bursting at the seams when he introduced the act, thus setting the tone for a brilliant show. Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands, who are responsible for an entire generation of frat boys and girls accepting electronic music as a credible music genre, let a super charged light show and gigantic beats do the talking.

The convergence of sensations was better than a good acid trip with its alien meets super-club emotions streaming from every musical pore matched with green, white and indigo lighting assaults. Flames burst across the screens as robotic Trojans and cute couples merged in graphic rapture to the sounds of old Chems and tracks from the 2010 album, Further.

New tracks including extended versions of “Dissolve,” “Horse Power,” “Swoon” and the big club tune (with vocals) “Another World” were insane crowd pleasers (confession, every time I hear “Another World” I think it’s an Underworld track) as was 2007’s peppy “Hey Boy Hey Girl.”

Without playing “Block Rockin’ Beats,” a song that defined an entire generation – think what Underworld’s “Born Slippy” did – the Chemical Brothers left without an encore. You don’t go to one of their shows because of the brother’s charm and graciousness, you show up to hear music and experience visuals that continue to be unmatched by any act out there today.

With that said, long live, Chemicals, beats and graphic technology. Let’s just hope these Brits continue to work it all out.

Words by Kim Taylor