Oct 11: Short review from Kristina
Moodie <kristina.moodie@stir.ac.uk>
review from Jonathan Dourish <9355581d@udcf.gla.ac.uk>
FANTASTIC show, but I think there should be a law against ANYONE over 6 foot being allowed in to concerts!!!! at least on the floor section. I am exhausted with damaged feet from jumping so much, atmosphere was brilliant, much dancier than it was before, dave looked fantastic, well as much as i could see, running around, loads of spinning and wiggling of butt, voice was great, mart sang well, he performed 'somebody' and the crowd really seemed to appreciate his voice, the backing singers were outstanding (you have to hear them to believe it) , fletch was there, they didn't do 'behind the wheel' or 'strangelove' but NLMDA was fantastic, everybody was doing their fields of corn impressions, even the jazzed up version of IYR was great, they finished with JCGE which I wasn't looking forward to 'cos I rarely listen to it but it was an excellent choice in the end, the place went mental, PJ was good too although my poor uninitiated sister thought she had wandered into some strange cult, but I think even she enjoyed it, in fact she was so caught up in the moment that she bought a poster at the end, i on the other hand was sucked into the whole merchandise madness and had to be dragged kicking and screaming away, whan my money had stopped!! The Ultra stuff was greeted with huge cheers but I think the older stuff went down better, more anthemic, and where I was everyone knew ALL the earlier stuff which was great, but we were just dancing around it was ace, due to a delayed train I missed the first half of Purity but what I heard sounded fantastic and I was sorry to miss it. Went to Tower records in B'mingham the next day and they were playing Singles86-98 and there was about 15 people in the store just singing along and hovering around the dm section (which was pitifully small) but it was ace to walk in and hear dm, it just brought the whole night back, basically an excellent time was had by all, and now I'm back at work, totally behind, suffering the effects of a cold which I have been fighting for the last 2 weeks, completely exhausted and pretty penniless.....it was worth it!!!
I went to Birmingham, just days after fully recovering
from chickenpox! At 23 it's not much fun! My ticket was from the fan club and was right at
the front... at the side. The way the stage is arranged, those at the periphery will get a
crap view because the bass speakers are so high!
Anyway, Purity were really quite good, and more excitingly, during their set, Security
told me that just before dM would come on, anyone in the first three rows of the NEC could
move to where they wanted to. So, came the rush at 8.50 and most people stood up to move.
This left all the seats exposed which I promptly ran along and then skipped over, leaving
me dead centre, first row infront of the stage, about 7 feet from the band!
From this perspective (almost too close) the band was amazing. The set is very sparse in
sound - more emphasis on playing and the songs. This is quite a change for dM, but totally
innovative and really showed the strength of the songs and their arrangement.
Painkiller which kicks off the set is an edited version of the Plastikman mix. QoT is more
traditional, rather than USA 94. PoT and WIME are very similar to last time. Walking in my
shoes is excellent, but the screens are humourous, which I'm not sure quite works. OWILM
was excellent, and Martin played a new solo at the end. (He also sits on a fluffy white
stool for the set). (As you may notice I am not refering to the setlist in order).
Martin plays guitar alot - only for 4 songs of the 19 played does he use his keyboards.
That said, he adds alot of new guitar parts and so NLMDA has a guitar solo, as well as the
live riff. I was quite surprised with the lack of pick use (more of interest to guitar
players on the list). Previously, ETS, WIMS etc were played with a pick, but most of the
time Mart just used his index finger... he also played a lot of solos with the lower
frets!
ETS has a wonderful Niles Rogers funky riff which was really appreciated by the fans. I
don't know about other gigs, but the band really enjoyed Birmingham, and Fletch and Dave
both signaled and shouted "You're the best yet" when I was calling at them at
the end of BOAG. (Yes, Fletch was walking off stage and I think I surprised him when I
called his name and stuck my thumb up at him! He turned around walked over to me and did a
sort of "groovey" style thumbs up back and wink.)
There was also quite a bit of humour at the show and Dave was joking with the audience,
Jordan and Mart quite a bit. During BOAG, he showed off one of his new moves (a crouching
spin which uncurls at the mike) and when he turned around, the audience gave him a mocking
laugh ("ooo") to which he laughed and then repeated the move.
Like Kristine (I think) said, Mart's solos were highlights (despite the fact that a guy
beside me nearly got thrown out during QoL- the guy who threw his t shirt on stage at
Dave's mike). Somebody, with its incredible ending has its strongest outing on this tour -
just wait if you are going to a show.
Hmmm, not so much of a review here! Well, I think that the Birmingham gig was one of the
best I've been to. The crowd were up for it, and not as reserved as British audiences
usually are (even on the Devotional tour). The band are in excelent form and Christian's
drumming is amazing (I think he has a number of snare drums at different tensions and so
he can really thrash out if he wants!) and was entirely sympathetic to the music. (IYR
with its Zephyr cum Devotional mix was amazing, especially at the chorus and
Jordan/Janet's solo at the end). Peter kept quiet in the background, but you can hear his
analogue work in the music.
The show ended with JCGE which ended particularly early on the night due to a computer
failure! The band laughed and shrugged it off. But noone really cared as the show was just
too good! The small minimalist stage focussing on the band, and they in turn giving it
their all. Brilliant. Now, where's that tour CD and video???
PS I didn't try to stay behind or get backstage, so I may have missed all the other Bong
members, but after being in bed for the best part of a fortnight, I was too darn tired to
stay up any longer!