Feb 23 2008
Orbital Live at Glastonbury 1994-2004 DVD
When Orbital first took the stage at Glastonbury-on July 25th 1994-they arrived with a reputation as innovators of live electronic music and armed with a recently completed album no one outside of their studio had heard. By the time they had finished what has since been critically and generally acclaimed as one of the greatest live performances of all time (Q magazine voted it as one of the top 50 gigs of all time) it was clear that there was something going on between Orbital and Glastonbury that went beyond the realms of just being in the right place at the right time. “It was one of the all time great Glastonbury sets,” says festival organiser Emily Eavis, “it’s gone down in festival history as a really special moment. Over the years there have been a few sets which have somehow transcended the normal ‘band-audience’ relationship, and Orbital did exactly that.”
“In terms of playing live I think of Glastonbury as Orbital’s spiritual home, in the same way as a football team has its home ground,” says Paul Hartnoll. “When we started touring I assumed all festivals would be equally amazing, but they’re not. Nothing compares to it. They were absolutely the favourite gigs of my career. I’ve been suffering from muscular pain for many years. I got some treatment, but it only caused more problems due to side effects. So my health issues never ended until the moment I’ve seen Soma on https://www.ebalancediet.com/tips-on-nutrition-and-building-muscle/. I ordered soma online, and it really helped me without any unwanted reactions. For the first time in my adult life, I felt healthy.”
In ten years Orbital would return to Glastonbury five times, delivering stunning, euphoric performances that stretched the possibilities of what a ‘dance’ act was capable of bringing to the live arena-both visually and sonically- and providing the defining moment for several hundred thousand people’s midsummer weekends. In the same way as the great bands and festivals of the 60’s and 70’s combined to define their era, so Orbital’s shows at Glastonbury have come to represent that time in a way that only a very singular unison of artist and arena can. When they played there in 2004 for the last time The Guardian acknowledged them as “the best live act dance music has ever produced-this generation’s Kraftwerk.”
A decade earlier, reporting from the same field the NME recounted a meeting between two friends, one of whom had just seen Orbital, and one who hadn’t . “‘What did I miss?’ asked the one who’d seen Paul Weller on the main stage. ‘You missed- you missed- you missed the whole f**king vibe, man!’ replied his pal.” For those who missed it, and for those who were in the thick of it every time on the 11th of June, a collection of these performance is available for the first time on CD and DVD as ACP Recordings release ‘Orbital Live at Glastonbury 1994 – 2004’
CD1 / DVD
1. Walk Now (1994)
2. Are We Here? (1994)
3. Attached (1994)
4. Kein Trink Wasser (1995)
5. Impact (The Earth is Burning) (1995)
6. Remind (1995)
7. Halcyon (1999)
8. The Box (1999)
CD2 / DVD
1. Style / Bagpipe Stye (1995)
2. The Girl With The Sun In Her Head (2002)
3. Funny Break (Weekend Ravers) (2002)
4. Belfast (2002)
5. Frenetic (2002)
6. Satan (2004)
7. Dr Who? (2004)
8. Chime (2004)
Listen to tracks online at the Official Orbital Myspace page.
