Royal Albert Hall gig - a punters perceptions.....

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RandomMan1973
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Royal Albert Hall gig - a punters perceptions.....

Post by RandomMan1973 »

Long time listener, first time, well ok second time, gig punter.....

Somehow ive always managed to miss orbital live.... followed through the studio since yellow.

Got to see them in Brixton for the 20 tour.... how many years late was that ? oh yeh, 20.

So, Wonky comes round - im on it, get the album and bag myself and 2 mates a plce in the seats for the RAH gig.
How did it go ?

Epic... what an amazing set !!!!! a couple times i turned to my mate and spoke the words "this all killer, no filler" - and i meant it. They were both brave in the set choice and it FULLY doffed its cap to the faithful. They also just so happened to play some of the loudest tunes they got in their arsenal - and its quite an arsenal.

I want to thank them - deeply. 20 left me happy but not in this same almost comatose rapture im left in now after Wonky at the RAH. The sound was amazing, the crowd were all up for it - least where i was standing - and the brothers delivered MASSIVELY.

I would say - if your not sure to go or not, where ever it is - just lay the money on the table and dont think twice.
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Re: Royal Albert Hall gig - a punters perceptions.....

Post by Dielinquent »

Ow man, i really can't wait for the Amsterdam gig next friday :-)

The only thing I read are reviews about fantastic Orbital show this tour.

Is there anyone here who can post a setlist of this tour?

See y'all friday
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Re: Royal Albert Hall gig - a punters perceptions.....

Post by nightfloat »

There is one setlist from this tour up at setlist.fm.
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Re: Royal Albert Hall gig - a punters perceptions.....

Post by legspin »

WOOOOOOOOOOO.

'The Royal Albert Hall hey? 'None o' your muck' I say to my cousin as we walk up the steps outside the back of the venue. The scaffolding and hessian mesh obscure a proper look at the gigantic cake but nonetheless we took a walk around the outside to try and get a proper look at the building. Pointless I know, but as a tourist you do these things almost without thought. It's only as we walk away from it down towards Kensington that I finally realise that this was it. All the waiting and waiting and wwwwwwaaaaiiiitttttiiiiiinnnnngggggg was almost over. I was in London, going to see music I adore being played in an almost mythical setting (for me anyway). At that point the fizz just took over. The next five or so hours were just going to be fun, and then the gig would start...

We walked in about half-eight. I had wanted to see at least the tail-end of the Japanese Popstars but between one thing and another It really was just a glimpse I caught( is it just me or was entrance to the arena a bit labyrinthine?) . I had a good look around when the house lights came up. First thoughts was, 'Jesus, 'tis smaller that I had imagined'. All those 'Last night at the Proms' on the telly when I was a kid had given me to believe the floor to be a football field and the stage at least a penalty area. Of course, the Choir balcony being blacked out does take from the overall depth but ho hum, what are you gonna do?
The next thing I thought was that the back of the venue looked like the start of the Muppet Show...
The sound and light rigs come under close inspection next (professional curiosity). Every sound techie I have ever talked to who has worked in the RAH has told me that it's a difficult place to get wrong soundwise, the accoustical work done there over the years lending a massive hand to all. All those conversations came back as I stared at the discs suspended from the ceiling and the fluting in the roof above. All good, the floor and seats start to fill up as the five minute warning sounds and you can just feel the expectation crackle in the air. I'm feeling more that a little skitish at this point and restlessness is setting in. Very quickly though this is dispelled with a glance over at the stage door and I see two familiar heads drift in and out of view as they pace back and forth, waiting to go on. All in a moment they bound out the door and up on stage. 'Hoorah' bays the crowd. Phil does his usual spiel, Paul fiddles and foosters and without warning we're off....

The dulcet tones of Bertrand Russell echo across the room, the lights and video screens burst into life but the crowd doesn't quite. There are pockets of the crowd winding up with the track as the beat kicks in but for most a wait and see policy has been adopted. Middle-aged knees and the natural "Well, impress us then" tendencies of major metropolitan areas mitigate against a blinding start straight away, and most are not familiar enought with One Big Moment for it to immediately catch fire. Nevertheless, half-way through the swaying has started to ripple across the room. Halcyon keeps up the gentle but insistent start, slowly building a head of steam that mounts until Belinda. At which point the gig takes off and the atmosphere dissolves into "Fuck it who cares? Just bloody get up and dance". Straight Sun keeps the pace high and for the first time I've heard in a live version the Lads almost nail the drop and hook. Mega stuff and I can't help but wig out to it. Keep it up and at this rate by the time the Leccy Piccy hoves into view they may have got it... Sad but True. First of the new oldies and finally some love for Sniv. Why it was so sorely neglected for the comeback gigs remains a mystery to me, but I digress. Things are now in full flight and I don't think it could be stopped by Thor. To be brutally honest, it isn't the tune I would have picked but this version is brilliant - sharp, spiky and somber but still mad dancy and perfectly assembled and realised. By the time it's over and Beezledub has wended it's way into our ears there isn't a seat in the house being used for it's intended purpose.
I love Beezledub. I think it is a cracking take on an old favourite and really works live for me. Never though, I'm not quite so sure about. This is a headphones tune for me. Live, the long lead into the main riff seems to get a little lost and I found myself taking a small breather and looking around properly at the crowd and room for the first time during the gig. I still thought of the Muppet Show... Back with Belfast and a firmer footing is re-established but at a much faster pace that I would expect. This is the most upbeat version I have heard of this personal favourite and whilst it may not become required listening in this iteration, it brought the temperature nicely back to the boil. I'm bubbling away, gently raving and feeling good about myself, the world and it's sister when the oh-so appropriatly name Impact strikes. Whereas Belfast got everyone back up Impact picked up the entire venue and just smashed us all down again. This is the best version I have heard yet. The extra bits at the end of USA just kept coming and growing and building. I look back.The place is now just one continuous shimmy as folk are caught by the lights momentarilly and grooves are just being mined all over the gods. I did not want this to stop but of course it must. Where Impact left us Wonky took us even higher again. It shouldn't work in my opinion. I'm still trying really to figure out why it does though. After Impact it really is the perfect follow up and the raving is even harder and faster. Apotheosis is being reached, the place is going berserk and as the first strains of Are We Here? bleed through I'm in hog heaven. One of my favourite tunes and this is the perfect setting for it. Yes, We bloody well Are Here, dancing our socks off and throwing shapes to beat the best of them. Karen Capenter never sounded so good to these ears but when Miss Goldfrapp is laid back under Occupants I was staring at the ceiling with my arms spread wide, swaying drunkenly and damn near close to tears. This was as close to perfection as makes no damn difference imo.
And then they were gone. Only briefly but It was enough to allow a catching of the breath. We get launched straight back in with Stringy Acid. Again, you can see the live potential here. The Lads have stuck pretty closely to the line of them wanting to hear this stuff live and this is another brilliant example of that emphasis. Much better here that on the album imo. again. Bounce, bounce, bounce, this is the raviest tune I have heard them do and is the perfect lead into Chime. I don't think that it needed to go back into the encore but here it is in all it's Chime/Crime glory. I love Crime now but it was a real revelation at the comeback gigs. I'm glad it has stayed.
I expected Where is it Going to be an epic closer and I was not disappointed. So classically Orbital you could place this on nearly every album and it would sit well with any of the stuff there. Like the album though it is over too quickly. One minute all is right with the world. Love and warmth are all around us and we are all around them. We are then left hanging. It's over. The Lads give us the big loves and they are gone, lights bobbing up and down as they disappear whence they came....
I turned around as the Muppet show slowly faded out.

So anyway...
One week on from the RAH. I have finally finished tripping from the experience and I felt it time to regale the masses with yet another semi-hysterical and long-winded panegyric. More will follow no doubt

Roll on the Picnic and the possiblity of addendums for this side of the puddle to the winter tour. I doubt I will make it to the UK for another gig for a while at least, unless Belfast gets added to the list. It will be interesting to see what gets dropped or changed for festival sets. Whatever happens though let the fun continue as long as it can.
To all the regulars I met up with it was good to re-make aquaintances with ye all. To the new faces, next time ye won't be.
Be Pure, Be Vigilant, BEHAVE.
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Re: Royal Albert Hall gig - a punters perceptions.....

Post by Badger »

Great post Rich and a fantastic review. Was great seeing you again at Cambridge and RAH. I had forgotten how you throw yourself into the set...Big Chill Memories...great fun as always.
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Re: Royal Albert Hall gig - a punters perceptions.....

Post by memly »

Fantastic review Rich! I felt I was standing right next to you reading that.

See you in December :D
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Re: Royal Albert Hall gig - a punters perceptions.....

Post by legspin »

Cheers lads.
I do have a coda and that was the sound quality. It was absolutly perfect. I have worked and played at many gigs over the years and not only was every thing crystal clear but it was very loud. The two are, if not mutually exclusive, difficult to obtain together.

Yeah Matt I don't see the point of not going for it. I spend long enough frustratedly bopping around my kitchen or head-banging in the car to not want to let it all hang out in the right circumstances. I always feel I must apologise for flying elbows and hands though, and I am convinced I almost beaned some poor schmuck in Cambridge with a flying pony-tail.

I would seriously doubt if I will be back on GB soil in December Mem. I was cutting it very fine with her patience levels on this trip and I think there may be consequences if I do it again too soon .
That though, is not my main concern. Not only the cost of going has to be factored in but the money I couldn't earn is in the mix as well. It is a very busy time of the year for folk in my line of work, what with all the Christmas shows being set up and run from late november on. I would just be turning down too much of a revenue stream at the most expensive time of the year. Of course, if the Lads were able to find me a spot in their organisation for the length of the tour....

I do have one minor complaint about the gig in the RAH though. Nothing to do with set gliches, security, the exorbitant price of a bottle of water, jostling, the gig not being 4 hours in length or anything like. There was 3 or 4 blokes in front of me (and I was one row back from the front) who didn't move a muscle for the entire gig except to switch their camera phones from one hand to the other. I honestly felt like grabbing their phones and jumping up and down on them berating them all the while as to why they weren't fucking dancing. What a wasted opportunity and if I was P+P I would be a bit pissed off at this going on so blatantly at the front of the gig.
Their loss.
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Re: Royal Albert Hall gig - a punters perceptions.....

Post by usernick »

legspin wrote:I am convinced I almost beaned some poor schmuck in Cambridge with a flying pony-tail.
I think they actually laughed at that point as it happened to coincide with the closing speech from "Are We Here?" :lol:

8)
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Re: Royal Albert Hall gig - a punters perceptions.....

Post by Karnorjax »

memly wrote:Fantastic review Rich! I felt I was standing right next to you reading that.

I can second that... Opps ohh yeah I was dancing right next to you ... and not once did I get whiplashed by the ponytale..

and I compeltly agree on the guys with cams at the front... what a waste... but at least we can now watch the gig highlights on youtube as they saw it cos when I looked over they were just stairing at the screens of their cameras adjusting them for the best pic and not at all enjoying the gig.. their loss..
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Re: Royal Albert Hall gig - a punters perceptions.....

Post by DIGDIS121 »

Great review legspin, I with my small posse travelled over from Ireland to see the Brothers in action.
It was a special night and will live long in the memory, we had a box - had a pregnant woman with us although the way she was dancing all night you won't have known!!
Its up there with Glastonbury as one of my favourite Orbital gigs and like glasto the sound was quality.....i fear for Electric Picnic
gig though, the last time they played the main stage it was'nt loud enough and its a common complaint every year and one of the few negatives I would have of an otherwise great festival.
Anyway it's still making me smile when I think back to the night, check out some of the pics from the RAH Website....
http://life.royalalberthall.com/2012/04 ... pril-2012/
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Re: Royal Albert Hall gig - a punters perceptions.....

Post by davemacfrombath »

Everyone was havin it where we were, near the back...
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