Eight years ago... [Update: TWENTY SEVEN years ago]

[stargurl]

Eight years ago today (July 4, 1997), I saw Orbital for the first time, and it changed my life.

I'm fairly sure that I made a thread like this a year or two ago, but I'm going to do it again.

As a fifteen year old, here's what I had to say about the experience:

Subject: (orbital) Orbital Live in Toronto
Date: 04 Jul 1997 23:29:17 PDT

Hey!
I just saw Orbital live in Toronto, Canada at Lollapalooza 1997. A lot
of people left just before Orbital, so we ended up in the front row! It
was amazing! That's all I can say... a lot of people didn't get it
though, there was this one guy behind us wearing a Smashing Pumpkins
"Zero" shirt and just sitting there... but I was up dancing, blowing my
whistle, getting other people to dance... Phil & Paul were really nice
after the show, signing all the autographs that people wanted. I got my
ticket & my program signed. And Paul was making a video, and he got a
shot of me! The whole thing rocked, it was totally amazing! That's all
I have to say...
Aimee

What a wild ride it's been...

Had I known how much time and money I would spend talking about Orbital, tracking down releases, and travelling all over the place for shows and to hang out with other fans, maybe I would have made a different choice that night. Only kidding! I will never forget the crazy adventures that I've been so lucky to have, thanks to my love of Orbital.

To everyone here:
You guys are the greatest, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. I've met up with you (and people from the old mailing list and IRC channel) in six different countries now, and it never ceases to amaze me how universally awesome you all are.

Loopz:
You're the man to thank (or blame!) for all of this, really. Crawling through the website for typos and scanning Canadian releases helped me pass many boring afternoons back in high school. If it wasn't for your website, the IRC channel and these forums, I wouldn't have had all of these wonderful people come into my life. Let's not forget the countless hours we've spent chatting over the years, you were always there for me and we've certainly had some good times.

Paul and Phil, if you're out there anywhere, or even if you're not:
Thank you. Your music has been the soundtrack to my life for years now, through moments both good and bad, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I used to sit at night, years ago, writing letters to you that I obviously never sent, talking about how much your music meant to me. I might not be a teenager anymore, and your days as Orbital have come to an end, but all of this still means so much to me.

Here's to many more years to come,

Aimée

[stargurl]

I think this may be the nerdiest thread I've ever posted

[memly]

Respect.

[Timbob]

wow
you where there early, compared to me

the first time i saw orbital live was may 1999, 6 years ago. i was also standing front row, i can remember that jumping a lot, shouting, waving my arms.

i remember i swapped places with a nice girl, let her stand at the front.. my friends thought i was making a move on her, but i just wanted more space to dance

i got a part of that concert on videotape even..

i remember that a friend of my brother had the in-sides 2cd. with the box ep on the 2nd. that intro with the cracking floor, it was the weirdest thing i ever heard. later found out it was orbital. then i first bought middle of nowhere. later tracked down all the other releases.. i only miss midnight and chime on cd now

i remember the brixton gigs i didn't really know whether to go or not.. nobody wanted to go with me, but you people here on the forum convinced me that i should go. so i did had the time of my life! met some of you in the pub meet-up, and in the subway finally met people that DON'T get tired of me talking about orbital all the time, and DON'T think it's weird I've got one shelve of my closet devoted to orbital

the only thing i regret is that i didn't become insane fanboy earlier, because i later found out that the weird tune i always loved on one of those MTV video's (with the logo and various clip snippets) was Deeper so actually, i have been a fan from the chime era, i just didn't know it

Thank you for posting this thread Aimée, it makes me happy i always find it really nice to read what music can do for people.

so far for my rant
Tim.
*clicks spell check

[Timbob]

i really should cut down on the smilies...

[davemacfrombath]

Aimee - you should put a health warning in ther title - I only just reached the sickbag in the nick of time...<cheeky wink>

Only kidding, obviously, and for what it's worth, as far as obsessions go , we could do a LOT worse than the Boyz.

Here's hoping you get to see Phil spin some classics at least once - it's not remotely as good as a live performance BUT it really is the next best thing.

[Timbob]

in 5 years we will have "tribute to orbital" concerts.

watch my words

[stargurl]

Oh we could certainly do worse, in terms of obsession.

Without Orbital I don't think that I would have discovered most of the music that I like. A lot of my favourites were recommendations from mailing list and forum members.

To be honest, I don't think that any of the breaks promoters here would book Phil (Orbital themselves played a venue with capacity 850 last time they were here and I don't think it was sold out), but if they did I'd be there front and centre.

In Toronto, we have a Kraftwerk cover band called Die Roboter... maybe I can start up an Orbital cover band (just kidding!).

[Loopz]

Aimee - I did something on the spur of the moment and looked what happened. I'm glad it kept you out trouble...well almost

[stargurl]

Kept me out of trouble?! Created trouble, more like it

Mom, I'm going to Detroit... Mom, I'm going to England...

Do you know how much time I've spent on all of this? I could have, uh, done something quite productive by now, I'm sure.

I've even had an article run in a Toronto magazine with the headline "Diary of a Groupie" - what do you think that did for my reputation?
[That was not my title for the article, and the editor pretty much changed my entire argument (that I wasn't a groupie) and butchered plenty of other bits of it. Orbital --> "The Orbital", Hartnoll --> "Hartnall", etc.]

I must say, though, that I wouldn't have it any other way.

I can't believe I've known some of you for over 1/3 of my life (Steve, Ken, Matt, Nathan, Wouter, etc.)... that's just crazy. You guys mean the world to me.

[stargurl]

It's been twelve years now and I'm married to someone I met on the mailing list and we have a daughter who's a month old today.

I can barely believe that we live in a world so crazy and wonderful - that little decisions like wanting concert tickets as a birthday present or buying a certain cd can impact to so very much.

That is all.

(And how exciting is it one month from today, Wouter and I will finally get to see Orbital together for the first time!)

[davemacfrombath]

Are you taking the young un to BC Aimee?

[stargurl]

Big Chill? I'm not even taking myself...

The boys will be here in Belgium on August 6 though - not sure if Elise will get to come along or not...

[memly]

A sweet story. All the best to Wouter and yourself Aimee

[Timbob]

in 5 years we will have "tribute to orbital" concerts.

watch my words

I wasn't far of with that one tho...