Setlist or No Setlist?!

[whatmakesustick]

Well, with today's post about rehearsals we can start to get excited about the summer shows :)

The one thing that's niggling away at the back of my head is whether or not they will use a setlist. I know there was a rumour that Rick wanted to get back to more improv but there are a set of standard festival tunes and not much time for rehearsals (?) as the guys have been busy with Frankenstein so I'm wondering how varied the shows are going to be. Maybe Pricey has been busy at work creating tracks and practising mixing between Born Slippy original, Deep Arch, Mo Move and Banstyle or something mad like that ;)

I'm not expecting completely different sets each night, but I would be a little disappointed if its the same setlist as last year.

[BrotherLovesDub]

Setlist w/ minor variations from last year. I don't think you'll get 6 off Barking (counting Downpipe) and some of the fan favs may be switched up but i'd say the sets will 60-70% resemble the last tour. Just my guess.

[Dunwho]

Festival shows = festival setlists which were always the same anyway... with only small variations.. So id say until they do another stand alone tour we will not be able to tell whether they are doing a setlist or no setlist job.

Who knows though... they may do festivals in a totally new way..

..perhaps the best thing to do is not speculate and just enjoy whatever happens.

[Dirty0900]

There was a tiny change at the end when they played Skyscraper, something that surprised me when they mixed it in off the back of Downpipe.

[gypster]

I'm curious to see how they switch up things, I always liked a little change, I wouldn't mind if they didn't play some of the barking songs, but really hope they keep diamond jigsaw in the play list, would love to hear it live again...

[joethelion]

hmm... my guess is that they'll still play:


Rez/Cowgirl
Two Months Off
Born Slippy NUXX
Moaner
Always Loved a Film

...btw - is it just me, or is it WEIRD that TMO has become an "anthem" amongst UW songs (I mean, in that - it's a recognizable, regularly played song) and "Jumbo" wasn't played ONCE during the last tour?

[Mike]

Yeah there were a few surprises (e.g. PG / Moaner didn't get played until late on in the tour)...

IMO TMO does appeal to the masses - it has the formula of the current "trend" of club house, allowing them to reach out and be popular with a new younger crowd (which i think is a good thing).

And I would expect them to play it more since they are headlining a festival this year featuring the likes of Magnetic Man and Pendulum :rolleyes:

[Dunwho]

Im simply shocked that nobody has alluded to the fact that they did not play even one song from OWB in the last two years!?!?!?

Ok i know it isnt exactly a stonking 4 to the floor album but the quality of music on it is undeniable.. and usually an album will have at least one song in the later set lists... not even one....

...i miss it

[Dirty0900]

Im simply shocked that nobody has alluded to the fact that they did not play even one song from OWB in the last two years!?!?!?

Ok i know it isnt exactly a stonking 4 to the floor album but the quality of music on it is undeniable.. and usually an album will have at least one song in the later set lists... not even one....

...i miss it

They've said in interviews that when they recorded OWB, the tracks didn't work that well live, hence the OWB tours being literally Croc/BB. Saying that though, my dad got bloody Glam Bucket when he saw them.

[Mike]

Yeah OWB is supurb, but even Croc and Burnout bored the hell out of me live, so im not that bothered - its all very subdued and experimental, i just don't think it suited the live set.. If they could beef them up a bit with a new beat, they could make interesting bridge / improv bits instead of the "pricey" interludes - like what they did with Dirty Guitar back in 98 / 99 :)

Edit: Faxed Invitation at Luxembourg is one of the best opening tracks ever at a gig.. it did have a heavier and more aggressive bassline which made a big difference.

[TheBang]

Im simply shocked that nobody has alluded to the fact that they did not play even one song from OWB in the last two years!?!?!?

Just being pedantic here, but Beautiful Burnout was played semi-regularly on the 2009 tour.

[whatmakesustick]

I actually preferred some of the OWB stuff live to Barking. I thought Croc worked well towards the beginning of a set and the kick drum on BB sounded sweet (when it eventually did kick in). We also got Boy Boy Boy and Best Mangu along with Glam Bucket (regularly). For me, I think its more to do with the improv though - when the Barking tracks are played they are (almost) exact copies of the album version so you know what's coming next. In fact, I was listening to the show they did with Paul V D last year, when they did try something different with Between Starts towards the end (at the breakdown), I dont think it worked at all. The stuff off OWB is more unpredictable live, and I like that.

For me personally, the tracks I would like to hear off the last couple of albums would be Croc, BB (maybe a little shorter), Downpipe, Strumpet (bird 1 without the synth plops!), YDS/Scribble.

I have a feeling though that Between Stars and Diamond Jigsaw may get played plenty of times as they are easy to get into and will probably work well at the festivals. Who knows though....

I guess they have so much material now - hopefully it will be difficult for us to predict what they will be playing from night to night!

[stimpee]

I actually preferred some of the OWB stuff live to Barking. I thought Croc worked well towards the beginning of a set and the kick drum on BB sounded sweet (when it eventually did kick in). We also got Boy Boy Boy and Best Mangu along with Glam Bucket (regularly). For me, I think its more to do with the improv though - when the Barking tracks are played they are (almost) exact copies of the album version so you know what's coming next. In fact, I was listening to the show they did with Paul V D last year, when they did try something different with Between Starts towards the end (at the breakdown), I dont think it worked at all. The stuff off OWB is more unpredictable live, and I like that.

For me personally, the tracks I would like to hear off the last couple of albums would be Croc, BB (maybe a little shorter), Downpipe, Strumpet (bird 1 without the synth plops!), YDS/Scribble.

I have a feeling though that Between Stars and Diamond Jigsaw may get played plenty of times as they are easy to get into and will probably work well at the festivals. Who knows though....

I guess they have so much material now - hopefully it will be difficult for us to predict what they will be playing from night to night!I agree with most of what you say. But I think that we wont get any variation in the set once its decided. The days of improv and variation are over for now. Faxed Invitation sounded great live. Crocodile in August 2005 from Zurich was a brilliant performance. BB goes on way too long in the live show. 10-13minutes. Great tune, but too long. Any show without Scribble will be an improvement.

[lowbit]

Best Mamgu Ever was terrific live, and I've always thought Good Morning Cockerel would make for an ethereal opener. It'd be great to hear a little greater dynamic range in the live shows, and OWB offers some good options in that direction.

[potatobroth]

Glam Bucket was fantastic live, but at All Points West, it felt like it was 20 minutes long.

[Champiness]

Wouldn't it be great if somehow, after being played a grand total of once, Mamgu became the live representative of OWB? It was great live and now that they've got Scribble the lyrics don't conflict with YDS.

[holden]

Festival shows should be necessarily differentiated from solo shows. I mean, there's a large percentage of the audience at the festival gig that are only ther/only respond to the hit singles. At the solo gigs, it's dirties that want to be surprised. UW must realize this. I was surprised by the lack of variance in the setlist during the 2010 tour, but then, by all accounts, it was blistering! I was lucky enough to se UW in 2007, when the tracks wre quite varied. Excellent, too. But still, some variance is always welcome - even during the "predictable" festival gigs...

[joethelion]

You know... I did like the "barking" tour
but that setlist was basically just a "Festival Setlist" wasn't it?

I mean - a bunch of songs from the new album, then the "BIG HITS", and there was the possibility that you'd get one rare-ish song

(edit)
having said that - the shows are still MASSIVELY BETTER than say - the Prodigy
who still play setlists that are 70% the same as 10-15 years ago

[negative1]

having a fixed setlist :
======================
pros:
------
good for the band (easier to deal with knowing whats coming up) - although glitches still happen
good for the lighting crew
good for audio guys mixing at the board, adjusting levels, etc..

cons:
------------
bad for people that like seeing them multiple times
bad for people that collect/record bootlegs
bad for people that don't like certain songs (and won't get to hear random/older ones)
bad for the sake of improv fans (because they don't really use that any more)


mabye if there was more mixing and random transitions
between the songs.. or even different versions of the
same songs, i would at least prefer that..

but for underworld having a semi fixed set (like back during
the a hundred days off tour) was at least a little more
sonically interesting..

later
-1

[joethelion]

but for underworld having a semi fixed set (like back during
the a hundred days off tour) was at least a little more
sonically interesting..

later
-1

you know - after reading that - I put a few of my AHDO tour recordings onto my iPod to listen to while working out and whatnot during the day

those shows are MUCH better than I remembered! There really are quite a few differences between shows...

like a lot of improvs within songs, a decently varied 'setlist' and quite a few "improvs"*

aaaannnddd... all of the album tracks sound MASSIVELY better live than on the record. Case in point, "Dinosaur Adventure 3D"

As far as ranking tours... I might now say that OWB Tour might've been the best (if at least for the varied setlists) then Beaucoup Fish, then AHDO, then the Dubno Era, then STITI, then Barking (I'm not sure where I'd put the awkward post "Everything Everything" tour [the first time they toured without Emerson] b/c I probably listen to the Roskilde '00 show more often than any other boot... but at the same time... there are definitely some shows where they sound definitely a bit... off I guess)


*I put quotations around "improvs" b/c I don't really believe now that these were tracks made on the fly (basically b/c they're not as repetitive as what you'd find back during "the olden days")... more likely they're prepared "bridge tracks" like the Darren Price ones from the OWB tours