2015-03-05 Bristol - Hyde and Price

[Lx_Nen]

A quick gig report... Sad to see only Pricey and the boy Hyde on stage tonight, Rick being too ill to perform. Get well soon, Mr Smith!

Set list as expected, the album and 3 extra tracks, no surprises or improvs, seemed a little quieter than most gigs, and the crowd wanted things to go on longer, the whole show was about 1h 55m.

A good night, we danced hard and threw our hands in the air at the right points, but it wasn't quite the same without the Welsh wizard... Especially as we were nearly in Wales.

[markreed]

I hope Rick's alright. But my feeling has always been that, if Rick's not there, it's not Underworld. I imagine it must have been strange to see Darren 'playing' Rez alone on stage, if he did it the same way that it was at RFH.

It's not the first time : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdggXivKdXM

Here's a bit of last night that went on You Tube, and sounds awful (bad phone, I imagine!) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl05ELrO4GA

It would be a bit shitty if Darren and Karl came on with no explanation : I'd feel cheated without knowing before they took the stage, to be honest. I understand if they've made it all the way to St Petersburg in Russia, and Rick fell ill there.

I don't buy Price & Hyde as Underworld. It would be like seeing a Smiths gig with someone who isn't Johnny Marr on guitar.

[DoctorRad]

It was great to be down at the front instead of on the balcony at RFH, but I was a little disappointed that they didn't play more material. And why on earth are they not playing Spikee? It's a masterpiece!

[BishBash]

It was great to be down at the front instead of on the balcony at RFH, but I was a little disappointed that they didn't play more material. And why on earth are they not playing Spikee? It's a masterpiece!

Spikee indeed. BIrdstar would be good too. Was there a support act?

[BishBash]

I should probably add...Hello!
Long time UW fan here, since the first time I heard Cowgirl on Annie Nightingale's show in the early 90's. Seen em live a bunch of times (including John Peel, Maida Vale 2003). Off to Hammersmith tonight.
I phoned the Apollo, about times/support. They said: Support on at 8 but we don't know who it is. Interval at 8.30. Then UW from 9- 11.

In my expericence the support is often a DJ. But that would be weird to have a DJ from 8 til 8.30, then an interval (when um, music would be played over the PA) before UW at 9pm. Anyone know more than me?

[Lx_Nen]

To clarify, after a couple of tracks, Karl explained why "his brother" wasn't there, and it sounds like Rick just has a bit of flu rather than anything life-threatening.

Rez was indeed a bit odd as a Price solo track, it was still a crowd pleasing stormer. The arrangement was probably even closer to the vinyl version than it was at the Royal Festival Hall, but the PA was struggling to drown out the crowd noise (at least at the front of the stage) and without hearing two nights in a row, it was impossible to tell how much of the show (apart from guitar & vocals of course) is actually being 'performed' and how much is just a case of 'pressing play'... partly because Darren Price is really good at making sure the show runs smoothly and apparently effortlessly. Minneapolis and Nu Train would have had to be Price solos too, which I suspect is why they didn't get played.

The RFH gig, with it's one-off status, major technical hitch, Rick starting the wrong track, and surprises like Big Mouth and Minneapolis and (semi) unsuspected outing for Born Slippy at the end was a seriously amazing night... Bristol by comparison was only really, really good.

Anyway, here's a few gig photos from my iPhone - for the gear-heads on there, I think this is the first time for a long while I've not seen any iMacs on stage?

http://i.imgur.com/Lz749Zx.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/REyrXiI.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Yxfg07y.jpg

[Spooky Shoes]

I was hoping for Spikee but there was no Minneapolis either, possibly due to Ricks absence (Get well soon btw). I got the impression Karl was missing Rick most notably during M.E.

The overall vibe seemed a bit muted compare to RFH, people were actually seated for the duration.

Not disappointed though, it was a good night.

Cowgirl... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUaiNnQeclc (Video still processing at time of post)

Dark & Long to follow.

[BishBash]

The overall vibe seemed a bit muted compare to RFH, people were actually seated for the duration. And the support act was?...

[Spooky Shoes]

And the support act was?...

I don't know who it was as I was not there at that time, but I can direct you to the information about what it was...

https://www.facebook.com/underworldlive?fref=ts

[TheBang]

I heard that is was Steve Hall of JBO doing the support DJ'ing.

[Spooky Shoes]

Dark & Long https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwWrgg8WhnA

[Lx_Nen]

Guardian review: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/mar/08/underworld-dubnobasswithmyheadman-live-review-bristol-colston-hall

tl;dr: Reviewer loved it, Rick has a "serious eye infection"

[mothra]

Haven't seen Underworld since 2008 and before then, so tried really hard to get to see them at the RFH but to no avail, then managed to get tickets for Bristol. I was gutted though that being a lifelong purveyor of Underworld that most of the crowd that went to the Bristol gig were really not interested in hearing the album and especially the nuances of delicate tracks like Tongue, River of Bass and M.E. The crowd seemed that they were at any old club and treated the event as a club thing. I dont want to hear the crowd at all, don't mind dancing, but is it me? 47 years old and thought there was no respect for Underworld. I don't know.. but it has put me off going to see them again, as the majority of the crowd only seemed to really enjoy Born Slippy! Why all the talking???? bizarre. Is this a new thing anyone?

[jetpig]

Never seen them myself, but there's not ever been a show i've been to with a particularly great crowd, sans a couple small shows back in 2010.

[BishBash]

most of the crowd that went to the Bristol gig were really not interested in hearing the album and especially the nuances of delicate tracks like Tongue, River of Bass and M.E. ... Is this a new thing anyone? Some thoughts on this, as I experienced the issue at Hammersmith too. The tracks that the crowd talked over weren't particularly loud or 'dancable' (though M.E is surely good for a nice laid back shuffle). So that didn't help. I go to my fair share of gigs and it depends on the gig, but this is still one of the worst I have experienced in relation to talking. I can think of an Arcade Fire gig at Brixton Academy (Neon Bible tour) where the crowd were so into it that they carried on singing the bands songs in unison after the gig had clearly ended (fair play!), so it can depend on the band and their respective fans I think. Also, I hate to say this but I'm afraid Born Slippy is something of a double edged sword. In the same way that Prodigy's Firestarter seems to encourage a section of their audience to believe they have free license to act like aggressive arseholes, Born Slippy - which is almost a calling card for UW- may have attracted people to UW who think that seeing them live is just about getting pissed up and acting like lager lager lager lout ravers. I caught Caribou live at Brixton Academy this weekend. I was concerned beforehand that their less than full-on brand of dance music might not work as a proper gig. But they resolved the issue simply by playing fucking loud! So perhaps that's the answer here. I know people complain about "loudness wars" on CD's but in the live setting, a but a of a loudness war from the mixing desk during the mellower tracks might be the solution. If people can't be heard, they won't talk!