so why DIDN'T they tour?

[joethelion]

ok - I think it's safe to say now - the Chemical Brothers are definitely not going to tour the US to promote "Push the Button"

I remember reading that they were going to pimp out the album, especially here in the US during this past summer... which never happened

they only played Coachella, that one gig w/ New Order, and that's it ...maybe one more show in CA

they didn't even play Chicago or NYC


...just a bit frustraited w/ the presence of a new Chem's Live EP on iTunes...

[stimpee]

...just a bit frustraited w/ the presence of a new Chem's Live EP on iTunes...could be worse. the EP could be Japan iTunes only and the band might not have played any US dates this year. Um.. hang on, that sounds familiar.

[Dirty0900]

Don't worry Jow, i'll tell you all about it when i see them on thursday with Cagedbaby supporting:p :) :cool: :rolleyes:

I don't know why they didn't tour, the USA, maybe it wouldn't be cost effective for them etc.

[holden]

Weird thing about the Chems...in the US, their music gets played/heard, but not pumped. i hear "Golden Path", "Get Yourself High", and "Hey Boy..." all the time in adverts, but seldom anything on the radio. Even though PUsh the Button was critically well-received and spawned several singles, the general US audience isn't paying attention. That's a good enough reason not to tour, imo

[lukeyd]

yer, i dont mean to gloat, but on friday im seeing them with ally, which will be third time for the year (if you count the dj set at glasto) :).

i would guess the issue comes down to cost unfortunately

[Dirty0900]

yer, i dont mean to gloat, but on friday im seeing them with ally, which will be third time for the year (if you count the dj set at glasto) :).

i would guess the issue comes down to cost unfortunately

I'll report back and tell you what to expect.

[BrotherLovesDub]

i saw them at Oakland with New Order and briefly at Coachella. perhaps the reason why America doesn't care is because Chem.Bros are shit now. their live show was boring, with only 1 highlight being when Bernard from newOrder crept on the left side of the stage during Temptation/Star Guitar and then stayed through Out of Control. The Chems are done. i'm not really sure what people still see/hear in them and Prodigy and don't even get me started on second rate rip-off act Crystal Method. it's time to move on from the early 90's people!

[joethelion]

but that's the way IT'S ALWAYS BEEN!

I've never seen any videos by any electronic artists other than the Prodigy ever... seriously, ever. ...not counting AMP, of course - but that show's been off-air for what like, 10 years?

and - well nothing whatsoever on the radio either.

who can say that the Chem's had a bigger buzz when they toured here for "Come With Us"... and yet that was a successful tour.

but the fact remains, they outright said that they would tour this album here in the US. I mean... they didn't even play New York or Chicago!!!!!!

one warm-up gig + one Festival Show on the West Coast does not equal a US tour.

Weird thing about the Chems...in the US, their music gets played/heard, but not pumped. i hear "Golden Path", "Get Yourself High", and "Hey Boy..." all the time in adverts, but seldom anything on the radio. Even though PUsh the Button was critically well-received and spawned several singles, the general US audience isn't paying attention. That's a good enough reason not to tour, imo

[justy]

This is where I feel obliged to point out, in big letters:

US Radio SUCKS!

Not that "Push the Button" was all that good to begin with.

Respectfully, a US resident.

[lukeyd]

push the button didnt suck imo, its a grower, which in my case at least can be said of all chemical brothers albums

[mmm skyscraper]

I've never seen any videos by any electronic artists other than the Prodigy ever... seriously, ever. ...not counting AMP, of course - but that show's been off-air for what like, 10 years?


I never see videos on MTV. :D

I saw 'Jumbo' on MTV2 a couple of years ago. Not on AMP either. 120 Minutes used to show all kinds of weird stuff. But it only came on at midnight on Sunday night. Not exactly primetime.

[holden]

In Argentina, there's this music video channel called "Musica Veintiuno" (Music 21), that plays all kinds of random, often-older stuff. Things like Daft Punk, Jamiroquai, Yello, Apollo 440, EMF, etc. Some fun, some dumb.

Anyway, they used to play "Videostories" of artists, about a half hour of videos with little facts running alongf the bottom. i saw Underworld videostories a few times and went mental. and danced! Nice that South America appreciates good tunes/vids!


i think the fact that Chemical Brothers aren't pumped in the US just reflects a difference in mass preference. Here in the states, it's all hip-hop or kid-punk-rock. That's what we're fed and that's what we buy. But just a couple weeks back, MTV showed the European Music Awards...half the artists are unknown to the US market, but they're evidently big on the other side of the Atlantic. The Chems were up for an award, people cheered, and i suppose they're still well-regarded. Other than the people who'd buy electronic music here anyway (a small %), most folks haven't heard of the Chems since "Block Rockin' Beats", if at all. And even the electronica kick of 1997 (+ AMP) was force-fed to us.

[TheRev]

but the fact remains, they outright said that they would tour this album here in the US. I mean... they didn't even play New York or Chicago!!!!!!


Not true they played in New York in September at the Ultra Music Festival in Central Park.

[joethelion]

wait...

are you positive about that? I mean - the Ultra Music Festival is in Miami coinciding with the WMC...

and I would've hoped that someone on Dirty would have said something in advance too... or was that when dirty was down?

[den]

The Chems are done. i'm not really sure what people still see/hear in them and Prodigy and don't even get me started on second rate rip-off act Crystal Method. it's time to move on from the early 90's people!
I'll back you up on that. Honestly, many of the big name 90's electronica acts are not as significant as they once were. Chems, Prodigy, Orbital, the Orb, Leftfield, Fatboy Slim, etc. They were good at their peak, but now most of them are either defunct or mostly dinosaurs. No disrespect, I think it's just a general musical trend. Artists that were once as groundbreaking they were usually end up going a bit stale, at least compared to what they once were. See the Rolling Stones thread. While these bands may be the biggest names in electronic music still, I don't think that they are on the cutting edge as they were before. They paved the way, but the trick is to find the new fresh artists that picked up where they left off.

Even Underworld falls into this category. We still love them and they are still talented and still putting out great music and trying new things (keep it coming), but I don't think you can say that Underworld has the same mainstream impact they as did in say, 1997.

I think you can blame this mostly on the rise of electronic music in the mid-90's, when it was supposedly going to "kill rock music" and conquer the world. I remember hearing the Chemical Brothers, Prodigy, Underworld, and all the rest on big radio stations back in the day. At least in the US, it didn't catch on. It peaked, and then faded. Mainstream radio and music in the US just isn't as receptive to electronic music as Europe or the UK.

I disagree that US radio sucks. You can argue that US mainstream radio sucks, especially with regard to electronic music. But college radio stations are the best thing going on, and what you need to listen to.

[stimpee]

problem with US radio? two words: Clear Channel.

[irish fan]

the chems played 4 or five us dates including coachella, oakland, detriot and new york in september. about a year ago on a bbc interview they were talking to pete tong about touring america and they said they weren't planning on doing a big tour as they had burnt out on touring america and the response on the come with us was not the best as a result they deicided not to tour america in a full scale fashion as before.

[Cadevil]

Need to ring in on a few things:

1. Mainstream US radio would never play electronic music on a regular basis, because it doesn't have the following that it has abroad...In San Francisco, a huge station called Live 105 plays 4 straight hours of new and old dance and "electronica" from midnight to 4am on Saturdays. That's probably about the best you could hope for in the main stream.

2. I thought Push the Button was fantastic...nothing "groundbreaking" mind you, but still really good music...but I guess that's all a matter of opinion.

3. I saw them live in Oakland with New Order and I'd have to say that their show was interesting but not intoxicating. This seems to be the case with most electronic bands, save one (you know who)... Not sure I saw Bernard Sumner creep on stage for Out of Control in Oakland. I was waiting for it, and felt sort of ripped off when it didn't happen.

4. Anyone download this EP from iTunes? How is the first track, recorded with the Magic Numbers live?

[joethelion]

I downloaded the EP

Close Your Eyes - doesn't seem any different at all, save for the fact that the vocalist isn't Mic'ed well

Surface to Air - really disappointed in this track, esp as I heard how good it was live... this version is exactly the same as the album version... Like I almost wonder if they just tagged on some audience noises

The Big Jump - at least this one sounds somewhat different than on the album... really the only one worth buying

so when they toured - was that just during the time period that Dirty was down? And I don't get about CWU being not well-received... I say this b/c of a few things:
1) It Began in Africa came out on Sept.11th... which OF COURSE is gonna hurt sales for a single (at least I'm 90% sure on release date for that one)
2) They only released one proper single for the album after its release... and that was even after the tour was done! (Come With US EP) I remember that I bought the Japanese import of it, b/c I wanted live tracks after I saw them play
3) I only heard positive reports from their live shows

...unless they don't like touring here b/c of the ammount of traveling one would have to do, and it'd be a lot of time on the bus...

and I remember them having troubles with their light show - at least here in DC they couldn't fit in all the projectors, et al. Not in the actual club (which is quite large) but through their doors

[irish fan]

the scale of america was the main reason for not touring this time as the come with us tour didn't sell well and the fact that tom chemical has 2 kids the whole traveling across america did seem appealing to them and they could spend a few weeks and do comprehensive european tours without much hassle

[potatobroth]

could be worse. the EP could be Japan iTunes only and the band might not have played any US dates this year. Um.. hang on, that sounds familiar.

seriously.

[holden]

And I don't get about CWU being not well-received... I say this b/c of a few things:
1) It Began in Africa came out on Sept.11th... which OF COURSE is gonna hurt sales for a single (at least I'm 90% sure on release date for that one)
2) They only released one proper single for the album after its release... and that was even after the tour was done! (Come With US EP) I remember that I bought the Japanese import of it, b/c I wanted live tracks after I saw them play
3) I only heard positive reports from their live shows


Weren't we discussing their latest effort "Push the Button" and it's tour/lack of US tour, not "Come With Us", which was released late 01-early 02?

Anyway, about Come With Us...you're mistaken about the singles. "It Began in Africa" was released well in advance of the album, yes. But "Star Guitar" and "Come With Us/The Test" were both released after the album. The last promo was "American EP", and that was probabaly after the tour.

[joethelion]

well - someone had said that the reason why no 'real' tour was b/c CWU was not well-received. I was just saying that CWU - for as much promotion as they did, did well... as least as far as I understood it, you know?

And I was just talking about US singles... Come With Us/The Test was not released here -> that was essentially the "AmericanEP". I'm not positive about Star Guitar.

Weren't we discussing their latest effort "Push the Button" and it's tour/lack of US tour, not "Come With Us", which was released late 01-early 02?

Anyway, about Come With Us...you're mistaken about the singles. "It Began in Africa" was released well in advance of the album, yes. But "Star Guitar" and "Come With Us/The Test" were both released after the album. The last promo was "American EP", and that was probabaly after the tour.

[BrotherLovesDub]

\\... Not sure I saw Bernard Sumner creep on stage for Out of Control in Oakland. I was waiting for it, and felt sort of ripped off when it didn't happen.


I was at this show, about 2 people from the front row. Bernard stood on the left side of the stage, out of view from anyone not on the right portion of the floor. He didn't perform but he did sip white wine in a plastic cup and nod approvingly. He stayed for Temptation/Star Guitar and Out of Control, then ducked out. i felt cheated too. Still got misty when the lyrics to Out of Control started swirling.

[myrrh]

XM Satelite is where it's at. I've been listening for a year now, and will never go back.

Mainstream FM radio sucks. I don't even think college radio is all that anymore. There are a few good things out there, like Matt's show ;), but I can't get that on the dial, and have to listen via the internet anyway.

NPR is about the only thing that does it for me on the regular FM.

[TheRev]

wait...

are you positive about that? I mean - the Ultra Music Festival is in Miami coinciding with the WMC...

and I would've hoped that someone on Dirty would have said something in advance too... or was that when dirty was down?

http://www.ultranewyork.com/

If you are in the New York area I suggest you use more than Dirty.org to stay informed of electronic music happenings.. Rhythmism.com is much better for that sort of thing.

[justy]

Well, I'm not sure I really thought "Push the Button" sucked... I just got bored with it pretty quickly. It's like Tom and Ed are really talented sleepwalkers. Thing is, we know what they can do when they're awake.

As for US radio, I'll stand by my assessment, especially as college radio is typically low-powered (I literally mean wattage here) and also sliced up into programming chunks. The interesting thing, of course, is that electronic music has been dominant on US radio for at least the last ten years: it's called hip-hop.

As David Byrne once said: lyrics are a way to get people to listen to music longer than they would normally.

[myrrh]

As David Byrne once said: lyrics are a way to get people to listen to music longer than they would normally.


This is a just sad commentary on the state of the people listening to the music. :( When you are listening to 'music' for the lyrics, what's the point in having music?

[Dirty0900]

Don't mean to piss you off furthur, but the show the other night was incredible. Absolutely pumped full of energy, it was non stop for two hours:eek: