Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

[yeah maybe this should go in the moments forum?
(or stay here for more visibility)]... anyways...

ok, as i tend to do around album and release time..
(more so for the last couple of albums), i try to
stay away from the boards and news...

why? because i found that in the past, looking
at things too closely or too long tends to dull
the excitement, and enjoyment of the 'new' material..

sure, a lot of what is out now is just the evolution
of a lot of material from the past.. but still.. i digress..

i guess it really says something about this group,
that i remember people complaining (and i was one
of them), back in the 'beaucoup fish' era, that sometimes
(not often) they really didn't expand on their setlist...

well, it really hit home with 'a hundred days off'' album ..
i remember tracking the percentages of the songs
that were the same from show to show !!!

so here we are a decade later... same band (somewhat)
as UW MK2 (with 1 replacement).... and we see the
band 'settling' with playing a similar, and sometimes
exact same SONGS for each of their shows!

well, since i didn't bother to check out the songs this time..
I REALLY ENJOYED THE SHOW... yes, i've seen them
several times now....and regardless, no matter how big
the crowd, or the venue, they always put on an energetic
and entertaining show (at least here in the US/Canada)....

i just saw them last night, and will see them again
tomorrow....and you know what, if they do play the
same songs.. i won't mind (well not much).... sure
hearing 'dirty epic' live for the first time is special...
[i've never heard them play it before...darnit.. but now
i can cross that off my list... hopefully 'juanita' someday]...

maybe i'm older, sadder, wiser, jaded... or is it relaxed,
or sedate about the whole thing.... trust me, if i was
really disenchanted, or disinterested i wouldn't bother
going...i did drive 6 hours to see them you know....
[and no, i'm not justifying that as a reason that i
enjoyed it]....

maybe they've come to terms that this time around..
(like in the past)... that this generation, or this audience
doesn't really mind the setlist, or song selection...

YES, the fan in me wants the older way, with the improvs,
and long sets... but unless they go back to a 'riverrun' phase...
[which i totally dug]... i just don't see it happening again any
time soon..

of course, i could be wrong, because i know they tend to mix
it up a lot more for non-US audiences.... but the last few times
(3 now)... when the album/singles came out... they tended to
go back to the formulaic style for their concerts..

maybe that's why i don't get my hopes up too high.. but i still
got some nice surprises from the show... i'll let you find them
out, and not spoil it completely.. they do have other things
(and not just the visuals)... that will always make want to
go see them regardless of the setlist....

later
-1

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

UW hasn't come within 500 miles of me in the last decade, it seems (I live in Wisconsin). I wish I could make the same complaint :(

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

Interesting bit from Karl about the whole 'same setlist' thing:

from http://dcist.com/2010/10/dcist_inter..._of_underw.php

I read an interview online where you said you have only recently started using set lists. Is that right? How did you communicate what song is next?

Yeah. We were pretty much making it up as we went along. How would we communicate? We've always had a lot of hand signals that are now reduced to kind of nods and winks of eyes. We read the audience. It was something we learned form hanging around DJs at the end of the 80s. We'd watch these DJs turn up with a box of records, assess the audience, check out the DJ that was on before, drop the first record and then see how the audience reacted. They had no set list, they just saw how the audience reacted and improvised. And we thought, "you know, these guys are more live than most of the groups that we know. These DJs are playing different sets every night." It was a lot like watching improvised jazz to us. It's not the same every night. It's different every night, and that's what we want to do. It's just going where the flow of the night wants to go. And after 20 years of doing that, the crew, who have always improvised the videos and the lights and the sound, they came to us and said "could we maybe make a set list before we go onstage just so we can have a vague idea of what we should prepare for what's coming up."

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

It'll be 7 1/2 years come Saturday, but I think knowing that they still have to do plenty of work to get the song to come together is plenty for me this time. And they still improv somewhat with the songs, from what I've heard so far this year.

It's not like they are other dance groups live where it's a good show, but it's each show is exactly the same on their tour.

They still have Karl Hyde, which is one of the best front men I've seen live regardless of genre.

-Jason

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

RS: How has your live show developed over the years?
Karl: Well, we’ve tried to maintain that notion of improvisation. We still don’t rehearse or have a setlist. We are inspired by the best DJs that don’t have a setlist who respond to the moment as well as jazz improvisation. Our intention is always to create something which is of the moment and is changing depending on where you are in the world and who you’re playing to and what their response is. Things have changed and obviously technology enables us to develop our instruments so that it becomes more expressive and enables us to do more of the things that we’ve always wanted to do.
We’re continually looking to being in that place where we’re unsettled so whenever we get comfortable it just doesn’t work. If something works one night, we deliberately set out to not do it the next night. Except if things are really slick, we deliberately set out to make a horrible mistake so that we can kind of get out of a kind of slick state of mind.


Makes me feel blue.

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

Me too, Wonder why he changed his mind?

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

I think the whole "similar set list" thing comes and goes...

like during the AHDO tour - depending on what leg of the tour you saw them on, there were PORTIONS of the show that were drastically different. Like - NYC... absolutely a "moody" show (Dirty Epic showed up for like the 2nd time ever), but there were still a lot of the same songs as other nights. Then later that year (or it might've been the next year - but still for AHDO) at the Ultra Festival; songs were MUCH more "dubby" and heavy bass. It was totally a "hits" show, but the songs were different enough for me... and didn't sound like other performances at all. I didn't even recognize the first 2-3 minutes of "Twist" (as they didn't plop in the piano bit until LATE in the song)

then during OWB - there were def setlists, but nothing as strict as say... the Prodigy, Depeche Mode, etc etc. Different versions of Cowgirl (I remember the one in NYC was like 13 min long) and different openers

and then later in that same tour - you got stuff like "Airtowel" and really random OLD songs

...I haven't paid attention to this tour much - are the setlists back like AHDO again?

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

I heard from someone who directly asked Rick about why they don't mix and improvise more, Rick's answer was: "the 'People' want to just hear the hits"

hmmm... maybe got this idea from listening to too much Huey Lewis and the News... must have been a dream come true to play the TV show together the other day.

Yeah, the whole not improvising thing is just plain sad.

I mean did John Coltrane stop improvising after a period in his career so he could help the lighting guys out during his set?

It was really impressive how they lit up Karl last night and the lighting in general, but I would take an improvised sound from UW over a lighting spectacle, any day (at an underworld show)

yeh, sad.

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

so wait...

are you guys saying that the shows ON THIS TOUR are less improvised than previous tours? (even like that '00 tour where they didn't have any Darren's... or the AHDO Tour - which was basically track-pause-track-pause, and "jamming" within songs)

or - just there has been a general progression of fewer and fewer improvs dating back to the early days?

Like - even though the OWB tour wasn't technically "improvised" - a lot of randomness was thrown in, and I mean - they only made the setlists at the last minute (as far as I've understood). I actually quite like the OWB tour, I think that if you were to pick any show at random; it's probably going to be better than any other random pick from previous years.

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

What's Happening?
ON this particular tour, the setlists are identical from city to city with the only exception being which encore song shows up before Moaner: Pearl's Girl, or Dirty Epic.

Identical songs in an identical order.

What does that mean?
For anyone not as fanatical as we are, to anyone that goes to a one-off show, its an absolutely fantastic live experience. I saw them last night and it went OFF! Brilliant energy, brilliant mixes, brilliant show. BUT... to the super fan who goes to 2, 3 or more shows, its sad to see. I've done the back to back shows before and neither show resembled the other.

All that being said, that was probably my favorite of all the New York City shows I've seen of theirs. I won't be bootleg hunting this time around though. :P

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

I suggest you all go away and listen to all the bootlegs from this year and you tell me where they are different. Obviously the setlist is identical bar a couple of songs bolted onto the end for the non-festival gigs. I've given it a go but frankly its immensely boring listening to the same songs in the same order over and over listening for small differences. Your mileage may vary. RTSR is that way ->

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

Why bother with collecting sets from this tour? Ibiza is one of the best live Underworld sets ever and is identical *except Dirty Epic* from all the other shows. You only need one. Honestly, listening to more than 1 set from this tour is just asking for trouble.

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

Let's make it simple for the "people" who want simple things:

Gigs until 2010: crazy crazy crazy crazy crazy crazy crazy

Gigs from 2010: same same same same (oh! with Pearl's Girl! Big deal!) same and so on...


It might sound very sarcastic but my incomprehension lives up to my adoration...
Underworld always claimed being inventive on stage, inspired as much by the crowd as by the jazz musicians... and they were!

And now that a so called Light Men Team wants to take the control of the ship the whole "improvisation" side is being erased. What a volte-face!

What happens? Is it the end of an era?

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

oh wow...

that is kind of ... well - disappointing. I had no idea. I've actually only heard that one Ibiza recording.

I thought that you guys were exaggerating, but now looking at the setlists - WOW :(
are the tracks themselves at least being played differently? or have UW become... The Prodigy *shudder* (they've basically been playing the same songs the same way for what... 15 years now? "Poison" now is nearly identical to how it was in 95ish)

Here's hoping that by the time I see them here in Glasgow (I think like the 26th of November) - the setlist has changed...

If I was still living in the US... I would've been soooo bummed out (as I totally would've tried to see more than one show - just like OWB)

and the whole "lighting guy" or "video" excuse is almost so lame that it's insulting.

and it's funny that with their most 'straight forward' and easily danceable / mixable album... they're doing the least amount of improvs

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

My sentiments exactly. Although I do like impressive visuals, especially green läz0rrrr of course, they could play in total darkness if only they jammed it like in the olden days...

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

like pre-2010 tours.

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

let's not forget this though: the live show this tour is STUNNING. they absolutely got it right.

go to one show, skip the bootlegs this time around. loved it.

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

I loved the san francisco set. I was up for it and although the crowd was a bit challenging, the show was great. Between Stars is about the only song that didn't really translate well live. Cowgirl and KOS were amazing to hear and see live. What a great time.

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

it wont change....i'll have your ticket if you don't fancy it?

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

it's not the end of an era....there never was an "era".
can't they do something different if they feel like it?
if you don't like it,don't go.

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

Surely that's the point - they're not?

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

nail on head. im over it.

(but im still going to 3 shows this tour)

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

looking back..

i'm always glad to see them more
than one time.. (also because they don't come too often
to the US)..

it's always been a cool experience.. no matter
what venue it was, or the environment..

sometimes the point is just to see them.. if your
expectations are too high (like mine were in
the past)... you might be setting yourself up
for a disappointment in what you get... especially
if you've been keeping up with all the details in
reviews and online..(i made that mistake in
the past)..

you can always concentrate on different aspects
of the show, if you see them multiple times..
i've never taped them before, because i was always
paying a lot of attention to what was going on before..
but seeing them a second time let me see them in
a different manner than i usually would.. i was paying
attention, but to different things..

later
-1

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

haha boom boom

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

As a big collector of bootlegs, UW especially, it is a bit depressing to hear almost the same setlist from show to show, since their live shows have always been varied. Even when you knew in a festival gig you'd hear the hits, there were always surprises, different orders, swapped out songs.

But there are subtle differences between this tour's gigs - gotta listen close and hear how the performances are tightening up. It's a great setlist, for sure, but i wouldn't mind at all if suddenly or on the next leg the setlist morphs into this:

Cups
Momove
You Do Scribble/Scribble
ALAF (old version)
Beautiful Burnout
Air Towel
Luetin
King of Snake (early version)
Dinosaur Adventure 3D
Cherry Pie
Moon In Water
M.E.

;)

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

from the newsfeed on borndirty.org:

so...at least it seems we should be hearing some "altered versions" of songs at some point in the future (hopefully that point will be next thursday! :D)

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

+1 :)

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

so when i was in NYC waiting for the meetup, i hung out behind the Roseland and listened to the sound-check. Heard a decidedly different versoin of KoS and even managed to record it. its audible, but you hear some ambient city sounds too. oddly enough, this version wasn't played at the show.

i'll post it on Youtube later on.

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

could be the joris voorn version?

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

I've seen them now at HMV Forum and in Dortmund. Heard the Ibiza gig, seen bits of the iTunes gig.

And sure, all those gigs are the same.

But that doesn't really matter that much when you're in the crowd and the goodness happens all over again.

Maybe the boredom hits after the 4th gig or so, but up until now I do miss the old guessing game of what they were mixing and jamming up to (pre 2005, pre 2010) but I don't care that much when they are doing a gig to appeal a newer generation.

Maybe we should book them a dirtygig of multiple hours with breaks in between. ECG or Cocoon style :).

I wonder how much that would cost. I should maybe talk to some people about this :).

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

I love to see Underworld as much as possible, sometimes 6 or 7 times per tour. I know thats not normal. This time I would have seen them in London 3 times, and in Belgium, in Netherlands twice at least, and probably one more on a trip. As it is, im still seeing them 3 times. I will enjoy them, but sure I would enjoy them MORE if I didnt know what was coming next and knew that it wasnt the same setlist. But most people see them once per tour. I dont like it like this and hope it changes, but what can we do? I'm still a mad-as-a-kettle-of-onions Underworld fan.

As for booking them, you should see the setting up it takes for a gig, and then re-appraise: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNvgFyE2hk8 <-- this is the Singapore 2009 gig in time lapse.

Of course maybe its as simple as this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emZ49OFBctY <--- Culture Show 2007. But i'm guessing its not...

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

Agreed. Totally. But at least the new songs are starting to evolve now. Bird 1 and Between Stars at I Love Techno were quite different to any versions I've heard previously. Can't wait for Manchester and Glasgow. :)

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

I went to 3 underworld shows so far, and I was very excited when Spoonman or Cherry Pie were played. You know I did not expect those for being played. I had a hope that Spoonman will be played, cos I love this song and my dream come true and I heard it. Thats the point of the randon setlist, when you will get Cherry Pie and the place explodes in the rhythms... Amazing.

Sadly I was not on this new tour so far, but I read from interview with Karl, that they decided to make a setlist with the crew, so then the team will now that what songs will be played and in what exact order, and that enables the team to concentrate on lights a and mak the show spectacular. I have question for you, who are lucky and saw Underworld in recent tour. Did you find the show spectacular? (I rememeber the time in 2005 when green laser was used, that was awesome, to be lost in light...)

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

They might keep it simple if they played in my backyard... *shrugs sheepishly*

Brilliant. Must remember this one (I hate onions).

Re: Similar Setlist Thoughts?
 

Stimpee,

I'd have to watch the videos later, but I presume Underworld/Tomato have hospitality and technical riders. None of which is impossible to gather, if you're willing to pay the price.

Bigger issue is that I'd suspect they would only want to work with promoters which have given good performances in the past :).