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Originally Posted by khouri
This was one of the most energetic American crowds I've ever seen for Underworld. Everyone was going nuts. The audio was great, all the songs sounded excellent. After the Dubnobass show in London and the shorter Hollywood Bowl show, I'd forgotten that Underworld delivered such long and high energy shows. Miles better than anything I attended during the Barking era too.
Again, I can't presume to know what Rick's thinking is, but the end result is a distinctly not-live Underworld Live. Very few surprises, no flow from one song to another, no "conversation" as Karl has described it. These shows are really electronic music recitals -- of uncommonly brilliant songs, no doubt -- but recitals nonetheless. Whereas not even ten years ago, on the Oblivion tour was brimming with inspiration, unpredictability and sonic bliss. I just don't get what the appeal is of this style of performance to the band or to the audience.
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Appreciate your review and thoughts! Wish I could have been there...regardless of the pros and cons of the setlist/performance style, nothing quite like the energy of the boys playing classics and new tracks to a live audience.
Still, for those that can't be there, the saving grace has always been the extensive recorded history- be there virtually! Thanks to the fans and RTSR, i have dozens and dozens of shows from 1992 to present. Why? Because until 2010 Barking tour, you could count on different setlists almost every night, long segues, improvisation. Even a static setlist is fine (most bands do it or only change in/out a few tracks), provided there's some internal variety from night to night.
But with Barking tour and now BBWFASF, though i love the individual songs, i don't know that i need to collect or listen to gigs that are almost identical each night. Have heard/downloaded the short and long versions of the tour set, so i'm happy to hear the likes of Faxed, Juanita, Ring Road/Minneapolis, and Dirty Club. But unless things change up, i agree with many of your comments above - it feels a little bit, er, automatic. UW were always more than just pushing play and singing on top...
Anyway, sounds like it was a fun show and that some folks got to meet the band! Cool