[jetpig]

"and instead of faking their way
through a bad set, they simply stop and leave the stage.
'every night there's a moment where you go, 'ummm,
this is going to fall flat on its face, unless i do
something fast. that's just the nature of improvising.
i guess. it's very rare that it really falls flat
on its face, if it does, then we just stop and start
again. or, because we work with another dj, darren
price, we might say, 'let's take a break,' and he'll
cut into our set. we'll just leave the stage for 20
minutes and reorganize.'"

I don't think that that's an option anymore. I don't think that's been an option since 1996, really. It worked when they were a smaller group playing regional shows around the UK for the most part, but when you are performing as (and being paid as) a headliner, you can't just dip out for 20 minutes cause your set isn't going so well. I mean let's take the hollywood bowl show. If someone who isn't me paid the $130 for a box seat for that born slippy band and the set veers off course and they just leave for a quarter of their available set time, they're not gonna be a happy camper...

It's odd that this very performance style is the reason they got so popular, and that popularity is the reason they can't really perform like that anymore.

It'd be nice if they could do multiple sets at a fest and do one that's off the cuff on some side stage out of primetime, and another that's their well rehearsed and super slick show. It'd also be nice if they developed some segues between tracks over the course of a tour to keep that dj set vibe going (barking did this to some extent). But it's also nice that they still tour regularly at all as a dance act comprised of two 50-somethings.