[potatobroth]

This is not Underworld live experience that I loved.

When I think back to the dozen or so Underworld concerts I’ve been to, I get a huge smile on my face. The visuals, the lights, the segues, the unique setlists, the new arrangements of classic songs, the never heard before snippets and sometimes even fully-realized tracks (I’m looking at you 5 Points) all gelling together to create this amazing one-of-a-kind experience. It’s an energy that can barely be described in words other than “you have to see this band live!” But with this tour (and for the most part, the Barking tour) all of that is pretty much gone.

I saw Underworld’s Barbara Barbara tour a few months back in NYC and brought with me a few friends, some of which have never seen Underworld. They thought the experience was… just good. Oddly as a rabid UW fan for 2 decades I found myself just agreeing with them. The setlist itself was fine but the uniqueness was completely missing. There were no segues, there was almost no improvisation, and the rare tracks, like Juanita, may as well have been pulled right from their respective albums. They were identical to their released versions. Sure there were a few surprises like Dirty Club (a mix that was far inferior to both Dirty Guitar and Dirty Epic) and Ring Road+Minn. And there were a few mixes that felt inspired like King of Snake and Rowla, but overall those were the exceptions and not the norms.

The visuals were almost non-existent. The dots and dashes were quite beautiful during the one (or two) times they were used, but that’s it! Not a single other time was that giant screen used other than to show some live-feed video of Karl or announce the song’s title. This was a huge missing piece.

It’s hard to watch this shift happen, and even harder to imagine why its happening. Are the visuals too expensive to create? Is the stress of mixing live too much to handle anymore? Maybe the average concert-goer just doesn’t care the same way that I do? Is the passion gone?

I’m just a fan and obviously can’t begin to know why the show’s format has changed so much, but I have noticed and think its for the worse. Have we seen the end of the amazing Underworld Live experience?

Anyone else feel this way?