Oblivion Ball Tokyo Live Streaming

[34958hq439-qjw9v5jq298v5j]

Originally Posted by potatobroth

They Might Be Giants did this style of show a few years back and it was amazing.

TMBG has had some of the best live shows - now here's a band with over 10 albums, each of which has between 13-21 songs, and they're still able to put on a rad show. They play most of their big songs, stuff from the new album, and the concert staples, but every show I've seen (or heard) from them has three or four tracks that are relative obscurities. Plus they do some special shows where they only perform material they wrote in the 90's, or where they do one of their earlier albums cover to cover. Underworld could really benefit from something like this, I think - I'm not saying they shouldn't do KoS or Moaner (although to be honest I'm getting pretty tired of those songs being in every show - surely many bands have songs like this, but they're not 10 minutes long apiece!) but the shows should have one, two, three or so tracks that are more obscure..."Banstyle", "Spoonman", "Bigmouth", "Food a Ready", "Luetin", or whatever (I'm sure you guys can come up with lots more). I do agree that it's a little lame coming from a band who prided themselves on not using setlists to play the same shows over and over again.

I realize that it's free and all, but then again, I complained about the Radiohead album being only available in 160 kbps, so be it.

[gaborez]

lots of good points made. and some winjing

i'm never going to get tired of underworld shows whatever songs they play. they create an energy/buzz/vibe in the room that i've not experienced with any other live act. watching it live (for free) over the web is great - but completely different to being there. you cant rate a live show based on sitting in your lounge at your pc! the success of a live show is indicated by how much it went off in the room. if playing the big guns like moaner achieves that then why not play it? i'm not going to winj about their setlists on their forum because every live show i see the crowd 'av it big time so uw are clearly doing summat right

the shows in 96/97 were, er, 10+ years ago. underworld had less must-play-crowd-pleasing tracks to perform. they were selecting from a much smaller library of tunes. they played all their fave/best tunes at the time. some of these are what we'd now consider as obscure treats, but they've given way to newer tunes like KOS/TMO/Jumbo etc. those tunes from 10+ years ago are prob the tunes that made a lot of us fans in the first place - so they are v special for us and prob a lot of our faves. in addition re: fluidity: a lot of the old tracks were v similiar style (in fact many seemed to evolve from each other) and therefore mixed together naturally (and for all i know were already in the same mixer config or whatever/however it works). i think with such random/varied tune styles over the years (and with newer more songy arrangements) it's much harder to seamlessley mix them anymore? who knows. just a thought.

i'm not sure how long rick's been ill but i'm sure i read that he's not been too well for a while. i wonder if he's been underneath the weather (cor, almost a mk1 megamix there) for this tour, and is less confident about taking on difficult mixes and tunes/mixer setups he's not played so often?

i agree that the track lists on this tour have not been very varied, and i too would love to see them pick out some of their obscure tunes more often. i'd also love it if they could mix tunes together more and i hope it's something they can do in the future. actually i'd like them to play a show just for me using all my fave mixes of my fave tunes - but apparently they have to please the rest of the paying crowd too. dang how selfish of 'em

one more thing - they're not young guys anymore (nor am i!) and so sometimes they need a bit of a break! i guess karl likes to stop for a few mins half way thru (after TMO during kittens/rowla) cos he's been jumping round like a nutter for ages. let them play tunes and enjoy the applause - the gOoD vIbRaTiOnS from the crowd

cheers dirties and big cheers for uw

jono

[potatobroth]

Originally Posted by gaborez

if playing the big guns like moaner achieves that then why not play it? i'm not going to winj about their setlists on their forum because every live show i see the crowd 'av it big time so uw are clearly doing summat right

But there are lotsa live tracks that bring the house down. BS Original, Juanita, Twist, Dino, Push Upstairs if mixed in the power-hour portion of the set. But I've only heard only one of these tracks on this current tour... once.

[phaseblue]

After reading the posts in this thread, I can agree with both sides and am split myself on the whole thing. One can argue (including myself) in favor of both sides I guess.

I was a little worried after seeing the Osaka setlists, but once I was at the show (in Tokyo) I just let them do their magic, and I fell under their spell. Yeah, it was filled with hits and the improvs were sparse, but their energy was amazing. Great versions of rez/cowgirl and NUXX too!I`ve grown to expect that, whenever Underworld is on a album tour (at least in my experience), the shows will generally be a string of hits with less imrovs and experimentation - the SITI and BF tour days are long over I'm affraid!

Even the AHDO shows that I saw, as great as they were, still lacked something - maybe it was Darren ! However, when I saw the 3 hour Electraglide-Tokyo show in 2005, I did feel that the "old" Underworld was back. They still have it in them, but I think as time moves on, albums amass, Rick and Karl mature musically, etc... things are without a doubt going to change, whether we like it or not - and believe me, I`ve had my share of gripes too over the past few years! But, at the end of the day, I`m just thankful that musicians like them exist in the first place!

Originally Posted by gaborez

i'm never going to get tired of underworld shows whatever songs they play. they create an energy/buzz/vibe in the room that i've not experienced with any other live act. watching it live (for free) over the web is great - but completely different to being there. you cant rate a live show based on sitting in your lounge at your pc!

Good point! Overall, I felt it was a great show, but then again, any Underworld show that I`m at is a great show - especially since I haven`t seen them in 2 years!

Unfortunately I coudn`t go to the Osaka shows (took too many holidays for wedding and honeymoon this year).

I apologize for not updating darktrain.jp since the show, but I have had a really bad cold since Saturday and I need to chill out for a bit!
I have a lot of pics, audio, and video from both Osaka (generously donated to me by a Japanese fan) and Tokyo (we brought a Nikkion D80 to the Oblivion Ball and got some good, high-res pics of the band). I would love to share them with everyone, but I just need a few days to recuperate and get the pages done!

Matt

[negative1]

Originally Posted by gaborez

in addition re: fluidity: a lot of the old tracks were v similiar style (in fact many seemed to evolve from each other) and therefore mixed together naturally (and for all i know were already in the same mixer config or whatever/however it works). i think with such random/varied tune styles over the years (and with newer more songy arrangements) it's much harder to seamlessley mix them anymore? who knows. just a thought.

one more thing - they're not young guys anymore (nor am i!) and so sometimes they need a bit of a break! i guess karl likes to stop for a few mins half way thru (after TMO during kittens/rowla) cos he's been jumping round like a nutter for ages. jono

are you kidding me, of course they can mix these tracks
together....listen to some of the concerts they've done
this year, and you see that they can, the question is
do they want to..

also, yeah, they're not young, but some of us aren't either..
and they have a lot more energy than i do!..

i do agree with your statement about being there is
completely different than watching or listening to it
afterwards...i saw some pretty good shows here in
the US, although the setlist wasn't that varied..but
unless you were there, you really wouldn't know..

later
-1

[mmm skyscraper]

I went back and listened to the Electraglide 2000 version of what we now know as Beautiful Burnout and it's amazing how similar it is to the version played live now. The main difference is that the lyrics were added.

[potatobroth]

oh, there is no denying that being there is way better than hearing on a CD. But hearing 5 very similar CDs is not as good as hearing 5 varying CDs. Just think if each show of the 5 had three tracks that were different than each other. That would change the entire dynamic of the set yet still allow for the banging KoS, BS finale.

This conversation wouldnt be happening if each show had a combination of songs such as:
Birmingham: Twist, Juanita, Cherry Pie
Roundhouse 1: Air Towel, Confusion, Dark & Long
Roundhouse 2: Cups, Dino 3D, Faxed Invitation
Manchester: Spoonman, Dirty Epic, Push Upstairs
Uh, other UK show: Banstyle, Dirty Guitar, JAL to Tokyo

Those are just examples obviously.

The show would still be:
Mmm Skyscraper or Luetin or whatever (even possibly one from the random pack listed above)
Beautiful Burnout
3 Tracks from above
Cowgirl/Rez
Glam Bucket
TMO
Rowla or Kittens
BS Nuxx or 2003
King of Snake
Pearls Girl
Moaner
Jumbo
-------------------
Total: 14 songs yet wildly varied set lists.


So simply putting 3 different songs in each set would drastically change our expectation of what was coming in their next show, and our desire to collect every live CD experience. Hell, I'd be listening to these live shows back to back if this were the case.

I used to know which live show I was listening to from hearing ONE track. Now with the LiveHereNow CDs (and yes I DO like them) I find it very hard to distinguish between the 5.

[Dirty0900]

Meh if people aren't happy, don't go

[potatobroth]

Originally Posted by Dirty0900

Meh if people aren't happy, don't go

way to miss the entire point of this portion-of-the-thread

I'm still flying my ass over to the UK for the second time to see them, but that doesnt change the fact that I'm going to talk about what I think would make for some great shows, recordings and experiences.

[negative1]

Originally Posted by potatobroth

oh, there is no denying that being there is way better than hearing on a CD. But hearing 5 very similar CDs is not as good as hearing 5 varying CDs. Just think if each show of the 5 had three tracks that were different than each other. That would change the entire dynamic of the set yet still allow for the banging KoS, BS finale.

So simply putting 3 different songs in each set would drastically change our expectation of what was coming in their next show, and our desire to collect every live CD experience. Hell, I'd be listening to these live shows back to back if this were the case.

interestingly,
the early shows in the tour (and even within the US)..
had a lot more variety than the latter part of the tour does...

i've been keeping stats on the shows....
and yes, they were actually throwing in other songs early on..

unfortunately none of the US shows were released..
(although they were recorded)...

later
-1