Oblivion Ball Tokyo Live Streaming

[dubman]

guys it always turns into this.
yes, we're spoiled, yes of course we appreciate all they do for us. and no thats not a token disclaimer before i take a deep breath and head into a diatribe, i really do appreciate all the things they rig to bring us as much as they possibly can. we enjoy an interctivity with this band shared by few, and especially by those as big as underworld.

but for the love of fuck, can we finally start to approach these things not as immunity granting devices of awesomeness but as actual creative endeavors open to some form of criticism and raise the possibility that for everything they're talking about and for all the excitement generated that our imaginations seem to continually run a bit wilder than what they're actually doing?
it *was* a bit... disheartening to see that after months of reported tweaking and different ideas and renewed post-hospital excitement that it was a. the same 'tour' show and b. the same setlist as the night before, which are mild variations on the setlists this whole tour. i'm not talking about doing some grand experimental thing (though it's entirely possible and not *so* cracked out), but you can do something different to what we've been seeing recently without going off the deep end.

i'm not talking about whether they should do these things or not. i'm talking about whether these could be missed opportunities of some kind to really extend on a limb and surprise us in some way, especially when you're recording and releasing them. we have 5 releases of what could have been some beautifully ruthless run of the dynamic and off-the-cuff potential of underworld at their real-time flexibility and adaptation for the moment, and instead we have 5 releases of, by and large, the same thing. i found myself looking for which two had the most difference between them so i could snatch them up if i dont get the others, which by now is a real possibility. i should be wanting all of them.

nothing beats actually being there, and it's easy to look at it with this sort of distance when viewing it on a computer screen, but that also gives us a conceptual eye for their live setup that says that for all the creative flow and energy this duo experience on a daily basis, and for everything else they've done before that proves they're a top-caliber group of music AND design, what they've been doing on this recent incartnation of the tour is showing that there's a lack of fluidity and a sort of stagnation within the setup. there's a thousand different ways to end an underworld set brilliantly than with just jumbo. moaner doesnt have to be the climax of the show that leads to exhausting whatever's left in everyone (it was actually really great and refreshing when played early in the second london set. that sort of energy should feel like part of a set, not just driving it home), the seocnd half of the show doesnt have to be a string of hits after showcasing the shiny new album stuff in the first half, but it's been nothing *but* this.

all i'm saying is may we please air some reservations without being countered with how special all the "stuff" we get is, and treat the live and interactive experience with the same creative standards that we do their albums? it's great that they still do albums, but should we be so grateful for them as to not note what's wrong with them? how is Underworld Live much different than that?

[dubman]

Originally Posted by aNt

Hope you all liked it, was fun to do...
Thanks to everyone that tuned in- went smoother.
More to come- rockin action!

thanks aNt! and thanks for answering my PM. absolutely invaluable!

[idoru]

Of course it's a bit samey. I thought the same thing. I think right now they're at a bit of a "crossroads" of sorts. At first, all of the "improvs" they were doing were just Darren playing and sequencing his own tunes. Now they're at the point where Rick seems to want to be more involved and more in control again and make it an actual "Underworld jam."

I think today's show was a beginning of things to come. They brought out old tunes, old lyrics, rather than just re-sequencing Cowgirl, Rez, Pearl's Girl etc. they actually effected bits and pieces of the track, and Rick actually sang on Cowgirl. We saw this at the Roundhouse as well, where Rick time-stretched Pearl's Girls vocals.

Compared to the sets they've been playing lately it was a big change. I'm not saying that it was a huge change from their old style, I'm not saying it was fantastically unique, I'm saying that compared to the recent tour gigs they did a lot more to the tracks than what they've done in a while. I see this continuing through every gig, and I see it progressing into something more over time.
________
MFLB

[BeautifulBurnout]

Originally Posted by dubman

all i'm saying is may we please air some reservations without being countered with how special all the "stuff" we get is, and treat the live and interactive experience with the same creative standards that we do their albums? it's great that they still do albums, but should we be so grateful for them as to not note what's wrong with them? how is Underworld Live much different than that?

What I am saying is, why the need to critique each gig as if each one ought to be an innovative work of art in itself? Because we are between 50 and 100 geeks on here that listen to, and watch where possible, every single gig we can get our hands on, does that give us the right to moan because the gigs aren't "different" or "special" enough from our personal obsessive-compulsive view-point?

There were 20,000 people in Tokyo tonight. What did they want to hear? What did the band want them to hear? The singles/strong tracks from the album and a melange of their classic numbers - each with a little twist all its own: a little improve here, a new intro there. They have an album to promote, and more ephemeral fans than us to please. There were lots of nice new bits were in this gig, but some people just seem to fixate on what they personally have heard too much of recently - what they DIDN'T like about it rather than focussing on what was new and interesting and exciting.

It just annoys me, when you compare them to the other kinds of plug-and-play bands out there who never even change a setlist from one venue to the next, much less improvise on their numbers, to hear people having a whinge all the time. We are LUCKY we have had these gigs streamed. We are the lucky ones who get to go to two, three, four gigs during a tour, sometimes more. We are lucky that we can buy the live CDs now. How many boots are out there of 5 or 6 shows from a single tour from previous years? I bet there aren't actually 5 or 6 from the same tour. And if there are, I also bet that, if you gave them a listen back to back, you would suddenly realise that, actually, this is what Underworld has always done. Two or three new tracks to promote the album, and a selection of hits.

Like I said, we were spoilt with the 3 hours shows and Cocoon, because they had no new album to push at that time - in fact, I would go further and suggest that we were hearing a variety of new stuff that they had created, a DARC here, a Globe there, a Faxed Invitation somewhere else, to test the market and see what got the best responses, and got the forums chattering. One or two new tunes out of a 3 hour set doesn't make much of a dent, which left plenty of time for the classics and the less mainstream stuff as well.

I understand the need to critique to a certain extent, but sometimes it is really done from the Ivory Tower of the ardent fan and Dirt, and doesn't take into account the bigger picture.

[Dirty0900]

UW live has been a shit year.

Boo hoo for people not getting to hear what they want live. Poor UW have been attacked in Greece and injured and Rick having to hospital and cancel gigs.

I still think the re planned gigs are to early and shows how keane UW to tour and play live.

[masked70]

Can't believe how amazing this was. Superb audio quality, and video good enough to make me feel I was actually there with the audience in Japan. To all those who made this happen - how DO you do it? WELL impressed!

[Yannick]

was a nice show...

cowgirl, bs, kos... = sex
sex is needed for most and can be enjoyed in many ways
but the basic is required (me+you+music) so yeah those experimental
jam which I do love quite a lot are like getting food served on
skin so that is (me+you+music+food+licking), would be fun everynight but really you'd get bored at some point and wish for the dirty sex again (me+me) so you can't please everyone full time unless your me or tom.

[galama]

Since i tuned in my eyes were transfixed in the monitor. I put some thought into how much trouble they had to go through in order to bless us with such a generous gift. Who else does that? To what extent have they gone to keep in touch with a few dozen people! Quite honestly i feel privileged as fuck. A live broadcast all the way from across the other pond is a notty perk. And oh my, the way it was done. So careful to grasp all the aspects of the performance. Rick tweaking knobs, Karl singing and dancing, the crowd, close-ups, visuals...accumulated into a screen, right in front of my person, to give me a splendid afternoon.
Regardless of having heard those tracks so many times, each live performance radiates with a unique twist of energy. Dubman, you made several great points. WeAs far as hearing rare and unheard tunes...noone has the right to whine. We get live broadcasts made just for a few hundred people. No publicity, no advertising, no banners all over the internet. That is privileged.

[industri_studios]

I was raking leaves - thanks all for the reviews... appreciate it. Even if this never surfaces for those of us that missed it (which is fine) - thanks to UW for keeping us in the loop of what they're doing. Appreciate it!

[dubman]

Originally Posted by BeautifulBurnout

What I am saying is, why the need to critique each gig as if each one ought to be an innovative work of art in itself? Because we are between 50 and 100 geeks on here that listen to, and watch where possible, every single gig we can get our hands on, does that give us the right to moan because the gigs aren't "different" or "special" enough from our personal obsessive-compulsive view-point?

There were 20,000 people in Tokyo tonight. What did they want to hear? What did the band want them to hear? The singles/strong tracks from the album and a melange of their classic numbers - each with a little twist all its own: a little improve here, a new intro there. They have an album to promote, and more ephemeral fans than us to please. There were lots of nice new bits were in this gig, but some people just seem to fixate on what they personally have heard too much of recently - what they DIDN'T like about it rather than focussing on what was new and interesting and exciting.

It just annoys me, when you compare them to the other kinds of plug-and-play bands out there who never even change a setlist from one venue to the next, much less improvise on their numbers, to hear people having a whinge all the time. We are LUCKY we have had these gigs streamed. We are the lucky ones who get to go to two, three, four gigs during a tour, sometimes more. We are lucky that we can buy the live CDs now. How many boots are out there of 5 or 6 shows from a single tour from previous years? I bet there aren't actually 5 or 6 from the same tour. And if there are, I also bet that, if you gave them a listen back to back, you would suddenly realise that, actually, this is what Underworld has always done. Two or three new tracks to promote the album, and a selection of hits.

Like I said, we were spoilt with the 3 hours shows and Cocoon, because they had no new album to push at that time - in fact, I would go further and suggest that we were hearing a variety of new stuff that they had created, a DARC here, a Globe there, a Faxed Invitation somewhere else, to test the market and see what got the best responses, and got the forums chattering. One or two new tunes out of a 3 hour set doesn't make much of a dent, which left plenty of time for the classics and the less mainstream stuff as well.

I understand the need to critique to a certain extent, but sometimes it is really done from the Ivory Tower of the ardent fan and Dirt, and doesn't take into account the bigger picture.

i'm not even asking that much, just pointing out that it's all the same. i'm not asking for a dogman/leave home/why why why/mama nuxx improv for an hour followed by a 30 minute dirty epic. i think it's valid to say every show has been the same without poo-poohing ourselves as obsessives. it's not an ivory tower position it's just a disappointing observation. i dont really see what you feel the need to defend. if it's all whining to your ears then that's just as annoying to someone who likes to see something different. i dont care what other bands do in comparison, i know underworld have been a lot more fluid in the past and if you want to argue on that, then let's get obsessive and break it down:

1996: 5 gigs: quart, roskilde, ECG, reading, and werchter. werchter sees the most tremendous rendition of cowgirl ever, reading has the Bootleg Babies version of rez with the ludicrously slow build up, fewer tracks in favor of longer extensions, each one built up in reasonably different fashion. they all end differently, each gig has a distinctive vibe to it. different versions of confusion the waitress, original version of born slippy may or may not show up with nuxx. werchter is frenetic while ecg seems more regulated and club oriented, and quart and roskilde sounds more appropriate for a large festival crowd.

98/99: from i love techno to mojo to zaal to new years in london to belfort to koln to fuji, each one is all over the map. cups either goes into cherry pie or jumbo or confusion. drastically different version of rowla coming from what sounds like an honest improv in london, not to mention the KOS with moaner lyrics, the songs dont feel like it's one simply knocked down with a notch after another. again, it's all very fluid. each show ends differently. bruce lee and dirty guitar and juanita and kittens may or may not show up, and it's a different incarnation and interpretation each time (some much better than others)

2000-2002: dont even get me started here. all i need to say is electraglide. they pull a version of confusion thats one of their loosest, most abstract versions and ranks among their best. this was the time where they managed to juggle a large discography and keep it fresh. cappe ffuno creeps in here and there, ref 010101 shows up, push upstairs leads to spikee leads to leave home. kiteless leads to spoonman lyrics seguing into kittens. other days they could stand alone. festivals would sound drastically different than regular slot sets in that it was desperately crazy the entire time whereas the more regular tour shows felt looser and more natural. DA3d and momove would sneak in here and there...

i'm tempted to get into 2003 and their maida vale event of ne'er before done stuff, but i think the point has long been made with far too many words. bootlegs or broadcasted, we've had access to these things throughout many years, and the comparison is really obvious to me, you most definitely can entertain a crowd of thousands within a couple of hours while keeping it fresh and different most of the time because they've been doing it for years before that. it's not nearly as flexible now and is getting to sound like routine in comparison to that, the biggest variation is in which darren price bit to use as a bridge to the next if they dont just go quiet altogether. i also think i disagree that each concert has a different twist in their stand-bys. they really don't. out of the liveherenow sets, only london2 really knocked me on my ass due to minor tweaks that made all the hits so much more ruthless and devastating. and while the other gigs had their moments of bamboo and loud glam bucket guitar the hits and crocodile/BB specifically did the same things, and became placeholders *for* these moments instead of being in it. i can't point to a version of pearls girl or jumbo or beautiful burnout out of them and tell you which came from where. and if you think you have a problem with that notion and have to specifically defend their honor about it, then you can keep doggedly and indiscrimately and uselessly lavishing paise on them for deigning to interact with us whiners instead of, HEY, actually interacting back. i could be niggling and weird and wrong, yeah, but something feels very off about the relentless repetition of this tour and i think it could stand to be adressed instead of plugging your ears and talking about privelige. they're a creative force like anything else and deserve a response