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symbioidljSo, the Squarepusher/Luke show......
(very very long story of the show, if you like the guys and wanna read the review go ahead, otherwise feel free to skip)
The ride down was pretty smooth. And we found the place quite easily. Much easier than the metro.
The neighborhood did seem just a little sketchy, but I did like the huge buildings. Built of real masonry work(huge stones, not just bricks), they looked like fortresses, and then each of these buildings(most of them at least) had at least 5 ft iron fences around their front, some had higher ones. The windows themselves were pretty fucking high as well, a good 8 feet up for the first floor windows. Probably a common site for you big city folk, but interesting to see for me...
Anyways, we got there and stood at the back of the line, and a guy came out and was like "anyone who's here without tickets, you should go, cuz the show's been sold out for over a month" And all these people were griping about the venue, and that it should be bigger. We got inside after a while, and got right up front to the stage. Tony and I sat directly in front of Luke and his Powerbook. He looks like a french version of my co-worker Dave. I've never heard Luke's stuff before(except the one Wagonchrist album with "We're so lovely" on it, which I wasn't too fond of. Oh, and his remix of "Perfect Drug" under the Plug moniker.
He was mixing tracks that night. A somewhat decent variety. Mostly drum'n'bass and hip-hop. But, unfortunately, a lot of the hip-hop seemed to be the thuggy/tough-type stuff that I hate. He did play "The Message", and "Tainted Love"(for the big tracks you all would know)... And some Squarepusher and Aphex tracks as well.
About 3/4 through his set, these two drunk guys stumbled up and sorta squished me further left... But they were an energy drain. I was getting into the groove of the people next to me, then these two drunk guys just sit there, depressed looking, their head hanging low. Not moving, just a total mood killer. I tried to get into the groove as much as I could. Then they kept moving further and further to the left, til I got way near the edge, and Tony pushed me forward like "Don't go any further"(he was behind me to the left) I tried not to. Finally, I just started drumming on the stage fairly aggressively...(I was tapping on the stage before they edged me leftwards)
Sadly, I directed some very aggressive energy towards these guys, and one of them left. His friend stayed. but..... The friend who stayed was the drunker of the two.
People kept going on stage and handing Luke bottles of Corona and cigarettes. He was feeling good, grooving to the tunes, and doing some hand-dancing('lectric boogaloo type shit, perhaps) to the rhythms... Nothing crazy, but just having fun with the breaks. He was smiling and it was great. He looked in our direction held his hand over his eyes, and motioned towards the monitor and shook his head and rubbed his eyes, as if to say "The light is irritating my eyes..." Later in the set, he pulled out some eyedrops... Sweat got into my eyes a couple times and I could've used those drops at some points.
anyways, as he got off the stage, he high-fived the crowd of us, and was just a fucking all around great guy.
Tom got on, and picked up the bass. To be honest, I was somewhat disappointed. For one, they kept blasting out the fog waaaaaaayyyyyyyyy too much. I don't mind a little fog now and then, but a lot of the night, Tom was just hidden. And the strobes were really fucking annoying. His sequences were WAY too trebley, and fed back too much.
Of course, what he does, he does amazingly. And that is, of course, play the fucking bass. God damn. I kept thinking of our old bass player in High School, and how if he kept doing it, he could totally do shit like that. last i heard, Anders lived in Seattle, and was doing Janitorial stuff somewhere, and was burnt out from too much acid. Anyways....
The bass playing was great, but sometimes it was just too muddy. I liked it best when it wasn't him playing to the samples. At one point, he screamed into the mike "Make some fucking noise....." and got the crowd to cheer. He screamed it again. I think he was trying to get the mic to pick it up and feedback, but it just didn't work right.
BTW, he's a tall mother-fucker. Way taller than I thought. I'd seen him on modulations, and he didn't seem so fucking tall. I swear he was a good 6'5" or something.
During Tom's set Luke came back out and walked past me, and said (to me!!!! I feel like such a dumbass to be excited about it, but it's cool) "I forgot my cigarettes" and went onstage and grabbed them.
Tom seemed a little too large, as in larger than life, as in superstar large. I got the sense that I could totally hang out with Luke(I mean, Tom would be cool to hang with too, but Luke just seemed to have this totally positive vibe)
Also, there was this totally drunk chump who pushed his way through the crowd, very very very forcefully, and we thought at first it was someone who had to get to the stage for the crew or something...(this was during Tom's set) Suddenly he was in front of me to the left, and it was this totally drunk jackass. He kept shouting at the stage, and lifting his arms, throwing beer over everyone withing a good 4-5 foot radius around him. As he went through the crowd I looked at him when he stopped, he stretched out his hand, as if expecting a five, and said "Alright!", I held his hand firmly for two seconds and said "knock it off" A second before I said that, I saw this short girl look at me with this utter terror in her eyes. This fucker almost crushed her. Tony poked him a little and said "chill".. He kept being a dick. The girls boyfriend (I'm assuming it was a boyfriend) came through shortly after that, and brought her to a safer place. One guy in front of me yelled at the drunk guy. Then this one girl went up to him and pushed him. Then he pushed her(not meanly, but it became this flirty thing)... She was smiling at him, and then the guy to the right of me grabbed her and told her to quit(again, I assume this was her boyfriend)
One girl in the crowd, later in Luke's set, asked me if I knew some bar in town, and said no, she said I looked like some guy that visits there a lot. Told her I was from Madison. A girl behind her, Tony and I conjecture, was on E. She was dancing very fluidly to everything, even without music, and was just lost in it. More than usual. And probably more than that music is really meant to be lost in such a way.
Overall, a good show. A bit crowded, especially after Tom came on stage... A little too noisy with Tom's stuff. But Luke was great. (aside from the shitty hip-hop tracks).
The sound system was awesome. The bass was sooooooooooooo crisp and clear. All the sounds were nice and separated(again, for Luke's set), it wasn't too loud(for Luke)...
OK, I guess I'll say it... I liked Luke's set better than Tom's. I was somewhat letdown by Squarepusher. It was still good, but not what it could've been.
(very very long story of the show, if you like the guys and wanna read the review go ahead, otherwise feel free to skip)
The ride down was pretty smooth. And we found the place quite easily. Much easier than the metro.
The neighborhood did seem just a little sketchy, but I did like the huge buildings. Built of real masonry work(huge stones, not just bricks), they looked like fortresses, and then each of these buildings(most of them at least) had at least 5 ft iron fences around their front, some had higher ones. The windows themselves were pretty fucking high as well, a good 8 feet up for the first floor windows. Probably a common site for you big city folk, but interesting to see for me...
Anyways, we got there and stood at the back of the line, and a guy came out and was like "anyone who's here without tickets, you should go, cuz the show's been sold out for over a month" And all these people were griping about the venue, and that it should be bigger. We got inside after a while, and got right up front to the stage. Tony and I sat directly in front of Luke and his Powerbook. He looks like a french version of my co-worker Dave. I've never heard Luke's stuff before(except the one Wagonchrist album with "We're so lovely" on it, which I wasn't too fond of. Oh, and his remix of "Perfect Drug" under the Plug moniker.
He was mixing tracks that night. A somewhat decent variety. Mostly drum'n'bass and hip-hop. But, unfortunately, a lot of the hip-hop seemed to be the thuggy/tough-type stuff that I hate. He did play "The Message", and "Tainted Love"(for the big tracks you all would know)... And some Squarepusher and Aphex tracks as well.
About 3/4 through his set, these two drunk guys stumbled up and sorta squished me further left... But they were an energy drain. I was getting into the groove of the people next to me, then these two drunk guys just sit there, depressed looking, their head hanging low. Not moving, just a total mood killer. I tried to get into the groove as much as I could. Then they kept moving further and further to the left, til I got way near the edge, and Tony pushed me forward like "Don't go any further"(he was behind me to the left) I tried not to. Finally, I just started drumming on the stage fairly aggressively...(I was tapping on the stage before they edged me leftwards)
Sadly, I directed some very aggressive energy towards these guys, and one of them left. His friend stayed. but..... The friend who stayed was the drunker of the two.
People kept going on stage and handing Luke bottles of Corona and cigarettes. He was feeling good, grooving to the tunes, and doing some hand-dancing('lectric boogaloo type shit, perhaps) to the rhythms... Nothing crazy, but just having fun with the breaks. He was smiling and it was great. He looked in our direction held his hand over his eyes, and motioned towards the monitor and shook his head and rubbed his eyes, as if to say "The light is irritating my eyes..." Later in the set, he pulled out some eyedrops... Sweat got into my eyes a couple times and I could've used those drops at some points.
anyways, as he got off the stage, he high-fived the crowd of us, and was just a fucking all around great guy.
Tom got on, and picked up the bass. To be honest, I was somewhat disappointed. For one, they kept blasting out the fog waaaaaaayyyyyyyyy too much. I don't mind a little fog now and then, but a lot of the night, Tom was just hidden. And the strobes were really fucking annoying. His sequences were WAY too trebley, and fed back too much.
Of course, what he does, he does amazingly. And that is, of course, play the fucking bass. God damn. I kept thinking of our old bass player in High School, and how if he kept doing it, he could totally do shit like that. last i heard, Anders lived in Seattle, and was doing Janitorial stuff somewhere, and was burnt out from too much acid. Anyways....
The bass playing was great, but sometimes it was just too muddy. I liked it best when it wasn't him playing to the samples. At one point, he screamed into the mike "Make some fucking noise....." and got the crowd to cheer. He screamed it again. I think he was trying to get the mic to pick it up and feedback, but it just didn't work right.
BTW, he's a tall mother-fucker. Way taller than I thought. I'd seen him on modulations, and he didn't seem so fucking tall. I swear he was a good 6'5" or something.
During Tom's set Luke came back out and walked past me, and said (to me!!!! I feel like such a dumbass to be excited about it, but it's cool) "I forgot my cigarettes" and went onstage and grabbed them.
Tom seemed a little too large, as in larger than life, as in superstar large. I got the sense that I could totally hang out with Luke(I mean, Tom would be cool to hang with too, but Luke just seemed to have this totally positive vibe)
Also, there was this totally drunk chump who pushed his way through the crowd, very very very forcefully, and we thought at first it was someone who had to get to the stage for the crew or something...(this was during Tom's set) Suddenly he was in front of me to the left, and it was this totally drunk jackass. He kept shouting at the stage, and lifting his arms, throwing beer over everyone withing a good 4-5 foot radius around him. As he went through the crowd I looked at him when he stopped, he stretched out his hand, as if expecting a five, and said "Alright!", I held his hand firmly for two seconds and said "knock it off" A second before I said that, I saw this short girl look at me with this utter terror in her eyes. This fucker almost crushed her. Tony poked him a little and said "chill".. He kept being a dick. The girls boyfriend (I'm assuming it was a boyfriend) came through shortly after that, and brought her to a safer place. One guy in front of me yelled at the drunk guy. Then this one girl went up to him and pushed him. Then he pushed her(not meanly, but it became this flirty thing)... She was smiling at him, and then the guy to the right of me grabbed her and told her to quit(again, I assume this was her boyfriend)
One girl in the crowd, later in Luke's set, asked me if I knew some bar in town, and said no, she said I looked like some guy that visits there a lot. Told her I was from Madison. A girl behind her, Tony and I conjecture, was on E. She was dancing very fluidly to everything, even without music, and was just lost in it. More than usual. And probably more than that music is really meant to be lost in such a way.
Overall, a good show. A bit crowded, especially after Tom came on stage... A little too noisy with Tom's stuff. But Luke was great. (aside from the shitty hip-hop tracks).
The sound system was awesome. The bass was sooooooooooooo crisp and clear. All the sounds were nice and separated(again, for Luke's set), it wasn't too loud(for Luke)...
OK, I guess I'll say it... I liked Luke's set better than Tom's. I was somewhat letdown by Squarepusher. It was still good, but not what it could've been.
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Aw.
Date: 2003-07-21 02:48 am (UTC)Um, anyway. Glad you liked the parts of the show that you liked. :)
-Nathan