There was a 98% chance that everything was going to go wrong at the
Bronco Bowl in Dallas last night for the Big Top show. The IDM gods
were smiling down upon me, though, and the Big Top proved to be one
of the most interesting and exicting nights of my life.
My pals from New Orleans, mi novia, and I arrived at the venue a half
hour after doors opened. Right away, I was really impressed with the
venue. There were two rooms: a main stage, which was massive and had
both a giant dance floor and stadium seating; and a smaller room
with a service bar and a smaller dance floor. Everything was clean
and easily navagatable.
System 7 were in the middle of their performance in the main room
when my krew arrived. Their set consisted of some of the harsher,
Detroit tunes of _Power of 7_. System 7 is just one of those bands
I never thought I'd see live in my life, and it was a treat. Some
folks think Steve is just some old fart hippy, but his live guitar
playing/processing is amazing.
We mulled around a bit and ran across a harried event staffer posting
a performance schedule. It showed RDJ was to go on in the 2nd room
at midnight - and that it was only going to be a DJ performance. We were
all a little cheesed off, but I've heard that Rich gives good set, so a
mixture
of him and Grooverider wasn't going to be that bad. We decided to stay in
the second room, front row, for the rest of the evening.
Michael Dog was in the second room + was finishing a set of uninspired
trance and watered down jungle. At least he ended the set with Soul Beat
Runna. At 9:00, local DJ Merritt, who hosts a weekly mix show on one
of Dallas' alternative rock stations appeared. More same, tired,
4/4 techno and trance, with a funky break thrown in for good
measure. Merritt was on for way too long.
The assaults just kept on coming. At 10:00, the MC announced "And now
welcome, a former producer for the PRODIGY, Twelve Trees!" SHIT. For thirty
minutes, this one fellow twinkled some keys and knobs on his Prophecy to
some sequenced dance/dub beats with annoying ethnic vocals. THere are so
many producers doing this kind of thing; why must there be more?
"This is the first time that music has made my eyes hurt."
-me
"Is this what Orbital would sound like if the Hartnoll Brothers
were gay lovers?"
-eggplant wizard
You get the idea.
Here's where the real trouble started. At 10:30, after Twelve Trees,
the second room was cleared out by Texas Alcohol Commission officers.
Initially, they just wanted to card everyone + tag those who could
drink. But, they changed their minds and made the 2nd room 21+ only.
My pals and I are all young'uns, as well as most of the 2nd room crowd.
We came to see AFX and Grooverider, not Empirion and Eat Static. We searched
the grounds trying to find someone with an expanation and/or our money back,
but, apparantly, the rukkus at the 2nd room door was so bad, that TABC
decided to stop selling alcohol at 11:45, and that the children could be
readmitted.
So, we waited by the door. Here's where it get's interesting.
It's about 11:10, and we were all waiting by the door. All of the sudden,
I see a talish fellow walk out with a scraggly beard, pale blue eyes,
army fatigues and a military vest. It was Luke Vibert! It was really
strange, since he wasn't on the bill at all + wasn't going to be
performing with Aphex anywhere close to Texas. I called "Luke!" and
he turned around. We shook hands and I introduced myself as "Grant,
the guy who does your webpage." His eyes lit up and he replied 'Fucking ace!"
According to him, he's seen it a couple of times while at Rich's home.
We talked very briefly, exchanged phone numbers like we were sweethearts,
and he went off to buy some munchies. Luke's got such a calm tone to his
voice, which surprised me, since most of the Cornwall lot have thick,
Cockney accents. The whole affair was really weird. He was really cool +
probably just as surprised as I was - since there's a great chance I was
the only audience memeber who recognized him and knew who he was.
After that, we saw RDJ enter the second room, followed with two guys
carrying huge laundry bags marked APHEX TWIN. These bags could only
be carrying one thing - teddy bear suits. Aphex was going to play live
after all! What an amazing rush the last 20 minutes were!
Anyway, the children were let back into the second room, where Merritt [!]
was finishing up another lame set. We all managed to get to the very
front. The lights dimmed and the MC announced, "And now, The Aphex Twin!"
Everyone cheered - until the first beats of Bucephalus Bouncing Ball started.
There was almost no groove whatsoever! It was great. Richard also played
amazing renditions of _Weaking Child_, _Laughable Butane Bob_, and _Inkey$_.
There were also revamped versions of _Heliospan_, which the crowd died over,
and _Digeridoo_, which was the funkiest thing I heard that night. Also -
_Come to Daddy_ and _IZ-US_ from the new EP.
RDJ was holed up in the right hand corner of
the stage, almost in a fetal position, flanked by a Power Mac, Mackie mixer,
and an unidentified effects processor. All of the other live acts suffered
some such stiffness; there was such an amazing aire of freshness during
Richard's set. All eyes were on him, even the eyes of those who came to
see some of the tamer acts. I'm not into the whole rave or PLUR thing, but
there was a tremendous vibe shared by the packed house last night.
Of course, the teddy bears were there, dry humping and dancing the night away.
Everyone loved them - and no one tired of them. Luke was given the
task of escorting the two fluffy fellows up and down the
stairs backstage. I'm sure he's experienced this dozens of times, but
he seemed to still enjoy it last night. The bears greeted the audience
and gave some of the bustier females up front prolonged hugs. The green
one mauled me a little. Luke had invited me to sit with him 'backstage,' but
he was asleep [!] the first half, and the teddy bears had me in a headlock
for the second half, that I never got over there.
Most interesting was the nude man. Midway through the set, a sweaty gentleman
in a fisherman's hat and bath towel walked on stage, doused the front row
with drinking water, crouched down to stare at Rich, and let his towel drop.
He proceeded to do cheerleading moves on the stage naked, much to the
delighted
squeals of girls throughout the room. The man had the smallest penis I have
ever seen.
Rich ended his set at around 1:15, and Grooverider appeared and played
some devistating techstep. A couple of rewinds here and there, but mainly
just crossfading between tracks. His selection was impeccable, but I
was expecting a little more turntable action from a man such as him. We all
left before the end of the set @ 2:00.
This evening proved to me that, at least in America, cookie-cutter techno,
funky breaks and goa-esque mysticism is slowly dying. Grooverider's jungle
set was the ONLY dj act I saw that got the crowd into a frenzy. Most of the
other dj's failed to create any sort of a groove. D+B is one of the most
exciting genres out there, and last night only proved it to me more.
In retrospect, it was a fantastic evening, a bit sparce in the diversity
department [techno acts-as-rock stars + 4/4 djs prevailed]; but the
last two sets of the night + the introduction to Luke made the trip and
the ticket purchase worth it.
g.