Sorry this is so late but I've only been back at university for a week and
a half so I haven't really had an opportunity before now.
Anyway this is a review of Aphex Twin, DJ Grant (Wilson-Claridge), Cylob,
and The Prodigy at The Big Day Out in Melbourne on 25/1/97, and in Sydney
on 27/1/97.
If you want my whole review of both Big Day Outs with every
artist(including non-idm) that I saw then email me privately and you won't
have to read this.
I haven't yet bought the 'Richard D. James' album yet(there are good
reasons!) so maybe the songs I didn't recognise in Aphex's set were from
that.
The Big Day Out
***************
The Big Day Out, Melbourne Showgrounds, Melbourne, Australia, Saturday 25/1/97
The Boiler Room, Melbourne
The Boiler Room in Melbourne could be thought of as a small wharehouse,
about 45m by 25m(?), with a stage about 7m wide and 3 large screens, each
consisting of 4x4 large tv size screens. One of the screens is at the back
of the stage. The DJ decks were next to the screen on stage, leaving the
rest of the stage for the live acts. There was a small barrier at the front
of the stage.
DJ Grant (Wilson-Claridge)
Grant came on a few minutes earlier than expected. He played a great set
which kept most people dancing, although hardly anyone would have known who
he was. While Grant was DJing it was time for Aphex Twin to set up. My
heart sank when they brought out two stands in the middle of the stage and
placed a set of turntables on them. Thankfully they removed them a few
minutes later and began sweeping the floor. They then brought out some
small platforms and soon aphex appeared with his equipment (mac laptop and
a medium sized box for the plugs and wires needed) and began to set up,
which proved quite difficult. Most of it was set up but aphex was still
wandering around trying to get a couple more wires or something to finish
setting up. He did a soundcheck with headphones but he still needed that
final piece before he could start. Time dragged on way past when he was
supposed to start and I wondered whether this would mean a shorter set.
Grant's set was still going strong. He played 'Powerpill' and aphex looked
around at him and they both grinned. While Aphex was setting up there were
a few people watching right at the front of the stage. Grant played for
almost 90 minutes.
Aphex Twin
**********
Set list:
Pulsewidth
? (probably from 'Richard D. James')
Laughable Butane Bob
? ('give us a snarerush' sample)
Heliosphan
Girl/Boy (I think)
Industro Garbage Beats (Pirelli Tyre Ad jingle)
Digeridoo
? (probably from 'Richard D. James')
Anyway Aphex eventually came on at 9.36pm, 36m late. There was a longish
intro before 'Pulsewidth' was recognised. A few of the beats at the start
sounded a bit out of time and a bit fuzzy, and there were a couple of times
when the first really recognisable bars of 'Pulsewidth' started but
abruptly stopped, so it appears that there was at least a slight bit of
programming or adjustments to be done by aphex during his set. There were a
few photos taken just before and at the start of the set. When the set
began there were still a few people just watching at the front, but some
moved away as the set progressed. There was a good crowd with nearly
everyone dancing, although I doubt many were there mainly to see aphex, or
even knew who he was or cared. A lot of people are there just for a day
out. 'Laughable Butane Bob' was a highlight(I love that song). Then the
highlight of the set, and the day, and the year - 'Heliosphan' (my
favourite afx song) and the cameras were turned on and the images flashed
onto the screens, interspersed and morphed with other images. Then the two
giant teddy bears arrived on stage, one green and one orange, with aphex
face masks etc. They did their usual trick of running around (slowly and
awkwardly), and running into each other trying to knock the other down.
Once they fall over they need their minder and security to help them to get
up. The security also made sure they didn't knock anything important or
fall off the stage, because it could have been dangerous if they fell off.
aphex was periodically watching them and laughed when they both fell over
right in front of him, and were struggling to move. That was the only time
I saw him laugh or look around during the two performances.
Aphex was quite an interesting site. He looked really cool just lying down
on the stage behind his minimal setup, lying in different positions,
leaning on his elbows, and lying front down. I think that his setup would
have made a good impression on the crowd. He very rarely, if ever, looked
out into the crowd. Actually he was probably disappointed that there were
that many people dancing. There were times during weird musical moments,
especially near the beginning, where there was music/noises that you
couldn't dance to, and the people were just sort of standing there as you
do when you're not sure what's happening, or what's going to occur next. I
imagine that would have pleased aphex more, if he actually did care.
After the teddys had a rest for a couple of songs they returned and went
out into the crowd, which looks quite amusing with them being taller than
everyone else. The orange teddy became enclosed in a circle of people who
pushed him around the circle a few times, and it's too awkward for him to
do anything about it except travel in the direction that he's pushed.
'Didgeridoo' came on and was awesome. Then 'Industro Garbage Beats' and the
teddys came out again onto the stage and did a bit more running around and
into each other. The crowd was kept dancing for most of the set. The teddys
disappeared for the last time, and Aphex Twin, 58m after he began finished
and promptly walked off the stage. The whole set was just awesome.
Because of the late start by aphex and a long set he finished 45m after he
was supposed to have which only left DJ Richie Rich(Melbourne) and
FSOM(Melbourne) 30m before the scheduled closing time, which caused a few
problems. DJ Richie Rich played until just before 11pm while FSOM set up.
FSOM came on, and like Richie Rich, got a good reaction from their local
crowd, playing very danceable acid/trance, until the police closed the
place down at 11.13pm, which as you can imagine didn't go down too well.
The Big Day Out, Sydney Showgrounds, Sydney, Australia, 27/1/97
The Boiler Room, Sydney
The Boiler Room in Sydney is larger than in Melbourne. The stage is a bit
bigger and the setup is the same. The room/tent must be about 60m by 30m,
with 3 large screens the same as Melbourne.
Cylob (mislabelled 'Cyclob'), who didn't play in Melbourne, unfortunately
had the first half of his set scheduled against The Prodigy who were on the
main stage, so The Boiler Room was almost bare at the start. Cylob played
his usual kind of stuff, starting with 'Triachus', and at least one other
song from 'Empathy Box' (not sure which) was played. There was one up for
it punter who yelled out 'CYLOB' as loudly as possible a couple of times
during the first couple of tracks(you know who you are, Grant!). He then
played a couple of slower songs before a great faster track that everyone
could really dance to. Cylob played 7 or 8 tracks and ended his 35m set
with some more great songs. Very enjoyable. There was a cameraman filming
Cylob, the crowd and various other things which were projected onto the
screens throughout the set. I don't know what the crowd would have thought
but when the room filled up after The Prodigy finished most people seemed
to be dancing and gave some applause at the end of the songs. Towards the
end Cylob looked at the biggish crowd who had returned and were dancing and
he smiled, obviously pleased.
DJ Grant (Wilson-Claridge) was up next, starting(I think) with some
trumpets for the first track. Unsurprisingly it was a similar style to the
set in Melbourne. A good mix of presumably(I assume because I didn't
recognise any of the tracks Grant played) old and new(?), or maybe it was
just older? Anyway it was a good 45m or so set.
Aphex Twin
**********
(Set listing same as Melbourne Big Day Out)
Again during Grant's set a small platform was brought out and set up on the
stage floor for Aphex Twin. Aphex brought out his mac laptop and his box
for the wires and plugs that is needed. Thankfully this time there was no
trouble setting up. He started about on time. This time the introduction to
the set and first track was about 1m (instead of 2m in Melbourne) and the
sound for the beats was perfect and he went straight into 'Pulsewidth' the
first time the really recognisable bars were played (unlike in Melbourne,
which leads me to believe that there are some adjustments to be made and an
element of liveness to his gigs, even if most, if not nearly all, is
programmed. I would say he tries to pre-program as much as possible and
only adjust what is totally necessary. In one of the free weekly magazines
we get here, '3D World' it said that someone backstage saw that aphex was
playing games on the computer rather than music...). 'Laughable Butane Bob'
again was great. Then it was time for 'Heliosphan' and the giant teddys.
They ran around and into each other again. Later on the green one went out
into the crowd while the orange one decided to get there by climbing over
the barrier at the front of the stage. That really made me laugh, watching
this giant teddy clamber very awkwardly over the barrier with the help of
about 3 security men and couple of people from the crowd. Eventually he got
over without falling on the ground. He somehow got back over the barrier
the same way. The Giant TV screen at the back of the stage was turned off
for most of the set but the other two were on and these showed the teddys
running around on stage and walking around out in the crowd. Aphex laid
down for the entire set as usual and I did not once seem him look at the
crowd or anywhere else. He played with his computer and made some
adjustments to the wires from the box but that was it. The crowd responded
to Aphex fairly well. There were photos taken and some people were just
hanging around at the front of the stage. The teddy's swapped their colours
of the top part of their costumes and went around again. I saw the guys who
were in the teddys, but I didn't recognise them. Near the end the teddys
went back on stage, with the green teddys left ear almost ripped off. 57m
after it began aphex stopped the music, closed his laptop computer and
walked off. Another awesome show.
Yes, his sets are self-indulgent and he wouldn't care if anyone liked them
or not, and the two sets were almost identical, but the music is and was
brilliant.
After seeing aphex DJ last year, I didn't have to wait as long as I feared
to see him live.
The Prodigy, Melbourne
The Prodigy were the second biggest highlight (behind Aphex Twin) of the
whole day. They were great in The Boiler Room in 1996, but awesome on the
main stage in 1997. I was actually surprised by the reaction they received,
with moshing occurring way back from the stage and around me where I
thought I would be safe. I had to move about 20 metres back to get out of
there because I had my backpack and I didn't feel like losing it and having
it thrown around the crowd as happens to some backpacks. 'Voodoo People',
'Poison', 'Firestarter', and 'Breathe' were all awesome. Maxim gets the
crowd worked up, Keith goes nuts, Leeroy just dances(a 'Bez'), and Liam
remains fairly anonymous behind the bank of keyboards and equipment. They
have awesome songs which are excellent in a live environment. They played
for 55m. Awesome.
The Prodigy, Sydney
The Prodigy were awesome again. People were moshing a long way back from
the stage and it was packed. 'Voodoo People', 'Poison', and 'Breathe' were
great again. For some reason I enjoyed this more than their Melbourne
performance. Unfortunately I had to leave halfway through their hour set to
go and see Cylob.
Luke Rayner