I didn't realize the Orb was going up on the stage first, but that's how it
was. I was late arriving inside the venue by 15 minutes or so, and was
surprised to see Patterson already in the full swing when I walked in. They
played the set list as posted previously, but they didn't do Tower of Dub
(maybe they played in the first 15 minutes). The beats were more dominating on
all tunes, definitely harsher than recorded materials, but the core elements of
each tune were present, the sampling and the visual effects were very well
cordinated. Great groove kept going with the signature sounds of the Orb.
Two Chemical Bros. CDs and singles had never sunk in for me, but I thought I'd
give it a try with their live set. I left after 20 minutes being bored. Hard
beats but didn't see or hear much else. Didn't hear much of the guitar riffs
either. Although I don't care about that particular guitar riffs within the
context of their sound, that would have contributed to provide bits of texture
and color and indifferent beats and saved their set a bit. The kids who were up
front by the stage seemed to react to the ~volume~ and occasional breaks of
their uniform, pittifully patterned beats, like, ~don't care how they sound, as
long as they got the boom boom beats, and the louder the better." If I wanted
what I heard in that 20 boring minutes, I'd just go to a local club. Between
Orb's set and Chem. Bros, there were two/three guys who filled about a half an
hour. They were more interesting and colorful in sounds than this sorry main
act. So what's the big deal about these guys? Just my opinion.
- wolf -