The day began in the morning, waking up to an hour of playing Uncharted since school was thankfully cancelled. Grandma picked me up to take me to Chicago at around 1:30, and we were off.
We arrived in Chicago at around four, found the theatre and parking space without problem, and had five or so hours to kill. Saw the bean, ate at Chipolte's, got stupid cold and before I knew it, was back in the theatre, an hour or so early, just waiting on the hour of nine to hit me. We were the first in the theatre, which gave me the opportunity to run around a bit and check out what things might be like from other seats. My real spot was H8, dead center in the second row of the second section. The front row seats, I concluded, were a good bit better than what we had, but the ability to see everything on the screen and half the audience beneath me seemed mighty fine.
People began filing in shortly afterwards. "Hey dicklips!" Most of the row before me was taken up by a big group (ShotGlass75, you were among them I guess?) and before long spots were being occupied all over the theatre. I was pretty visible from where I was and had my Nous Sommes shirt on, so I figured it wouldn't be too long before one of you forumites recognized me and said hi, and then I'd have to explain to my grandma about the whole "strangers from the internet" thing. Luckily this didn't happen, though I was kinda looking forward to shaking one of you guys' hands. Anyway, this show was sold out, so I was expecting a pretty packed house. Surprisingly, it was just minutes from launch time, and only 2/3 of the theatre was taken! Meanwhile on my right, my grandma is for some reason waxing loquacious about the filmography of Meryl Streep. I had to wonder if my phone's clock was fast, so I asked to see her watch. No, it's nearly nine, and as I watch the second hand make its way around, the lights begin to dim.
Without fanfare, buildup or undue hype, Don't Think unassumingly began.
Those first deep strums of Tomorrow Never Knows enter the theatre. There's a few whoops from the people around me, choice claps and shouts. That group in front of me starts passing glowsticks to each other. Glowsticks! Why didn't I think of that! Dang. Back to the screen. I delightfully watch silverware spin and sink through the black water. It's not even part of the concert yet, but I'm already finding it nice to watch. The credits slip in and out of the knife wake, the crowds cheers, I hear that wrrring synth come out from behind the song, and, look at that. We're in Fuji Rock.
Audience. Hands in the air. Tom and Ed on stage, greeting the crowds and turning those initiating dials. This is cool. We get to see shots of a few of the people we'll be following later in the film. But it all leaves, to be replaced with what looks like a spinning EQ form of the Another World visuals, green dots bursting into red as they peak. The crowd cheers and whoops as the looping Krazy Kat notes play, and it isn't long before we hear that wonderful screech stream out from the calmness. Suddenly the visuals zoom back, the massive beat hits and it's instant integration. That epic stargate is firing up with intensity, massive stage lights bathing the Japanese around me in green, (an)other worldy light. It's something else. All the close ups, people shouting and fist pumping without dignity, eyes reflecting green magic. Another World carries on with it's own excellent Warm Vibe, and I'm staring, ears open, appreciating every minute live sound Tom and Ed have added, and the timing and quality of every visual component on stage. I've decided not to dance. I'll sit here and take in everything I can of this spectacle. At least, those were my first thoughts.
Another World/Do It Again is really mindblowing. I loved that synth, those bell samples, and the way Tom and Ed juiced the build to flat out unexpected heights. In the back of my mind, I wondered what my grandma's current impression was. Whatever, who cares about that. DO IT AGAIN ba da doo da do do do! If you weren't feeling the concert before, you will be now. There's such a tweaky impromptu groove going on, clap patterns, squeaky synths and endless snare fills. Film wise, I thought we were switching between angles a little too rapidly at this point, I couldn't quite take it all in, but saying this is a problem is like saying a centimeter long paint chip on a Star Destroyer is a problem. It's all rectified by the Get Yourself High clown anyway. This was brilliant. You'd expect to see people cheesing it up for the camera, "yea that clown is cool", but no one's really like that, are they? All those bewildered, WTF Fuji Rock faces were hilarious! Mr. Mark Monero Clown Face bleeding out into the landscape + bellies, just added to the effect.
Horse Power time. Excellent transition. This song is madly, brutally intense live, with Tom and Ed joyously at the reins. While the beat is excellent enough, the effects and the whinnys and the filter sweeps roar past you and strip you naked in your chair. In surround sound!!! The 7.1 wasn't obvious before, but it sure is now. The breakdown comes, the acid synth rises and we are Horse Powering harder than before. At the peak, glowsticks were flying through the air towards the screen, awesomely amplifying the effect. Why didn't I bring glowsticks???? At this point, I'm bumping around in my seat a bit. Nothing big but I've got a tiny groove on. I'm also thinking, I need to OWN this... The Chemical Beats synth enters, we rise to another level. Fucking. Excellent. Acid. House. Which I shouted right in time with the song. Wooo! Ok. So maybe I'm not exactly sitting back and calmly appreciating the movie like I planned, but a little light head banging never hurt anyone, right? Right. Anyway, Chemical Beats as a song has never really made sense to me until I saw a live video of it at the Roundhouse, when I heard it with those fantastic FANTASTIC spinning firework visuals blowing up the whole world in front of you as the cowbell and the bass and the beats and the synth rock control your mind into delirium. Seeing this take place in a theatre, well, it was outright, perfect, insanity. At some point I heard a wow from my grandma. Nice! P.S., Props to those beats in the last part, love it.
More airborne glowsticks when Swoon landed. Awesome. Seriously, one of the most gigantic high points of the whole concert happened here. Swoon is a wonderful song on its own, but when you bring it into the live arena, Tom and Ed steroid this song to the absolute maximum, most of all in the finale. Wonderful, exhilirating stuff. One moment stood out to me powerfully. I don't remember who exactly she was in the close up on that intro, with Tom mouthing the lyrics and the beautiful synths soaring around, I think it was that lady in Whirly's avatar. She was visibly moved by the song, like the lyrics just struck a massive chord inside her. I saw a longing and lonliness in her eyes followed by a gleam, a spark, of what was unmistakably hope. Truly, amazing what music does. And holy crap, what's that but the beat to Star Guitar. The butterflies float up and the synth goes solo and I am way into the groove now. I take my shoes off, bring my legs up and scoot to the edge of my seat, beyond amazed and glued to the glowing technological brilliance unfolding on the screen.
Star Guitar, oh ho ho ho ho, yes yes yes. Slightly out of my head at this point, bouncing up and down in my seat and feeling the song with every bone. Those pillars of light + the stargate bathing the Fuji Rock crowd in light, the in crowd shots, fantastic. I know I was singing the lyrics and I heard a bunch of other people shouting them too. A really really really awesome moment. And the Three Little Birdies Down Beats beat intro was quite the moment too. Anyone notice how MASSIVE the screen got at that point? Incredible.
HBHG key pressed. Here we go!!! I don't have anything to say about this that hasn't been said already. I love the new visuals, they're brilliant. Smashing tune! But I want to get to the real revelation here. Don't Think:
After seeing Don't Think live, I have made a groundbreaking discovery. Don't Think is not a song that The Chemical Brothers are actually playing live. No. Not at all. They are doing battle with it. This hellish, beautiful, demonic monster comes roaring uncontrollably and dangerously out of their synths. Tom and Ed are up there doing their best to keep it from escaping and killing everyone in attendence. Finding the channels that are bursting with evil energy and turning them down, before they explode in catastrophic disaster for everyone jamming. What does this battle between Chemical good and Chemical evil result in? It's the exact moment of complete Chemical transcendence. At this point, you have either completely surrendered to the void, fully pumped for anything and more thrown at you, or the entire ordeal is just too much for you to handle, and you're out of the program. A point I felt driven in by the scene with the tripping lady, she couldn't quite handle it... oh shi-GALACTIC PHASE SHIFT INTERLUDE!!! TOM AND ED LOST, THE DEMON'S FIRING SONIC DEATH ROUNDS INTO THE CROWD!!! HELP!!!!!
Thankfully, like a last minute hero out of nowhere, Out Of Control is brought in to rescue us all. I take back what I've said before, about OOC being dropped from the setlist. I am so wrong. It's a brilliant piece for live and should never get old. The visuals look great as usual, they seemed amplified by the massive screen. The mesh with Setting Sun is just perfection too. There's so much going on, it's overflowing. More glowsticks in the air. Awesome. I was singing right along with Galagher and to my delight, so was Tom! People might say that Setting Sun doesn't go long enough, but those people are basically wrong. It's just right, and just what it needs to be. Fantastic.
The pre-Saturate groove is on. Wait. We're over halfway through already?!? Impossible!! Now, a lot of the people are getting their clap on, and we've got ten or so dancers in the aisles. I'm partying my ass off in my seat myself. Screw my plan. People might think that these 2 minutes of boop boop transition are wasted space, but they're beautiful. This was one of the most joyful points of the film, watching the Fujirockers trip out to the bug projections and following the tiger as he roams the grounds... by the time the transition came to end the noise was harmonious, beautiful, concordant, wonderful. I fell in love, again, with the sound.
Saturate. Saturate saturate saturate. Saturate is a good song. I like it. I think that is a nice song to be played live, and I think that the visuals are decent. At least, that's what I thought before Don't Think. Now? Oh, WOW. I love Saturate, it's incredible live, and those visuals are fan-freaking-tastic. Like seeing the Roundhouse video of Chemical Beats, Saturate makes perfect sense to me now, and I'm seeing it in a while new light. At one point Ed and Tom stare at each other and make hand gestures preceding a build up. What a blast it would be to be a Chemical Brother! Oh boy, but when the Believe lyrics kicked in though... it went through the roof. Straight through it! And now Believe starts. Those drums at the start are superb enough to begin with, hell they could just keep that going for the whole of the track. But we know that's not happening. I don't need to tell anyone on this forum just how mindblowingly intense Believe live is. All I know is, I had goosebumps all the way from the start of the bwoo bwoo to the BWOO BWOO to that gigantic peak down to its slowly fading synths. Beauty in chaos, chaos in beauty.
I know there's an intermission here. This is my chance. Up in front are rows of empty seats. I went for it, ran down and sat myself down in the third row (probably pissed off the people behind me who had their feet up on the chair, sorry bout that if you're reading this!) just in time to hear Rising. Oh boy, those sounds. What a beautiful moment, wondering around Fuji Rock again with our tripping girl, watching people as Tom and Ed bring that synth down and up and down and up and down. Beautiful.
Escape. Velocity. That move to the front was possibly the best decision I have made in my entire life. Right now, I'm beyond transcendence. Whatever's beyond that. I don't know but that's where I was for those 20 final minutes of Chemical glory. EV is such a killer track to listen to, live or not. But to watch, now that is a treasure. To watch on a big screen, 20 feet away? You can't put a price on that. I took my glasses off (I don't need them anymore, I'm nearsighted!) and marvelled in awe at the dots swirling and surrounding and embracing me, at the face flying towards me, at the Japanese, every last one with hands in the air and feet off the ground. And then the tunnel... let's go back in time a year and a half, shall we?
WhiteNoise, on 26 June 2010 - 7:48 PM, said:
Escape Velocity is also the one I want to see most live. The tunnel scene, especially, that was my favorite part of the film, and on such a big screen, I can't imagine how immersive that would be.
This dream just came true. I had the biggest, stupidest, happiest grin on my face the second that tunnel popped in. It was awesomely immersive.
At the first breakdown, with just the notes, I closed my eyes and just listened to the brilliant sound. The visuals were the same as on Further, so I knew I wasn't missing much. I was in front of everyone in the theatre, and on a whim, I turned and looked back at everyone in the audence. Everyone was smiling, the few dancers were standing in the aisle, all faces bathed in rhythmically flashing blue lights. From the looks of it, I definitely was not the only one into it. Grinning massively I turned back to see our beloved dot man rising out from the bottom of the screen stretching and twisting and preparing to rock harder than any other night before. The face greets us again and BAM back into the immersion we go. Breakdown again, and this time, it's the crazy one. "hmmm. i was confused. for if i was dead, how and why, did i die." shouted I in time with Vocoded Wayne. I went out of my mind crazy on this one, mouth wide eyes wide and the beat returns, one last time, and I begin laughing from sheer exhiliration, sheer childish joy. My face hurt from smiling so much.
Superflash? Numero un. Oh boy oh boy, here comes studio quality unreleased material. Fruits and sirens and camera flashes, what a combo. I love the 'shots' of the crowd in time with the camera flashes, it was a brilliant idea. We've all raved about this new track, what's there new to say, but it was awesome, wasn't much different than other shows, and great to see in person, especially so close. Excellent excellent. Who was it, on the old WATN forum, who had a signature that said "Claiming so many children... Is a bad idea"? I was instantly reminded of that when we got to the cherub clowns and I laughed. Brilliant, bizarre, and just like Get Yourself High, people in the crowd were indeed perplexed. AND YOU ARE ALLL MY CHILDRREEEEEENNN NNNNOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Ohmmmmm. Ohmmmmm. The Ohm Sweet Ohm samples of Leave Home fade in from the echoes. Don't hold back! YES! I forgot about that, it's the Galvanize Leave Home mashup! I jammed like crazy and sang every word. And of course, the awesome Back Back Back buildup into our finisher...
Say, there's a glowstick on the ground over there.
Are you going to pick that up? Yes. Are you going to throw it? Absolutely.
Throw it I did, right as Block Rockin Beats smashed down on top of us. It was awesome. And I rocked the final minutes of the night away. The bassline began to trip up, skip up. We were treated to a rapid rewind of all the visuals. Happy as can be, I leaned back into my seat, letting it all wash over me. Claps from all over the theatre. When, oh, you didn't forget, did you? TOM AND HIS CAT! As a parting gift, we're treated to the baddest most intense Octave Cat performance I've ever heard. It was nothing short of excellent. Love Is All! Japan's flag was shown on stage, which was really cool, and we faded out to the credits. Icing on the cake was the special mix of Das Spiegal for the credits. Just brilliant.
So, in conclusion?
I no longer want to see The Chemical Brothers live. I need to see The Chemical Brothers live. And I know where I'm going. Straight to the front. Because I've just had the chance to see their whole show, every part of it, and appreciate all of its facets and all of its choreography and all of the timing and the talent and the technology. When I go see them, it will be to jam as hard as I can and be overwhelmed over and over and over and over. Hoping I can see this again on Feb 1st...
Anything else? I didn't notice Stumpbone's accident sadly, but I did hear one of the cleaners at the end mention finding a bottle of Daniels...
All in all, this was worth coming home at the four in the morning, waking up horribly, and sleeping through school for. Worth it a thousand times over. Thank you Tom, Ed, Adam, and every single person who made this happen. Thank you.
If you like the Chemical Brothers, you will love this film. If you like electronic music, you will love this film. If you like music, you will love this film. If you like Japanese people, you will love this film. If you like colored lights, you will love this film. If you like anything, you will love this film. Seriously. Period. Point made. The End.
MultiQuote
its such a powerful sound live! Thank you for your post!
Yep, it'll be beyond epic once I see them live for reals, expect quite the review!
