It's 4:40 a.m., and I'm not yet asleep. The show was, to say the least, immense.

My girlfriend and two of her friends met up with one of my friends from my hometown at Neumo's in Seattle, a small club with a GREAT soundsystem. Mmmm, you could definitely feel the bass vibrate through your entire BEING.

We got to the venue and I ended up with two extra tickets--I got to sell one for twenty and one for fifteen. I wasn't interested in trying to get a markup on my tickets for the sold-out show, I was just interested in getting the quickest possible cash for two tickets I wasn't going to give to anyone else. Plus I don't normally like to scalp. And the fact that I've helped organize people getting to this show because I think it has educational life value, trying to get more money than face value would be contradictory.

The venue has a mezzanine level with a very large dance floor down below. I stopped off at the bar to get a Red Bull, which would be used to down the small white capsule of powder. It went down easily.

We had gotten there about 10:15, probably just after Nordic Soul (a dj who I've never heard of before tonight) started his set.

He.

Fucking.

Killed it.

The energy that he put into his drops and spins were on part with what Simian Mobile Disco brought in terms of energy, though SMD did go above and beyond, as I would expect them to. The he got everyone in the room slamming to some good acid house and electro, and I would have been reeling except he went into a lot of down tempo near the end of his set. Possibly he was trying to tone it down before Simian Mobile Disco came on, but I thought that the first half of his set slayed everyone, while the second half put everyone to sleep.

Then came time for the set change. The lights were tested, LCD dots blinked, the crowd cheered at the hints of the show. And then they came out, and I heard not Sleep Deprivation, but rather Synthesize! I thought that they were going to continue opening with Sleep Depriation, seeing how it's an AMAZING track to open with, but Synthsize did a good job of getting the crowd going.

Durnk folk are a chore to deal with sometimes. I had to box my elbows to keep away some sloppy ones who were intruding on the dancing space being inhabited by me, my girlfirned and her two friends.

Then they moved on to other new tracks, and I was a little disappointed, only because I didn't know the territory.

But I kept grooving. They were still tearing it up, and I got to hear them perform their track they did for Nike+Run, which wasn't my favorite, but I think they could possibly take most any trac, do it live, and find some way to make it slam.

As we made our way through the 1/3 point in the set, they stopped everything and started belting out the lyrics from I Believe. I thought--wow, they've completely restructured their set.

Unforunately, the new music wasn't hitting quite as hard as I would have liked, but MAN the place went OFF for Hustler, System and Tits & Acid. (I'll upload the crappy digital video cam footage I took of Hustler tomorrow.)

I lost my voice screaming at the top of my lungs when System peaked. It was amazing, all I could do was shout "GOD DAMN" at the top of my lungs, and sure enough, my voice was thrown out for about an hour.

But that was a good thing. It was a great thing. It was immense and immeasurable. It was part psychotic and part chaos. Being there to journey from the structure of Tits & Acid to a cacophony of noise was reminiscent, of course, to the Chems taking off at the end on the Kitten. But man, they pounded, drove, and tweaked their hearts out for a full three to four minutes at the end.

Then, awkwardly, they just walked off, leaving their equipment in mid-loop. They barely gave a wave or two to the audience before jumping off stage. It was abrupt and unexpected, and I think it left the audience with a bit of confusion. Like, "that was it?" Not that they expected more, I guess, just a proper end tot he show where the audience recognizes "face to face," so to speak, the artist or artists performance. That exhange wasn't to be had, for whatever reason.

I'll see if that happens again on Sunday--I hope not, but if that[s their style, then so be it.

Partial tracklisting (to the best of my knowledge):

Synthesize

Sleep Deprivation

[new track]

10,000 Horses Can't Be Wrong

It's the Beat

Nike+Run track

I Believe

[new track]

Simple

Magick (SMD Remix)

Hustler

[encore]

[new track]

System

Tits & Acid

My favorite moments were Hustler, Tits & Acid, but first and foremost was System. God... that song goes off.

lots of love for ya, mates

-pooter

(a.k.a. andy)

I must say I'm not a fan of Synthesize or 10,000 horses. They just don't have that much energy...

I LOVE System as well! I haven't heard a good live performance of it though. The release on iTunes was only 1:37 long, which was completely ridiculous compared to the epic official release.

Can't wait to hear your review on the second show!

Basically, the release on iTunes wasn't -really- System, if I remember correctly. I think it was actually just a continuation of It's the Beat, which was them just kind of fucking around with whatever they had going on during the song at the end for a few minutes.

I'm not a huge fan of what I've heard from 10,000 Horses, and there wasn't a whole lot going for it live. I do enjoy Synthesize, however, and I thought it made a great transition to their live set. Although, I think Sleep Deprivation was a better opener.

And yet again, I saw Simian Mobile Disco. I suppose this one needs a bit of an intro.

MDMA is a very, very interesting drug. It reacts differently with different people, whether it actually "works" depends on where one is with one's life, and how much one takes isn't exactly directly proportional to how one feels while on it.

I took more MDMA at the Friday show than tonight's show, yet somehow I am rolling harder than I was on Friday. I don't understand that, but it is not for me to understand.

The setlist was the same tonight as it was on Friday, yet I was happy to enjoy the moments where I could tell they were completely experimenting with the set. Simian Mobile Disco's most outstanding talent is their ability to play around with their music on stage; they don't have absolute fixed structures, and it's evident how they manage to tweak things here and there to create some OUTSTANDING moments. They are fearless, in that they are not afraid to try something even though it doesn't work, and that's where they manage to reach absolutely insane, crazy moments. Their spontaneity is key, and it, I think, is what makes their show a complete success.

A friend of mine who went with me tonight had the observation just as I did the first time I saw them: they know how to use silence better than anyone else out there. They know how to work the crowd, get them into a frenzy, draw energy from them and get them to absolutely groove their asses off. It was interesting how they managed to reach moments where they weren't playing anything the crowd recognized, yet they were cheering as one because everyone was moving as one. Absolutely commendable.

What made this show a success for me was that somehow, I invited my girlfriend's dad along with me. He's 61 years old. Recently, he took a trip to Brazil to do some energy work with a very talented surgeon. It's some other-worldly stuff, and if I start talking about it you might get a little freaked out, actually. But somehow, the energy work he was describing to me seemed to make sense in context with the show. I asked him if he wanted to come along with the understanding that I would show him some music.

I put on Tits & Acid, and he said, "absolutely." He had an amazing time.

I love that the show was able to reach everyone, and that it spread so far in the audience. It didn't reach all of my friends that were there, but it reached the ones who were in the right place.

I look forward to what SMD does next.

Awesome show, Tit's & Acid encore was amazing. hell the whole show was amazing. really good energy, and it seems like they more build/tear and over lap a lot of their songs. My girlfriend and I were on the second level as close to the stage as possible, first time I had been to an electronic concert and not been squished in. so that was fun. can't wait for the new album. Pooter, sorry I didn't get more time to kick it with you but I'm sure we'll be seeing another show in the near future!

awww no Animal House?

no, can't say that's my favorite live track though (from listening to the Japan live). I was really hoping they'd play clock, but no dice. lotta new love though

They didn't play Clock, and that made me a saaaaaad panda.

so it seems like the set was a bit different cause i recall the nike+run track followed sleep deprivation. it wasn't bad, but the strobe lights for that were great, -dududududu!dududududu!dududududu!dududududu!

I wouldn't be surprised if this was the case. I'm sure they're fucking around with the order to see what sounds the best.

And further lamenting on them not playing Clock--the segue from Clock to It's the Beat was one of the best I have ever heard. Ever.

yeah, just got some more life smd, clock would've been nang!

do you have any of their recording from this year? I cannot find anything since late 2008 and I want a set with the new stuff.

I think that the audience wasn't into the new stuff yet because the album isn't out yet. people have had time to grow and live stuff from their first albums and know it the first second it starts playing live, but their new stuff it gets kinda confusing whether it's a new track or part of another one. I am really looking forward to it!

I've only come across a -really- bad recording of a set they did in Glasgow of December which had Synthesize in it, but nothing else new.

And yeah, the new material is cool, but not knowing what it was kind of took a bit away from completely getting into it. I dug the new stuff a bit more the second time hearing it.

hmm, if you could send me that, i might be able to remaster it and cut noises and w00ts, no pressure though. but their live stuff is total eargasm for live electro junkies like me..

I've been promoting the Chicago show like crazy to anyone and everyone I talk to about music over here, but nobody wants to believe me. And on top of it it's only $15 !

Blah, totally terrible scheduling during Coachella weekend though

Biff you dont like animal house live? really? Hmmm...

Check out the Live at the Electric Picnic (thank to poots for hooking me up with this!) recording with the intro of Sleep Deprivation into Animal House

Tastyness

yeah, i heard the japan one with that segue, just didn't do it for me... I feel like sleep deprevation sould be followed with an equal or even more heavy track, and animal house seems a bit more mellow. but i do like the track.

btw pooter is the recording you are talking about the sub club scotland gig? i just got that and it has synthesize on it, which is awesome. good quality, although mono, but has clock!

ah, I see. I think I like the lighter exchange afterwards cause it highlights Sleep Deprivation more.

Yes, the Sub Club Scotland gig is, indeed, what I was talking about.

And yeah... when I heard Clock on that gig I was sure they were going to play it on their shows here. :-(

I really do -love- that track live.

@Bosco: I got 5 people to go to the show in Seattle because, like you pointed out, I said "It's fifteen bucks, dude! That's not even dinner at a nice restaurant. This is the deal of a fucking LIFETIME."

That seemed to get the point across, and they went. :D

simple seems like a good transition from sleep deprivation, imo, but i think animal house would be good after simple, hmm... i got a fantasy smd set here.