I took my son to the show for his 13th birthday and it was just amazing. I loved Ladytron, and the chems put on a fabulous show. The beer was disgusting, but got me nice and toasty. The venue was great. I love outdoor shows!

Hey Krystaluma, glad to see you had a great time at the fabulous show. A shame about the beer! How'd your son like the show?

Hammerstein was the better of the two night in my opinion. I thought the sound was much better there, but I always like it loud.

Hammerstein was the best I have seen the Chems.....and I have seen them play to a crowd of about 1200 in a small intimate setting.

The Park Pool was pretty cool, but you couldn't feel the basslines like you could at the ballroom and that makes a difference to me. : ) I wasn't too happy with the beer selection as well.

I scored one of the giant tour posters too!!

souphead, did u take the posters off from underneath the arched entrance? I was planning to take those but didn't act fast enough! lol I took both from behind the table where they did the t-shirt prints

Ok, I wanted to take the time to write a huge review, because this show deserves it!

First off, the gig. They played at McCarren Pool in Brooklyn, NY. It wasn't too hard to find once we got help from a man inside a little convenience store. New Yorkers are nice on the street but really mean in their cars :) When we finally arrived, we could peek through the gate at the front of the place and we saw them testing out the giant screen.... that's when my excitement level started going through the roof.

On to the concert! The Rub and Ladytron opened for them. I'm not going to go into great detail about their performances, because I really don't care. I'm not a fan of either, I don't know their music, I don't care. BRING ON THE CHEMS!

Intro(No Path to Follow) - Excitement reaching dangerous levels! Chance of heart attack - 95 percent. Somehow, I lived to write this review. I really can't tell you how.

Galvanize - BOOM! What an opener huh? This was my chance to figure the audience and the Brothers out. Here is the conclusion I came to - the audience pretty much sucked. There were pockets of people who were really into it, but most just kinda stood there... wouldn't sing along, wouldn't even clap. When the bass to Galvanize hit, I started jumping like crazy, but then it hit me... I was the only one jumping! What the hell? One person behind me got mad when I bumped into him. Another girl complained about my arms over her head and she couldn't hear the music because I was singing along. Uhhh... if you wanted to hear music, you coulda saved 50 bucks and stayed at home listening to CDs. But, to be honest, the crowd never really affected me that much. Me and my girlfriend Amy were too into it to care at all.

As for the Brothers - I could tell that Tom was having a great time. With Ed.... you can't get a good read on him. He looked pretty much the same as he did at their self-proclaimed "best show ever" Glastonbury... just looked kinda tired. I could never figure out what was happening with him. I hope he had a good time.

Burst Generator sounded amazing, Do It Again took the bass to a whole new level, but Hey Boy Hey Girl was what finally warmed up the stiff crowd. But I was seriously shocked to only hear a few other people singing along. Had anyone there even HEARD of the Chems when they bought a ticket? I remember going to a Prodigy gig in DC, everyone was jumping and going nuts and every single person sang along... Why was this so different? Oh well, if Ed reads this

- PLAY A GIG IN DC THE NEXT TIME YOU TOUR THE U.S.! PRETTY PLEASE??? -

Don't Fight Control sounded way better than I thought it would. From the youtube videos, I thought it sounded boring, but it was far from it. One of my highlights from the show actually. So much energy there. Star Guitar was beautiful... Surface to Air was even MORE beautiful, and then came the giant robots... How I love those robots.

This is about the point when a group of guys next to me started really getting into it. I think my pure insanity, yelling, and flailing was infectious. They started saying how cool the little balls on Saturate were. I told them "Just wait till those fucking things explode." And when they did... we formed an instant bond. I can't explain it any better than that.

Believe had such a massive build-up... it was incredible. As far as the music part goes, We Are The Night sounded the best to me. It sounded more badass than ever before. My newly-awakened buddies next to me were getting down. Now, I'm not sure about the order here, but I think Golden Path came next. I'm a type of person that reeeeally gets into music, especially live, so I had no doubts that one or more of the beautiful songs would make me cry. I thought for sure it'd be Surface to Air, but I was proven wrong. When that "Pleeeeeeease forgive me" blasted out of the speakers, tears instantly rolled down my cheek. That is one moment I will never forget. Chemical Beats was so old-school and awesome as always...

Then the encore, a round full of surprises for me, because I've intentionally stayed away from any gig reviews lately so that part of it would be a surprise to me. Leave Home/Block Rockin Beats..... are you kidding me?? That combo was a BEAST! A lot more people were warmed up at this point, but I still wanted to kick a few of them in the ass to get them moving.

Then the biggest surprise - Modern Midnight Conversation! Sounded fantastic live. I was on cloud 9 already after Block Rockin Beats, so I was feeling pure love by this song. I had to let the brothers know, so I made a heart with my hands and held it there for most of the song. I think Ed saw me, he smirked at one point.

Then it wrapped up with Sunshine Underground of course. What can I say about this song that hasn't been said before? It's an incredible closer. Tom raped the Octave Kitten at the end and I yelled until they were both out of sight. What a night...

Most of you have probably seen them live so I know I can't provide much new information or relate new feelings to you, but there is something I would like to share. I am so glad someone took a picture of this, because this image has been permanently seared into my brain with nearly all of my senses.

http://www.flickr.co...157602122161430

I've never been so happy.

Hi Gillenium - thank you so much for the wonderful review. I wouldn't take the Ed thing too personally, maybe he was just in need of a cigarette. :) Or maybe was was tired and jet lagged.

Anyway - the feelings you relayed here really hit home in a lot of ways, especially how you were affected by The Golden Path. That song is always a beautiful moment and I think it's quite a profound thing to read how it connected with you in a live setting. (and for the record, I totally relate!!)

Better yet is you got to spread your enthusiasm to those around you. It's a shame the crowd in surrounding areas wasn't as into it as you, but as long as you and Amy had the time of your lives, then that's all that matters in the end.

You saying you've never been so happy pretty much tells it all. Enjoy the afterglow! :)

Oh and souphead, when you've recovered enough - I'd love to read more on your time at the gigs. You must've been in heaven after waiting for the Chems for so long.

mario.....yes, I got one of the posters from the arched entrance. lol! It was a pain in the ass to hold that thing during the concert, on the subway, walking around in NYC and on the plane trip home, but it was worth it.

Certainly just guessing here, but I am willing to bet that I have the only Chemical Brothers poster that has been to the top of the Empire State Building. haha

whirly.......it was one of the best weekends of my life....and it might take a few days to recover. I will give more info, pics and video links when I get a chance. : )

Thesouphead... I am so glad you had such a wonderful weekend. :) After the long wait and for sticking it out with the Chemical Brothers all these years, I think you really deserved this. A long time comin'. Your wife is a great woman to give you the surprise gift of a trip to NY to see the Chems. Did she enjoy the shows?

Can't wait til you recover. I'm excited to read all about it!

gillenium, nice review... I wished I would of met you on saturday, I had that same energy and emotions as you. I was all the way in the back because I chose to be... and everyone back there was just standing (or sitting!?!?) with the exception of the raver kids jumping around in their own little world.

Souphead, LMFAO!!! U ass! I was planning to take those because they had the duct tape in the back and were easier to remove! lol it's ok I got my hands on 2... It really was a pain carrying it everywhere...I had it rolled up and recycled some tape to hold it closed.

I'm glad you enjoyed yourself! Come to NYC again soon!

I actually looked for you a couple times, mario. I remember you posting in a thread like "Look for this guy in my sig" so I did. Since you stood in the back, that explains why I never saw you. I was up front :) I gotta be up front. If I would be allowed to stand up against the Brother's main mixing station, I'd do it.

hehe, I'm with u on that! Well I was all the way up front at Hammerstein the night before and decided to experience the brooklyn show from another angle even though it looked very tempting to join the madness up front!

How did your NYC visit in general went? There are so many things to do and see it's crazy!

Well, going from West Virginia to New York is pretty jarring (so is going back). I felt overwhelmed the whole time I was there. Driving is nerve-racking. I was so happy that I got yelled at by a New Yorker though when I was in the E-Z Pass lane by mistake. This guy goes "Hey! Move it, asshole!!" It made me giggle. I had some kickass pizza in Queens, but I didn't get a chance to do much else. I didn't want to risk being late for the show.

hahaha, I can't believe you drove all the way from west virginia to see the chems! HARDCORE! Yeah, one can easily block off the e-z pass lanes if not paying attention / never driven through the area before. I'm always in NYC, it's one of my favorite places to be.

I'm actually taking a train to 14th street tonight after work so I can spend some time practicing in the studio (dj/music production/recording school) til midnight before I go back home! And there's always a party going on at any given day of the week!

Oh man, I love New York. I've nothing but happy memories of fun and interesting times. What I love about NY is that there's always something going on around you, and it makes you feel insignificant yet at the same time a part of something much larger. A great metropolis. I haven't been there in ages, since 1991 where I spent 2 weeks visiting over the Christmas/New Years holiday. I was 19 at the time so I couldn't go to clubs, but I had no trouble getting served drinks at the shady little bars. I'd love to go back there some day and see all that's changed and all that's stayed the same. One day...

Check this out:

http://laist.com/200...chemical_br.php

This especially caught my attention:

"This is the Hacienda crew from LA, they're on the whole tour doing t-shirts at the show as well as filming a documentary of the tour, very nice fellows to boot"

hmmm! I remember that guy (in the pic) from when we got our t-shirts inked! They took our pics. But holy moly - a documentary?!?!

Edit - so I went and checked the Hacienda website and came across some of the pictures taken at the inking stations. Are any of you in there? ;)

http://flickr.com/ph.../haciendaprints

haha i saw andy!

Aw man Hammerstein Ballroom was rocking!!! I'm never gonna forget it!

Yeah, I remember those guys too! I got my Block Rockin Beats silk screened on my shirt and they were the ones I asked if I could take home the tour posters after they were done! Very cool people, I'm looking forward for the documentary!

a doco! sweet!