Thanx Mitzi!

Glad that your still going full throttle after the show!

Have anyone of you noticed the clown people walking all over the place? That was sort of kewl, wasn't it? I liked that kind of hommage.

There's not much left to say what Pooter hasn't already said about this gig.

Well it was a really great show in an absolutely magnificient venue, that's for sure.

But for those that couldn't attend by any reason I can calm you down a little. Because you've got to look at this gig from two perspectives. It sure was a really awesome gig if you look at it as a single show. If you never had been to any chems concert. You can call it a mindfuck or something similar to it. You got a crowd there which was imo the best audience I had seen for a while. So energetic, so full of life and love for the music, jumping, screaming, yelling... it was sort of special. And there was that venue which is incompareable to all the other ones they had been playing. It had that feel of underground, like those 'ol warehouse parties must have been back in the good 'ol ninetees. It was just mind blowing especially if you know the background story of that building and the relation to their music. At least for this reason, it was the best chems gig for a long long time. But if you looked at it as something special with extra supa dope surprises, unexpected things that would be about to happen , there almost wasn't. You know, that's nothing to moaning about if you're not naive enough to expect the chems doing something out of the concept. I think it's got to do with their visuals and stuff that makes them a little limited to do something off the cuff. Everythings is so great acting in sync with the music which probably leaves not enough space to do things on the fly. Hereby I mean adding extra tracks to the set (i couldn't understand why they hadn't been playing Hold Tight London as it would have gone with the place so well). Looks like these are two sides of the same coin. Perfection and freestyle.

I don't want to sound like I was disappointed - quite the opposite. It was a top notch night - possibly my greatest to date. Not to mention it was my birthday. And what could be better to celebrate it sweating and dancing at chems gig????????!!!! It was fucking madness! Me and a mate which bought me my tickets and turned out to be a really cool chap started dancing almost from the very first base drum that kicked in. It feels so right when all around you share the same love for the music, We headed a little deeper into the audience to catch more of the vibe that was going on there. Approaching somewhere in the middle we sterted dancing again and commented on things the music gave us reasons for (you know, a bleep here and there and you go crazy. yelling "yyyeeeeaahhh" or "hhhhiiieeha"). This must had been a reason why some black males three or more times stopped by showing me some weird pills for what I didn't know the reason :lol:. It was a bizarre moment when one of these guys bumped into us once again and the Pills won't help you know were on. I laughed at him and wanted to tell him he was on the wrong track but oh well... Loved that moment. The track was just beautiful in every single way. Visuals, sound effects, that new sound they brought in to it since the last (2?) shows, the beat!!!!! Just everything. It gave you a short time to hold on and take a deep breath, something we were in dire need. Or at least me ;-) (you know, exploring the city beforehand and a chems gig afterwards are fatal for your feet).

What really was memorable this night were their fun for tweaking and playing around with their gear. It was fun noticing new or changed sounds and stuff. If I'm not mistaken Tom did his kitten think 2 or three times?! Simply great. Grinning was my companion all night long.

But the most special moment for me must be the sunshine underground. You know, right before any hint for it was given they were playing block rockin' beats which merged into that well known octave kitten noise and I thought to myself, "well, that's it". And even the Love is All text were shown on the screens that seemed to prove my instincts. Or not? And why was this blue color flling all the screen when the text vanished? No! I couldn't believe it! They were messing around with us. And while I was thinking that white dust started to sparkle into the void and a sweet sound of a sitar (is it one anyway?) came in. That was such an euphoric moment that words are incapable of discribing it. Such a rush! Everything felt warm and fuzzy. What a great closer to end a fucking great night.

There's no doubt that it will always remain in my mind - that trip, that show, that gift, those people.

Thank you Ed and Tom, Tom and Ed. Thanks for making such great music which allow me and others to swim on an ocean of accustic waves of any kind.

I hope you'll always keep on doing what you're doing as long as it's possible and never give up making music. I dare to say chemials are an enrichment to music industry ;).

And yeah, keep on messing around with our minds and expectations (on live shows as well ;-) )

cheers, J

it's a little late, so please have regards for my grammar.

Aww, Csar, that was lovely. :)

Best gig ever? Haha, don't make me laugh...

For me it was Paradiso, Holland 1997, just basics, not too much visuals, just dancing you ass off!!!

thanks for all the reviews. it was my 2nd chems live experience and I have to say that even the 2nd still feels like a mind f as csar said. I don't know how you all are able to keep track of the setlist, etc..Definitely the sunshine underground was the most memorable moment for me. I arrived around 6 and went through the line. A girl in front of me was getting questioned about the magnesium pills she brought in...she was trying to explain their purpose...haha...it was funny seeing the security react to the explanation but it worked out in the end. Then I actually sort of slipped through security and got inside and took some photos of Olympia while it was still very empty. What an amazing place. I txtd my friend that it looked like a airplane hangar or something and then the next day I was @ paddington station which looked quite similar though a bit larger ;-). Anyway then I saw this odd couple there. They were all dressed up like they were going to a poncy restaurant or something and I thought to myself: what teh f are these peoples doing here?? Luckily I didn't see them again during the night. I have a photo of them on my phone but I dunno where to post it. Maybe flickr. I was about 1/2 up just in front of the sound station area or whatever it is called. I posted up there early in the night and decided that that was going to be my spot. The crowd was just incredible. So amazing to see so many enthusiastic people condensed into that spot. I also appreciated the clown makeup'd dudes. I also saw this dude dressed up like a HL style joker outside while I was waiting to get in. He had a bot of champagne in his hand as he walked down the street. I didn't see him inside Olympia though. Anyway, I have spent the last days thinking about this great memory. Thanks a lot Tom & Ed and everyone else.

Here's a pic I've taken a couple of minutes after the show and my successful and patient grabbing for my lithography.

[addimage]http://img230.images...g4354li5.th.jpg[/URL][/addimage]

And here one of the "clowns" there:

[addimage]http://img115.images...g4355by1.th.jpg[/addimage]

Hope he don't mind but if so, give us a shout and we'll delet it.

excellent reviews :D

bit late coming in to this one, so ill give my tupppence worth in essential 'uppers' and 'downers' format:

THE GOOD

quality venue - i worried it might be a bit too packed/cavernous but actually considering there were 10,000 people in attendance there was loads of room to dance and it felt more intimate than brixton

visuals in widescreen - not enough room to extend the mega-screen vertically so it went horizontal instead - robots in widescreen-techniclour! wah!

the set - no suprises, but it still amazes me how tight it is

musical highlights - the build up to believe - jeses christ its like taking off on a jet plane through a wind tunnel whilst sitting in a washing machine. fucking awesome. the sunshine underground. dont fight it feel it/OOC

raving with all my mates, with a special shout to mad pooter and alexis who made it all the way from the states. from the state of their post gig glint i think its safe to assume they had an amazing time - in fact mad pooters review says so ;)

my kate gibb lithograph :D number 80 of 500

THE BAD

some knob stod behind me actually had a go at me for dancing. then stod there with his arms folded looking hacked off for the rest of the gig. your seeing the chems, shake ur booty, christ its not like i was moshing. EXIT.

finding my mates after taking a piss - always obstacle fuelled.

various essential members of the clan who should have been there but couldnt make it for various reasons missing. this includes the dutch contingent ;) and not meeting csar! dman man, knew i should have got your number

THE UGLY

wobbly jaw action on kensington high street, in particular my mate asking a copper for directions - put that jaw away in front of an officer of the law sunshine!!!

love is all

x

Hell ya, I was totally pissed by the fact I screwed up Pooters number somehow, otherwise we probably had met there. Too unfortunate, brain dead from nine to five, you know..

But the good things is, the last evening before we left, some cuties picked me up near Londoneye and I had at least a nice convo with some real Londoners. Did I mention how hard it can be ordering a damn hamburger at mcdonalds because of the british accent? Loving it but it's kinda hard to understand sometimes. Eventually realized the more u talk, the better it gets :lol:. You London people are a bunch of friendly folks.

As for the dutch contingent, was there anyone in the last waggon at the last door? Man, the train was frigging packed.

Yes! This thread could do with some pictures to accompany the great reviews. siphilon, if you could upload your pics to flickr or photobucket (or other imagehosting site) - that would be kind of you!

Somehow my posted pics above were screwed up.

Didn't take much pics that night because my mission was dancing in the first place.

here's the venue from inside again, couple of mins after the lights turned on:

http://img245.images...=img4354mf8.jpg

and the clown guy I met there:

http://img228.images...=img4355pp7.jpg

and the venue from outside - sunshine underground view:

http://img166.images...=img4357id7.jpg

Okay, here are my photos. they're crap but slightly better than nothing...at least the preliminary photos are in focus but once the show started it was a bit difficult to have a steady hand.

http://s260.photobuc...2008%2030%2008/

Awesome pics guys! Olympia looks looks sooooo tight! Acidclown guy looks sad...

didnt somebody say they were gonna do the pose like the front cover of the Surrender album? wherchuat?

Was anybody involved in the big line of people arms round eachother during surface to air?

It stretched across the middle about 10-15 rows back and lasted for a fair bit of the song.

Me and my 3 mates started it and i just wondered how long it actually ended up cos at the time it seemed pretty long! :D

x

Awww... Jesus... Amazing!!

I was more near the front.

@BenJ - Thanks for your review. Smiles all around, man.

I do hope a recording of the show turns up...

sad i missed this show, the venue looks awesome. kinda from what I gathered it was the shape of the SF show only much larger? kinda a rectangular shape, eh? am I remotely right pooter?

Remotely, you're correct, actually. Warehousey feel, although Olympia is larger.

Great times.

Thankx to all for the reviews, from the looks of it, the Olympia looks kind of small, but I guess I had to be there to see how really big it is. And not to compare to other venues but sometimes smaller is better!

Thanks Siph for the pics bro, and Csar for your 'aftermath' pic! As for those Chemical Clowns, they may have influence me to put on the 'Flatnose' at the next show, but those guys were instant celebs. Imagine all the 'can you take my picture with the clown' requests!

Before all the memories vanish in the haze, does anyone of you, that were there, know what the last tune was that was being played by the dj? It was some kind of breakbeat/acid. I think know it but can't nail down it's name. Some help is highly appreciated.

It this one I'm looking for:

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=iMQQcxFvkFM

Reflex Feat MC Viper - 'Put Your Hands Up'

been talked about on here many times. he's been dropping that on every chems tour since 'come with us'