Last night I went to the Chems gig in Oakland. And now that I think about it some more, it wasn't somewhat disasterous, it was massively fucking disasterous. If too many more gigs go like this, they'll never fucking set foot on US soil again. What went wrong? Nothing with the Chems' actual performance - that was absolutely fantastic. Markedly more explorative and improvisational than the last three times I saw them. The new visuals and lights are very impressive. Really, the problem was that the show had the worst audience response I've ever seen since a friend of mine played guitar in out high-school talent show...



The Chems were actually opening for New Order, which concerned me. I was worried abouth the set being cut short, and I was also concerned about there being too many New Order fans and not enough Chems fans. My worst fears were realized...



When I got to the concert, it looked like most of the people were there for New Order. Up by the stage, there wasn't much crowding, and the place was very slow to fill. It was barely half-filled by the time the Chems came on. I was ecstatic to see 'em, but it didn't seem like much of the rest of the crowd was. Occasionally it felt like I was one of, oh, 40 people cheering. Shortly into their set, I saw a good-sized flock of middle-aged, washed-up, were-hipsters-in-the-80s types wearing New Order Shirts from past tours rush away from the stage.



When the Chems started playing the sound was noticably quiet. That massive bass hit from HBHG that I remembered from the '99 tour just wasn't there. There must've been a problem with the sound system. This made it difficult to really "connect" with the performance. The fuckheads next to me constantly going too and from to get more beer and meanwhile absentmindedly waving lit cigarretes very close to my fiance's face also made it difficult to enjoy the show. The sound problems were eventually rectified; by the time they for to the Big Jump the sound was at a more Chems-appropriate level. However, the crowd was still very much dead.



Throughout the rest of the concert, Tom or Ed would do their whole awkward arm-raising, attempting to pump-up-the crowd thing, and people just didn't respond. The half-enthusiastic attempts of people to try and seem excited quickly faded as the set went on and the New Order fans became impatient. Pretty soon the Chems were noticably irked, but they kept trying to connect with the crowd. Eventually, Ed came out to the end of the stage, started to raise his hand, and then dropped it before it was even halfway up, turned around, walked back to the synths, and did an awkward little dance to shake off the embarassment. It was really quite shocking. Tom started feigning hurt that the audience wasn't responding.



Perhaps the most embarassing moment came when they finally played Acid Children. As the song started, Tom and Ed turned to the audience expecting the typical excitement and adoration in response to their massive, dark, acid stormer. They raised their hands, that A Nightmare on Elmstreet 2 sample played, and I cheered in response. Everyone else looked as if they had no idea what to do, and were at this point really just politely awaiting the "real" act, New Order.



By the time the Golden Path came, it really seemed like the Chems were just going through the motions, trying to get to the end of the set and get off stage, away from these inhostitable, closed-minded fucknuts of concert-goers. They stopped attempting to "pump the crowd," realizing that it would just result in an embarassing moment for them. At the end of Elektrobank, Tom went over to the Octave Kitten and started up the squelching-synth outro that signals the end of the set. No, encore, no TPPR. But really, I wasn't upset this time, as I had been at Coachella '02. This crowd didn't deserve an encore. To have them play TPPR and have the audience just sit there limp, being too cool to enjoy a band with which they are unfamiliar, would have been heartbreaking. The synth-squelch outro lasted, oh, at most 30 seconds, compared to the usual 90 seconds. After Tom set down the synth, he walked up behind Ed, who was facing the audience with arms raised, whispered in his ear, and rushed off stage, not acknowledging the corpse of an audience. Shortly afterwards, after the brief, barely-polite, "yay, now we can see New Order" cheers had subsided, Ed walked off stage.



Really, it was very, well, sad. When I'd seen the Chems in the '99 and to a lesser degree, '02, they were in their element. The venues were filled with excited fans and the entire audiences were transported together on the fantastic trip that is a Chems performance. At these performances, the Chems were excited and stimulated, drinking up the adoration of the fans. Just look at the video clips on the Singles DVD... This time their body language, in response to the audience, was completely different - shoulders hunched, barely disguised discomfert... It was also simply shocking that they rushed off stage after the show. When I'd seen them in the past, they lingered long afterward, graciously bowing and thanking the fans.



After the Chems were done, I decided to leave. I had been moderately interested in seeing New Order. I mean, they're a tremendously influential band in dance music. However, after the way that crowd reacted to the Chems, I knew I wasn't going to be able to enjoy New Order. Plus, I'd only had three hours of sleep the night before and I faced a 90 minute drive to get home.



In the end, I was just disappointed that what was otherwise a spectacular performance was tainted by a fucking crappy audience. It was hard to achieve that natural high when everyone else around you is either, a) stiff as a board or b) sloppy drunk.



I was also very concerned about the effect that this performance might have on the Chems' future touring of the States. Right now they're already heasitant about touring the States, citing lackluster turnouts in '02. If '02's tour prompted them to hesitantly play but three dates here now, what will the outcome of last night's performance be? Will they ever come here again? And why should they if that's what they get here, while they can pack large venues in Europe, Asia, and Latin America?



I sincerely hope that the horribleness of last night was just a result of the New Order fans. I hope it was just "opening-act syndrome." I hope the Seattle gig went better, and that the Coachella gig achieves the full spititual mastery that that venue affords. I hope the Chems come back and get a good response from American fans. I hope electronic dance music isn't just dead in the U.S.





Anyway, here's a setlist and some commentary:



00 - TNK Intro

01 - HBHG

02 - Get Yourself High

03 - The Big Jump - Way more impressive than I'd expected

04 - Galvanize

05 - Music:Response

06 - Block Rockin' Beats

07 - Leave Home/Song to the Siren/breakbeat mash-up - this was definately cool. We need an official recording of this...

08 - Come Inside

09 - Under the Influence/It Doesn't Matter - Absolutely love this mash-up. Also love the robot visuals. Are the red robots new?

10 - Out of Control - no appearance from Bernard as various sources had suggested.

11 - Star Guitar - I wonder what the hell the stodgy old New Order fans thought of the Temptation riff...

12 - Surface to Air

13 - Hoops/EBW6 - bit of a different treatment than I'd heard before. The transition between the Hoops part and the EBW6 part was different and abrupt.

14 - Believe - A fucking stormer. Massively loud and the closest the Chems came to actually moving this stinking, rotting, fetid cadaver of an audience.

15 - Acid Children - A bit disappointing, actually. I dig the track but ultimately think it's overrated. It lacks a major movement and is therefore ultimately rather uncompelling. I hope they re-tool it in the future, 'cause it has lots of unrealized potential. As it stands now, I'd rather just have Setting Sun back...

16 - The Golden Path - Cool, but a bit strange following the ever so dark Acid Children.

17 - Elektrobank - very glad to finally hear this one live, even in abbreviated form.





P.S. Shortly after the doors opened, I just about ran into Ed while looking for a bathroom...

Hey!

first of all welcome to the board , i see you are quite new.

Second off all , thank you for this long post , altough i'd like to read sxomething else there , i feel bad for our brothers and for you.

The thing that makes the chems live shows so great to me is their energy. Asn you say , the body language you can see on the dvd. The way the crowd usually responds to them , and they responding back , is amazing , so much energy , when Tom puts his arms in the air and Ed is coming in front of the stage , well we all know how Tom and Ed response to a good crowd. That's on of the things that makes Chems shows so great.

It sucks to read that this happend to our brothers! offcourse , you can't alayys have a good show...but you can always see how happy they are with a good crowd and how much the appreciate it...i can imagine how they must have felt !!! And also i'm concerned you are right , with experience like this, their dislike of the U.S will get bigger and bigger , and i can't blame them ! It's just sucks for ya'll who live in the states.

Also Crotor , it sucks for you aswel ! You seem to are really into the brothers , it must have anoyed the shit out of you that the crowd was so lame. I hope you ever get the change to come to the U.K where i saw to Chems shows with a crowd that i can only discribe as " FANTASTIC " .

Last thing...if it would be the opposite , New Order supporting the Chems , it wouln't be such a disaster. I have the feeling 'we' are more open to other music , especially New Order , as they worked togheter and are good Friends and they come from Manchester. I think the Chem Fans would appreciate them !!!



Did you greet Ed When you walked into him ?!

8)



Peace!

the concerts depend on the crowd and sometimes you can be unlucky and be in one which is unappreciative and rotten . however sometimes you can get really great crowds you make the gig spectualar

I think it's a missed oppurtunity that Bernard Summer didn't do the vocals on Out of Control. If he had done that, that Chems gig would have got a lot of extra response from the crowd.

At least you enjoyed the gig. Those narrow minded New Order fans haven't got a clue what they're missing ;-)

Jeanie Escribi�:

Did you greet Ed When you walked into him ?!

8)



Peace!

Actually I didn't do anything. Took me a few seconds to recognize him out of context, and then I couldn't think of anything good to say. Then he was back through the door into the concert hall and heading backstage... Usually I tend to clam-up around celebrities because of a) being "star-struck" and b) out of respect. I think that not being able to walk around the venue a bit without being accosted by raving fans would get a little annoying.



Regarding New Order opening for the Chems vs. the Chems for New Order, I think that would've gone better. Seems like the younger crowd is always hip to the music of old, but why is it that the hipsters of the past become crotchety and closed minded when they get old? I hope that doesn't happen to me...



In the future, when my financial situation is better, I will seriously consider just seeing them in Europe. It'd definately be worth it to see them with a good, responsive crowd...

Aw, Crotor, big hugs to you man.



I am so sorry you were stuck with such a crappy audience. It was kind of like that in Los Angeles when they dj'd at Audiotistic, however in the bunch where I was we were totally going off and in our general vicinity the vibe was great - it was behind me where the action wasn't. But I could tell Tom and Ed weren't having the best of nights and the crowd didn't do much to help that. Don't think they'll be doing Audiotistic again and I wouldn't blame them for it.



What a disappointment not only to you and the few others that were cheering, but to Tom and Ed. They must've been so thrilled and so honored to open for New Order, them being such big fans n'all who've likely seen them a ton of times in the past. And then to have such a lame response from the crowd. It really makes me sad they had a not-so-good night...

Speaking for the "old audience", believe me there are still some of us out there that can appreciate the old and the new. I have seem the Chems several times, and I have also seen New Order back in the day several times. While an amazing, life changing band that created a legacy for all to try to measure up to (Blue Monday), they have always been a bit hit and miss, a bit dodgy live. Although I assume it would go against their status as veterans, but New Order opening for the Chemical Brothers would have been a much better gig in my opinion.



I suspected that might be the case, so I passed on the gig - that and two kids makes it a little tougher to get out and see bands these days, but please know there are some of us out there that love both bands and can live with one foot in the past, one foot in the present and one foot in the future.



Having seen probably hundreds of amazing gigs from the Clash to Underworld in the Bay Area, I hope this doesn't discourage the Chemical Brothers from coming here. They've always had good gigs here before.

there's a sweet Electrobank extended mix on their Dope Import. live rip.

erm...old arse New order fan here...and all I can say is that the ChemBros put on a jaw-dropping-fan-frigging-tastic set...



I can only speculate on why we weren't so energetic...for myself, I had already been up for 28 hours when the brothers came on stage, and the guy next to me lighting up a joint didn't help, since I'm allergic to the stuff...so it took all I could do to keep from getting sick...



so to be honest...between the ChemBros and NO...I think this was probably the finest concert I've ever been to...



and I loved the Temptation/Star Guitar thing...



I just wish the order would play the crowd the way the ChemBros do....

That is really cool to hear you enjoyed the Chems set. I like open minded people !! And i DONT like people that aren;t open for new music , like the people crotor described in his Post.

and one last thing...since Bernard didn't come out to do the vocals on Out of Control, between the two bands...why couldn't we get them doing Here To Stay????



I guess that's asking too much from New order!!!



grrrrrr!!!

daksfo and thieves like us, thanks for your reassuring posts. It's great to hear New Order fans are so receptive to what the Chemical Brothers are doing! :)

and it's nice to have some other bands' fans in here, as well :)

I was at this gig also....Frick I came all the way from Alberta to see this (I work for the airlines). I must agree with crotor....the crowd was not into the chems set......but the chems played an awesome show.....as usual. I felt like I was one of those 40 people who were actually into. I was pretty close to the front (about 5 feet from the barriers) and saw that only about a third of the people were into it and the rest their just being polite.



It was weird cause when I got there they had the Dj going (is it Holyrod still?) and I went to check out the setup at the mixing desk in the middle (I'm a sound freak). They had some of there visual playing silently on some small 5 inch screens. they had the mixing doors one, HBHG words one, and the come inside green playing. I also saw a laptop on top of the screens with the Hold Tight London Windows Desktop on (which would later come as a dissapointment).



The Dj was okay playing mostly deeper house stuff (Stuff I generally find hard to get into). I remembering trying to jockey my way up front and getting to the position where there was this fat guy standing right beside me (I mean LARGE!!!). For the time the Dj was playing I was ammussed by this teen who was dancing like some candy raver and this was his first 'rave' he had ever been to. either then that the most emotion you saw from the crowd was the typicall head bop or toe tap or sway side to side.



Chems started as usual with the TNK intro then onto HBHG then GYH which was good as always. As soon as Hey Boy Hey Girl started I noticed that most of the people weren't overlyenjoyed too see the chems play. Honestly I don't remeber the Big Jump that much. I remeber it was good but I do remeber galvanize afterwords. I was impressed by galvanize. It's a good song on the album and radio but I wasn't expecting much from the live version. It was played alot like GYH with only the main rap choruses and towards the end it sounded like they just let everything go haywire to 10 on volume and it felt like a massive headrush.



Music response loved as always. I still wonder where they got the the guys shooting each other visual from. BRB, LH, and CI were all as I expected. great. Under the influence I loved again. I want a live recording of that because the bassline is just so trippy. I love the blue robot visuals in the song also.Out of control I was really disapointed that Bernard didn't come up and sing. there was eve a mic right there on stage that could have easily been used for the song. When I was at Fuji Rock last year they brought up Tim Burgess to do Life is Sweet (another recording I want) and I know that they could have done OOC with bernard.



Temptation/Star guitar was great. that's still one of my favorite live tracks. especially just as the temptation part reaches its high and fades and then all thats left is the guitar for star guitar.



Surface to air I remeber as being a good live track last summer but this year they really upped it up by including the distaorted vocal sample thats on the album version. Hoops/EBW6 I still love to this day live but I was disapointed. They had the hoops vocal sample right at the start but took out the acoustic guitar sample (who says there's no good guitar solos in electronic music) that they had been using last year.



Beleive was another overload of the senses. Loved it. cherished it. tottaly got lost in it. I still like acid children even though it didn't seem like anyone else around me knew what the song was since it wasn't released as a single. they should have had setting sun but they went straight into golden path. which was good. elektrobank ending was good but I'm still hoping one day they take the one part of the song where they use there car horn sample (I don't know exactly what it is) and crazy pan it left to right through the speakers.



as soon as they walked of stage I was extremely upset as the rodies immediatly set up for New Order. I so wanted to see what Hold Tight London was like and thought that TPPR could have brought some life back into the crowd. That is there best song live and always will be imo. but yah the crowd was more there for New Order.



As soon as tyhe chems got off stage there was a massive flux of people moving towards the stage. I ending up getting closer with the rest of the crowd. New Order came on after a half hour set up at about 10 PM. as soon as they came out Bernard thanked the chems for an awesome set and said that he really amired them (If you really did then you should have come up and sang with them on OOC). They started by commenting on Ian curtis and played She's lost control from their Joy division days. after that I don't remember too much of the exact playlist. I remeber a guy kept screaming them to play their new single Jetstream lover. when they played it about four songs in the guy kept singing in an off tone the main chorus line. after that I remeber they played Krafty but....I was a little distracted at the time. Let me just say that if anybody knows the girl with the brunette hair who lived in san fran had the red short sleeved shirt with white dots on it and who had a friend with black hair tagging along....TELL ME!!! I know its a long shot but hey it's worth a try.



from the rest of the NO set I remeber that they played



Hey Now what You Doing

Wating for the Sirens Call (both from their new album)

Temptation

Bizzare Love Triangle

Tru Faith

Crystal

Love will tear us apart

Transmission

and Blue Monday as a encore (even though you could see so much pain in Bernards face as he sang the song. thinking about Ian probably)



the rest I can't remeber at the time. The NO set was really a different contrast comparde to the chems set as all the old guys were really into the set. Afterwards I did here from almost everyone that the show rocked but I was unsure of which part people were talking about since they were all talking about different parts. As I walked back to my hotel I just remeber my legs felt so sore since before the show I had bassically walked all along San francico all day and did the tourist thing.



Overall both sets were great (especially the NO set *nudge nudge*) but the crow d was really there for NO only. I might consider seeing the Chems in the states again if they play solo but I'd rather see them play here in canada (which wiil probably only happen in toronto) or back in Asia where the fans there were off the top last time I saw them there play at Fuji Rock. New order I'll see them again this summer when I go back to japan (just hopefully it's as....exciting)

Rynostar Escribi�:

It was weird cause when I got there they had the Dj going (is it Holyrod still?)

Nope. It was Hernan Cattaneo. Only found that out afterwards though... I wish the opening DJs for shows were better advertized.



Glad to hear that the New Order set was good and that Bernard gave a little shout-out to the Chems. I might've enjoyed it had I stuck around, but really, I'd gotten what I came for and getting home before midnight whe I'd been going hard all day since 6AM on three hours of sleep sounded very pleasant.

I'd been going hard all day since 6AM on three hours of sleep sounded very pleasant

Sounds like the day before for me. Three hour sleep..travelling on 3 different flights. then trying to find my hotel in the oakland area.



that was cataneo???? I should have paied more attention then. I really enjoyed his Emix he did at skolbeats a few weeks ago

Rynostar Escribi�:

that was cataneo???? I should have paied more attention then. I really enjoyed his Emix he did at skolbeats a few weeks ago

Here he is, weird Bon Jovi hair and all...

Well I think New Order and The Chems had their roles flipped at coachella. The Chemical's performance was everything you wanted, more, and then some. I watched new order perform and Bernard seemed really like he was just down (though he was trying to be enthusiastic) he told the crowd that he had busted his foot and couldn't dance or anything, The crowd seemed to be pretty into it and enjoying it. I was supprised when their performance ended, it went by really quckily.



To give you a recap of the mood, Bernard ended the performance by saying "Sorry we weren't more animated, but that's life"

was there no TPPR?

no encore at all