It?s been a while, its been away too long.



Going out for musical shenanigans on a Wednesday night for my friends and I used to be part of a routine years ago. We alway went to camdem town in the evening to a club called the loft, to have a midweek ?lets get lost in music? night out at a club. I?m glad to say Wednesday can still rock!!



So Wolverhampton was a bit of a road trip for me. I set of with my mate bee-dee who had never been to a chemical live show, although he is quite a veteran of their dj sets. I hadn?t seen the chems since they play the Heineken music hall in Amsterdam on the ?come with us? tour. The anticipation was high, we were gonna hear some new music. After the glowing reviews of the last glint party, And Ed?s posting of how well things in the studio are going. There was a lot of hype for tonight as far as I was concerned.



Got to the civic hall around 8 pm. It was very reassuring to see so many people turn up. What with all the football going on at the moment, the fine weather we are having and the fact it is Wednesday!! Support for tonight came from the Chemical Brothers tour resident dj James Holroyd. He was play a mix to down tempo techno/electro/noises. I would really love to go and see Holroyd play at his Bugged Out! Home. It was rather hot and sweaty and I think people were more interested in the bar, rather huddled together in the main arena. The Civic seem to be quite an intimate venue, very closed in. There was no room either side of the stage to have the screens for the projections. In fact visually the chems had one giant screen behind them. Plus to small LED matrix displays either side of the stage doing the visuals. Their studio console striped down to its metal frame with lights and lasers beaming out from near the mixing desk. When you see the chems live on different tours you?ll not just notice the music evolves, but the way the whole visuals are presented is also ever evolving.



So 9.15 and the dj has just finished his last tune. The Chemical Brothers live machine starts to breathe back into life. The slow bass notes of their reworked version of Junior Parkers cover version of ?Tomorrow Never Knows? kicks in like a heart beat. We are back in business!! The old spot lights were tracking round the arena, like some wartime blitz was gonna occur. They started of with ?hey boy hey girl?, there was a bit of a delay getting started, nothing much, but it was like where do the keys go to start this machine up!!! Back into the groove, then we got ?get yourself high? which was a liver killer!! More tricked up version than the studio version, but definitely a future live favourite. Then we went to ?music response? > ?block rockin beats?. BRB seemed more stripped down than I have ever heard live before, but defiantly rockin. Then we had a mash up of ?leave home? and ?song to the siren?. Oh those drum rolls! Those tunes are getting quite nostalgic, a defining time in music. I hope in some shape and form they will aways be in the live set. After that a mix of ?under the influence? and ?it doesn?t matter?.



Now for the new stuff!! The yellow tune (or atleast the visuals), Up-tempo kinda tune. The rhythm kinda reminded me of hbhg. Probably future single kinda tune. It had this looping female vocal say something like ?come on lets go down?. Good stuff!!! Then we had ?out of control?/?temptation?/?star guitar?. Then the premier of ?the golden path? to the live show. A more bleepy version, but kept the main bluk of the vocal. We were going through a patch of the set where the arms were up in the air, as if we were surrendered to the music. The second new tune, I?m calling it the underwater tune, was great!! It kind of a mix of the emotional and epic side to their music. Kinda like ?star guitar? meets ?the sunshine underground? very soothing piece of music. at the end of the underwater tune the vocal from hoops was cleverly laced over the top ?here I go round again?. That was a nice introduction to ?electronic battle weapon 6?.



Third new tune. and I?m gonna have to eat my words here. ?you are all my children now!!!?. They have been playing this in their dj sets since last may atleast. And I have been saying that it was ?bam bam?s ? wheres your child?. I am so wrong, I am an arse!! Its also a corker, especially with the live visuals. Dark and dirty acid piece. Is this the future EBW?? Lets hope so. ?Setting sun? next, over the years it had got stripped down, but tonight?s rendition seemed much closer to the original version. Then into the final third of elektrobank took us to the break. The First hour was rockin, very sweaty.



I was to the right of the stage, pretty near the front. I was very surprised to see a roadie drag 2 monitors onto the stage near where I was. Why do we need these!!! Me and bee-dee started to talk about guest vocalist!!! The chems rejoined the stage, we were looking to see if anyone else was going to join them. No one did, but it didn?t matter cos we ?got glint?. One of my personal live favourites. I do think this should have been included in the singles bonus disc instead of piku/playground, but its too late to suggest that now!! Then the whole night went crazy. They started playing ?life is sweet?, they only done that once before, and Tim Burgess turned up that time. He to turned up tonight too!!!! Unbelievable, I couldn?t believe what was happening, on a Wednesday night!!! Its was awesome seeing two worlds collide, I think the whole place went crazy. This was not your average ?chemical brothers? show!!! It is clear to see how much of a bond there is between the 2 bands. Long may it continue, Tim we salute you.



To finish the night, well there is only on way the private psychedelic reel. A fantasic end to probably the best performance I have seen of the chems. I think m?chebne said after glint he had seen a band at the top of their game. I wanna echo those thoughts. I think we are gonna see the chemical brothers come back stronger than before. the future is bright!!! Just like outside it 5am, time for bed I got work later today, ew!!



Tom and ed, you still got it!!!

wolverhampton civic hall

tim







love is all, the end



video mixers

rear of house mixing desk





yellow song

it doesn't matter





led matrix display





your all my children now!!!

setting sun

tim

wow that is a damn good review. made me almost cry to hear that they did life is sweet life, sounds like we got a lot of thinks to look forward to now and great pics. Pretty amazing that they got guest vocals live and were doing the 2 tracks from the singles, which I thought they'd probably not do live

I was there last night and it was amazing... I was in front of the speaker stack on the right hand side facing the stage and my ears are still ringing funnily enough!



I haven't been to a Chems gig before - in fact I haven't really been out dancing - dancing for 8 years or something and was expecting to have a good nod to some of my favourite tunes. So, it was a real bonus to be leaping about like a madman the whole night - but there really was no choice, as you'd expect, the two rocked beyond all expectations.



The Tim B moment was just one of many peaks for me, I expected that they would have one or two guest vocalists and I think they picked the best one to feature! Some of the bass sounds that they put out during their set nearly made me collapse too - sonic weaponry of the finest type!!!



The atmosphere was brilliant, it reminded me of nights out at Bubble Club at Que Club in Birmingham years ago, where everyone is smiley and friendly even when you almost knock them over (its bound to happen when a venue is clearly over capacity!), or if they've been queueing at the bar for half an hour...



Thanks guys, that gig will be one I will never forget![/i]

Yeah, that was pretty special. Anybody know the names of the new songs? (Which were great.) If someone can post up a totally complete setlist, thatd be cool. Nice spot from Timmy B - "So good to be back with my brothers", indeed! Interesting that they played so little off Come With Us. I thought that album was underrated on the whole, but maybe the CBs arent feeling so sure about it now. Anyways! Hope they come back for more soon... Brixton! Brixton!!!!



:P

revised set list, i know i got the golden path in the wrong place



Hey Boy, Hey Girl

Get Yourself High

Music Response

Block Rockin Beats

Leave Home/Song To The Siren

New Tune (yellow song)

Under The Influence/It Doesn't Matter

Out Of Control

Star Guitar

New Tune (underwater song)

Hoops/EBW 6

Setting Sun

New Tune (your all my children now!!)

Elektrobank

The Golden Path



Got Glint

Life Is Sweet

The Private Psychedelic Reel



i hope my review earlier made sence, i wanted to write while it was all fresh in my mind. i think tom and ed were clearly happy to be back playing live again. they looked like they enjoyed it as much as the crowd did. still in shock, damm fine night out!!!

Those visuals look trippin'! :D Especially for 'your all my children now' and it doesn't matter }:-) The info on the new songs is getting me very excited for the Chems. The new material can't come soon enough. Interestingly, the booklet for Singles 93-03 mentions the 'you're all my children now' song.

DELETED

sneakerbeater Escribi�:

Third new tune. and I?m gonna have to eat my words here. ?you are all my children now!!!?. They have been playing this in their dj sets since last may atleast. And I have been saying that it was ?bam bam?s ? wheres your child?. I am so wrong, I am an arse!!

hahahaha, fool! :)



Nice review, quite enjoyed it! Now... to witness a set like this.... They better be coming back to Toronto this year :D }:-)

nice on e sneaker, you got a review in b4 me..... so im just home from the airport......all i can say is what a fucking gig!!!!!!!



the loudest,brightest and most amazing of the 4 gigs of the chems ive seen.



i love the new "devil song" or you're all my children now one.



it was just incredible........roll on the next one!!! btw if anyone saw me i was the bloke with the moose on my shoulders and the sparklers!!!!!

that was the best gig ever, first time i've seen them live and I spent the whole night dancing like a madman! absolute quality I was completely knackered for my exam today but I don't care. What do you look like sneakerbeater - i probably didnt see you cos I was just left of centre about half way back

GLAKO-FAHN Escribi�:

sneakerbeater Escribi�:

Third new tune. and I?m gonna have to eat my words here. ?you are all my children now!!!?. They have been playing this in their dj sets since last may atleast. And I have been saying that it was ?bam bam?s ? wheres your child?. I am so wrong, I am an arse!!

hahahaha, fool! :)

yeah man, but in my defence... when i heard 'your all my children now' at glint last sepember i heard that tune from the chill out area. not from the main floor. also around the same time mixmag put a jon carter acid house mix cd with the bam bam tune. i got 2 + 2 and made 5. i definately think the chems sampled the vocal of the bam bam tune



but who cares cos live 'your all my children now' rocks!!!!

anType Escribi�:

I would like to thank sneaker:beater for the review - it's truly great and I really enjoyed reading it. Very detailed review - even though I wasn't there, I felt like I understand what was going on that night. And also, thanks for the photos - visuals look stunning, especially the 'mad clown' one, which was used for 'you're all my children' :)



Thanks!

thanks anT



i feel i get a little abused on this forum cos i have seen them so many times. i know i am geographically blessed, but i do go out every weekend and get envolved with music. whether it be a pub, club, gig or festival. i just love my music, i always go out and find it. also being an old cunt helps!!!!!



i tried to get some pictures that were a bit different for you guys. like all the kit at the rear of house. i really like the picture of the video equipment. on the 3 monitors you can see the hey boy hey girl visuals cued up. i took that picture before the chems came on stage. i knew which tune they were gonna start with!!!







i got more picture, at better resolutions can anyone recormend a server to share pictures??? i must admit my camera is shit in the dark, thank god for corel photo pait to re touch them!!

chemd'up Escribi�:

nice on e sneaker, you got a review in b4 me..... so im just home from the airport......all i can say is what a fucking gig!!!!!!!



the loudest,brightest and most amazing of the 4 gigs of the chems ive seen.



i love the new "devil song" or you're all my children now one.



it was just incredible........roll on the next one!!! btw if anyone saw me i was the bloke with the moose on my shoulders and the sparklers!!!!!

hey chem'up



respect to you for travelling twice from ireland to see the chems at wolves and glint!!! they were amazin nights. although i must warn you don't punnish that credit card too much!!



what a night wolves was!! it's not every day they have a PA in their set!!! and that devil song is quite something!!! that gig is gonna be up there with red rock and glastonbury 2000.



you gonna go to creamfields??? that an easy boat ride for you. that is gonna be the festival for the summer!!! so many wicked dj's in so many good tent (subliminal/underwater v circus/mtv dance/strongbow/radio 1 essential arena), plus the chems and fc kahuna!!! what a line up

Fantastic review and pictures! thanks sneakerbeater! That night looks and sounds like it was a truly epic experience. I'm so hyped to hear the new material, I may just explode. (!)

fantastic rewiew, i�m crying,i�m happy,i can�t wait,i�m excited......too many emotions.

hey sneaker i dunno if ill hit creamfields, saw them at creamfields ireland in 2000 but ill prob go to london if they play there soon enough, will be seeing them at oxegen festival over here too.....think im goin to new york in august to see the besties too.....what a summer baby.......the only bad thing about the wolves gig is i sweated so much i now have a cold!!!!

ah well....guess its a lasting memory of the gig!





peace

i must apologise to sneakerbeater in that my message was posted as a topic rather than a reply. just sighned up today so i could leave my thoughts on the gig. your review was really good and has got me remembering about the gig in a more descriptive way. so thanks.



were can i get a audio?visual recording of the gig because it was amazing and want to relive every minute of it again and again.............and again

8) Now *this* is what it's all about. People being there, hearing and watching the magic unfold live and experiencing it to the full effect. Looks like a wicked set up and wicked set list!



Thanks so much for the reviews, especially yours sneaker - your words and pics are great! This has really made my morning!!!

glad that the people are liking my review!!! just read it again and wanted to point out that get yourself high is a live killer, not a liveR killer!!!! that would just be studid!!!!