Perspective from a first-time viewer (and perhaps one of the other first-time viewers' opinion)

Beforehand, my friends and I met up at my place and left at around six (I live about 2 miles away), arriving at about 6:20. We waited a good 20 minutes, got our picture taken in front of some port-o-potties by some cool guy (who later helped make my shirt WSHHHHHHHHHHHHHH). I noticed the people in front of me seemed familiar for some odd reason, but I just couldn't figure out why. Then, I saw the letters B-O-S-C-O on this one guy's shirt and I said "ololol forumers" and eventually introduced myself (shyly, of course).

Eventually, we were let in, didn't get my ID checked (was happy about that)and I rushed up the stairs to see what seats were available on the balcony: FRONT ROW SEATS DIRECTLY IN THE MIDDLE. A godsend, if I may so myself. At this point I was ecstatic, only a few more hours to go and I would be in some sound-induced euphoria.

We waited, listened to some Trentemoller-like music, it was pretty cool, but was oldened within minutes. Ladytron came on, and I was like "oh good, one more show until the Chems"... to be quite honest, BEST OPENING BAND I HAVE EVER SEEN. Opening band before Beck: Spank Rock (it was alright, most of the audience was parents with their children, a lot of awkward air afloat). Opening band before Dope: like 4 of them, they were all crap. Opening band before The Police: Can't remember the name but they sounded too much like The Police that I just kind of went "well, not a good impersonation and I sure am not pumped". Ladytron, though I don't know any of their music, has definitely earned some respect from me. The two singers were cute, especially the one on the left, I laughed 'cause she had some accent (what language did they sing some songs in?) and it tickled me when she was like "and we'd like to dank dee chemical bru-therz for having uz."

Then, they eventually finished, and I was like "CHEMS SOON, AFTER THEY CLEAN UP THE SET WEEEEEEE!!!" and I waited, expecting the chems to come on around 9-ish (it was 8:50 at this point). My friend said "hey let's go look at all the cool stuff we can buy" and I was like "Yes, I can never have too many t-shirts!" Of course, I was a little afraid of No Path starting without me, but I overheard someone saying it started at 9:15 (for some reason, I'd rather take the words of a stranger as truth compared to my own thoughts) and so I purchased a shirt, went over to the "inking station" where they add the city + a random chems song name to the back of the shirt. I actually didn't know what the substance they were adding was, so I asked the guy (who was the picture-taker from before): "What's that?" and he was like "lol chems song arharhar" and in my head I was like "I SHOULD SMACK YOU" but instead I was like "no, silly, what is the substance made out of" and he was like "lol ink arharhar."

Then, we went back upstairs with an insane amount of random post-card type papers. They continued playing Bob Marley and Reggae (which I personally don't like) and then it was 9:15'ish and I was like "LET'S SEE IF RANDOM STRANGER WUZ RITE" and he was. No Path to Follow was playing. Tom and Ed appeared on stage, my mind aflight, their presence making everything disappear. I just couldn't believe I was in the same room. I felt like I could go run up and touch them and be like "teehee i tuched u" and then run away...

Then, they were doing the weird little intro to Galvanize (not the powerful, BOOM chh chh chh chh BOOM BOOM part) and the fact that I was there just hit me. When the BOOM chh chh part started, I went mental, MENTAL, I DECLARE!

The sound was pretty distorted for me, but I didn't matter, the ground was shaking so much... by the end of Galvanize, my ears had become so muffled that sound magically became much better (pretty much, the sound was designed by guys who hadn't recovered from the concert before, so they were basing it off of very biased and altered hearing).

Burst Generator began (one of my friends hadn't heard the song yet, but he was jumping so much during it) and I was like "ooo can't wait for cool drum build-up." Then it just POUNDED, my head felt like it was under so much pressure that I started going crazy again.

Whenever I've heard the live version of Do It Again, it never sounded very powerful, it sounded bland... but when I was actually there, the combination of the ground shaking and the visuals made it "off da charts". For some reason (is Ali Love in the visuals?) whenever the guy went "yeah... uhuh" his disgusted look made me crack up, of course the weed fumes might have helped with that (no "no smoking indoors" law was enforced, it seems, but what are you gonna do?).

Then the Get Yourself High clown came on... my friend turned to me and she was like "That thing is TOO SCARY" and I was like "wait until later for the other clown" and then I started laughing because the clown's smile reminds me of a mischievous troublemaking kid coming over to you and you are like "wonder what he's up to" and he just does the fake "BITCH I DO WHAT I WANT" smile. And then the new and improved HBHG started playing (well, the synths and stuff sound different now, at least to me) and I was like "can't wait for the crowd to go 'WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO'" which wasn't fulfilled since they had been going "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" the whole concert already. Not much to talk about, it was HBHG, a sinister song with visuals that remind me of the olden screensavers from the 1990's. All Rights Reversed, despite my not liking it as a live track, had that powerful drum which kept me high in spirits. And then Out of Control started, my dad was like "They play this song live?" and I was like "You know, I told you that earlier... sometimes I feel... MISUNDASTOOD" and he was like "???" And then the Don't Fight/Control song began and that was cool, but the visuals made me want to hear Problems instead... and then when the vocals came in, my friend was like "Are they talking about getting high? I don't approve of this" and I was like "we are probably high from the weed fumes" and then she was like "oh no!!" and laughs ensued.

TEMPTATIONS -> STAR GUITAR. In a utopian society, this would be played continuously. Along with the cool "ima run in da forest and take pictures" visuals, this was a beautiful moment, weee. And then everything stopped, everyone was all "clap clap skrapitty dap let's hear so'more" and I was like "wooo cheering" and then I turned to my friend and said "yo fav song comin up" and they were like "CANT HEAR YOU EARS ARE MUFFLED" and then Surface to Air started and she went "<3" with her hands and then that song was cool. I enjoyed the length of it, short yet gets everything in. And then the robots. ROBOTS. Walking around all cool, dancin' to some chem bros outside of da school, when a couple o' guys who were up to no good, startin' makin' trouble in my neighborhood, I got in one li'l fight and my mom got scared she said "I was unda the influence." Man dat song was poppin'. I started walking around like the robots, walking into people. QUITE A SIGHT TO BEHOLD IF I MAY SAY SO MYSELF.

Then "VWOOM VWOOM VWOOM VWOOMVWOOM VWOOM VWOOM VWOOM VWOOM VWOOM VWOOM VWOOM VWOOMVWOOM VWOOM VWOOM VWOOM" and I was like "saturrrrrrrrrate" and then time went and and "BOOM!!!" I was blinded "BOOM!!" again, blinded again. I still remember when I first heard the EBW8 version, when it first came out, how airy and spacial it sounded... but ever since it became Saturate, it's become a club-only head-bobbing tune for me. This still holds true. "I NEEDED TO BELIEVE IN SOMETHING, I NEED YOU TO BELIEVE IN SOMETHING, I NEEDED TO BELIEVE SOMETHING, I NEED YOU TO BELIEVE IN SOMETHING, I NEEDED TO BELIEVE!!!" BOOM! BLIND ONCE MORE. Phenomenal transition, Believe was a hoot. I love the whole "BREAK IT DOWN, GO UP DA OCTAVES" thing the chems do with it. And I admit, I heard that Swiper sample, so I guess they play a little bit of Swiper in the middle of Believe. It's the "WOO Woo woowoo" sample thing from Swiper that I hear. And then We Are Night began. Now, it might have been just me because of where I was standing, but it sounded like the "aaaaAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" thing was a few notes higher than it normally is... but as I said, it might have been because of where I was standing. We Are the Night was beautiful... though I actually had to sit down for a second because my chest hurt from yelling so much. My friends went and got some water during Golden Path. I kind of took it as a "rest now, because da BEATS b comin' up, yo" type of song. They came back just in time for Chemical Beats. I drank my water in like 30 seconds, JUMPED MANY TIMES. My dad was like "They play this song live?" and I was like "You know, I told you that earlier... sometimes I feel... MISUNDASTOOD" and he was like "o i get it now, from out of control." So then they finished up everyone was like "WOOOOOOOOO AWESOME SHOW" and my friend was like "uh do we wait for everyone else to leave or do we PUSH OUR WAY OUT?" And I was like "You crazy??? Gotta wait for the encore ENCORE!!" and he as like "ENCORE??? COOL" and then we waited a few minutes, for a few minutes I was like "what if all this clapping is for nothing? What if the chem bros didn't like the crowd and have deemed us unworthy of an encore?" and then they came out "WOOOOOOOOOOOO" time for da encore.

THE BRUTHAS GONNA WORK IT OUT...out..out

THE BRUTHAS GONNA WORK IT OUT...out..out

THE BRUTHAS GONNA WORK IT OUT...out..out

THE BRUTHAS GONNA WORK IT OUT...out..out

WOWOWOWOWWoWEEWEEWOWOWA

WOWOWOWOWWoWEEWEEWOWOWA

dumdumdumdudmmmmdmdmdmdmmdmdmdmmd

DRUMS

fantastic. The song is a lot more powerful live, compared to the album.

I was like "FIRST SONG ON FIRST ALBUM, FIRST SONG ON MY FIRST ENCORE from da CHEMMMMSSSSSSSS"

Sentimental value.

"rock da house yall"

"BACK WIT ANOTHA ONE O DOSE BLOCK ROCKIN BEEEEEATS!"

A nice breakdown.

BOOM CLCHAAAAAAAP

BOOM CLCHAAAAAAAP

BOOM CLCHAAAAAAAP

BOOM CLCHAAAAAAAP

woowooooodwoooooooowowoweeeeewoooooooooo

After listening for a few seconds, I figured out it was Das Spiegal (at first I wanted AMMC more, but Das Spiegal gave me quite a laugh)

They were playing it, I was diggin' it and then WHAT IS THIS??? A FLUTE RECORDER KEYBOARD THING??? Tom was so happy, playing his weird little contraption there. Should have called the song, The Snake Dance.

And then, the moment I had been waiting for: The Sunshine Underground. My favvvvvvvvorite song, played LAST WOOOOOOOO.

Best 5-6 minutes of the night for me, sweaty as heck, tired out, watching two white english dudes playing this blaring, devious, beautiful track. It was definitely a phenomenal moment.

Tom and Ed seemed to enjoy themselves, it seemed they liked the crowd (Ed liked coming up to the front to tease people by acting like he was going to give everyone a high-five, only to do a "PUT YO HANDS UP IN DA AIR" thing, which is still cool). The random backrubs and closeness of them had me QUESTIONIN but then I remembered Tom is married and probably wouldn't cheat on his spouse with Ed.

DEE END

Niiiice! :D

Very nice and enthusiastic review! I can tell you're still riding high on the afterglow. Man, my excitement levels for the upcoming Saturday show have nearly peaked out, thanks to posts like yours. So thanks for that. :)

So what's this "inking station" you speak of? You mean, t-shirts are custom made to order right then and there? Yeah I know it's trivial in light of the whole concert experience, but this has me intrigued.

By the way, Ed likes women so the little backrub you witnessed was just some platonic, brotherly love.

Helluva review!!!!

With the t-shirts, you first purchase a t-shirt which already has one of many designs, and pay 25 bucks. You then have to go another line and they ink on a design (just a song name) on the back depending what city the show is in.

For New York, it said something along the lines of "Block Rockin' Beats" and for Chicago it said "Do It Again"

Sweet as!

I love how "custom" this American tour is. The t-shirts with the inking designated by city is a really nice touch.

Great review! that shirt idea is sweet.

I would first like to state that my wife and I drove 3.5 hours after work to get to the show, then drove back home 3.5 hours, then I worked at 7:30 (Indiana Time). HOWEVER, THIS WAS ONE OF THE MOST AMAZING SHOWS OF OUR ENTIRE LIVES!!!

The venue was great (aside from almost dying from heat exhaustion). I thought it would had been nice if Ladytron would have played a couple songs that sounded different from the rest, but not bad. I did however HATE the reggae ( i mean, ok...if i had been sitting on a beach somewhere smoking a joint watching a sunset...ok...BUT not at a chems show) i guess i just didn't get it.

I thought that the balcony provided a great view of the Chems equipment set up and the visuals for the evening (i was however a bit pissed when some loser told me to sit down cause he couldn't see...i have yet to master the art of dancing while i'm sitting down)

The set was pretty much everything i was hoping for. A GREAT mix of the old and new stuff. Their craftsmanship and attention to detail blow me away every time.

This was an amazing evening that i won't be forgetting anytime soon.

sorry i didn't get to meet up with some people from on here. Sometime in the future my friends!!!

Word,

Josh

androidgeoff, I dont remember you introducing yourself...

As for the T-shirt thing, Im totally pissed I didnt get one. I didnt realize they were putting the particular tour date on the shirt. I'll cry myself to sleep for that one...

My review is comming soon... Still trying to get the "big" videos uploaded

I'm gonna have to add to this dude... lol .. I was there too... and OMG!!!

This was the single best night of my entire life up to this point, I promise you...

Ladytron was very very respectable...

But I got my brain vibrated, and my body soaked, by the one and only ED and TOM (The Chems)

If you guys would like to see some of my videos, or pictures from outside the event, I'll be glad to show anyone.

I met a ton of very cool fans last night, and I appreciate all the hospitality everyone at the Riverra showed me and all my friends.

Check out he fine videos on YouTube that some people posted soon after, very good.

It will never do anyone justice just listening and buying this music, if you dont go see them live.. it's 89% of the fun of loving the Chems.

:)

I really had soooo much fun.. The new live visuals are soo mindblowing! :)

I just got back from my hotel like 3 hours ago, cuz I partied harrrd!! :)

Peace out friends.. just wanted to add my bit!!!

THANK YOU ED AND TOM FOR THE AMAZING SHOW!!! :)

I cant believe i didnt go to this show in the end!!! ARgh! Im soooo upset! All I can do is hope for a Canadian date!!! But nice review! Glad you guys had fun.

i must say androidgeoff, i love your sig

and my review is comming up soon...

hahah, that's a great review, Geoff! The enthusiasm really translates!

All last night I was thinking about you guys and really regretting not making the 900-mile trek southwest to meet up. Turns out I wouldn't've missed much in school anyways. I drove around listening to Surrender for a bit and had a beer in your names and pined a bit to be there.

Glad it lived up to expectations.

And right now The Sunshine Underground is my fave Chems tune. It's been giving my new system a workout for a few days now.

Lovely!! Yeah, I also got a shirt with the brooklyn date on the back!

"LOVE IS ALL" !!!!!

It was off the hook, agreed- intense visuals (including the crazy clown), and quite hot down on the floor, and of course moments in the loops and bass where my ears had something rattling loose! I can't believe its been 5 years already since they were in Chicago last (Allstate Center 2002)! It was much better this time around in the smaller venue!

BOSCO! Nice meeting you at the show buddy, I was the guy in the England shirt with 'Sethful'...

And nice meeting you AshlndUndrgrnd (cannot remember your real name!!!sorry :P). Hopefully next time they come back to Chicago, they'll surprise us with Elektrobank.

Did they play any special (non-normal) songs?

BOSCO, it would have been cool to sit down and talk shop, you seem like you have an ear for things very similar to mine. (Sunshine Underground, Elecktrobank, etc)...

Androidgeoff: Loved the review. You carried the energy into your post, and that is always an awesome thing. It's awesome to read other people's experiences and see where everyone connects at the same level and in the same way during the shows.

My only negative comment was when you questioned Tom and Ed's sexuality. I can only respond with a quote from Trainspotting:

"It has fuckall to do with morality. It's not a question of who you fancy, it's all about aesthetics." -Rents

I don't like rumors n'all when it comes to the Chems' personal lives, but I feel the need to say something before anything escalates as far as Ed & Tom's sexuality is concerned. Ed has reportedly been out and about with Lily Allen (who is absolutely adorable, if I must say so myself!!!)

If it's true - and my apologies if it's not and I'm being an ass and perpetrating false rumors by saying something here - I wish them the best together and I hope they're having a blast and will be for a long time to come. :) I just want our Ed to be happy and in love with a good woman is all.