uw gig utrecht 1994

[swift]

well, here's something i've been thinking about for a while:

my first uw gig was in tivoli, utrecht, netherlands, in 1994. i think this still stands out as the best concert i've attended in my life. dubnobass was just released for a few months, and i had probably not played any other record between the release and the concert. so i already knew every second of it. and some of the other releases, like spikee etcetera.

nevertheless, in my memory, i experienced this concert as nearly completely improvised. i remember i recognised parts of songs, snippets, but it seemed to be a long flow of on and on and on improvisation.

a month later (approx) they played in paradiso, here in amsterdam, but that concert (however great) was much more structured in recognisable songs, generally as we know them up to now.

the question is wether my memory serves me well: was this utrecht concert exceptional? i am not very deep into the bootleg thing, i know vaguely about very long performances at glastonbury or something like that around the same period... do these things relate to each other?

the gigography i found through rtsr doesn't mention both the utrecht and the amsterdam gigs (does anyone know the exact dates, btw? i lost them...). and does anyone know about the existence of any recording of the utrecht gig? listening to it would probably clear up a lot (i know, getting it i'd try through rtsr. just want to know). or, is there anyone here who was also there, in tivoli, in 1994?

so much for memory lane today.

[BeautifulBurnout]

Ooooh!

Sounds like you already know RTSR. I have never heard of a Utrecht gig, and I doubt anyone has frankly. Interesting info though. Dunno if there is anything "out in the ether".

[swift]

Originally Posted by BeautifulBurnout

Ooooh!

Sounds like you already know RTSR. I have never heard of a Utrecht gig, and I doubt anyone has frankly. Interesting info though. Dunno if there is anything "out in the ether".

yes, i'm in there, at rtsr. and i've been googling around on the thing, but it doesn't seem anywhere in the collective memory. i was there, though, as well was a (nearly?) sold out venue. tivoli holds, i don't know exactly, 800 people?

i remember dancing outrageously on ongoing rhythms and sequences; i remember karl wearing a white t-shirt with a daffy duck head. i remember his white-with-black-letters guitar. i remember a sample shouting "call me reeeeeeeeeeeeeez" which made it plausible to me we were probably listening to rez (i already owned the song by then) (did anyone ever hear this sample anywhere else, by the way?). and i remember thinking "whatever life brings, i want to remember this all".

and this is what memory ends me up with

[joethelion]

well...

the Glasto thing that you're thinking of was the "Experimental Sound Field" or something like that - which was a unique occurence, and wasn't necessarily a full fledged UW gig... as it lasted ~14hrs and also included other artists

and about the live shows (at least from what I remember from listening to bootlegs)

the early gigs, in general had them pretty much feeling out some of the stuff that they were still working on... so those shows had a lot more extended imrovs, where there might be a lot of repetition, or bits with just percussion going through (and improv's similar to like... stuff on the Dark & Long Ep's)

the shows around '96 were a bit different than the '94 ones... like there's more of a 'drum & bass vibe' to the tracks - like you're more likely to hear stuff like the original born slippy, and it seemed like Pearls Girl & Confusion the Waitress were featured more

'98 [BF warm-up] shows kinda remind me of a 'middle-ground' between the '94 and the '96 shows... some tracks you could tell that they were really still working out the kinks in & like versions of "Push Upstairs" were pretty unique to that tour... also this is where some improvs started sounding almost like proper songs in their own right (like "Five Points")

'99 [BF proper tour] Shows had stuff where you'd hear songs that sounded almost exactly like on the album, interspersed with short, little improvs

'00 [EE tour] Shows, from what I remember didn't have as many 'improvs' but the songs themselves had a distinct punch to them... and some tracks were really extended (like Push Upstairs) and I think they had a neat improv that happened between KoS and PG

AHDO Tour - tracks kinda sounded as on the album, save for a few tracks here and there... there was definitely a different 'vibe' in the proper UW shows and the UW-performing-at-festival-shows. Where the proper shows had moments where stuff would sort of chill a bit (like when they'd play Dirty Epic) while the festival shows were very fast and immediate... if that makes any sense. Like at a festival show - it was more likely that you'd hear Cowgirl or Born Slippy NUXX within the first 3/4 songs

the newer shows... well - it seems to be a combination between the early performances and the BF Tour shows where there'd be like distinct improvs

does any of that make sense? I should also say - I might be wrong, as I haven't listened to any live UW stuff in quite some time...

[twicezero]

Have you heard the Glasgow Tramway gig (1992, or 93?), It was broadcast on radio 1 in the UK, and i had a somewhat similar experiance to yourself, only more remote *grin*. Perhaps you will find it has the same vibe?

I used radio 1 live concerts to find new music and taped as many as i could. That year both Underworld and Pulp blew me away. I listened the the tape a lot, and when rediscovered on moving to london in 1996 it got played on the way home from clubbing - sitting at the front of the top deck of the N18 with a mash of spoonman and Dogman go Woof echoing round my head. mmmmmmmm.

[stimpee]

tramway is 94 (BBC source, 6 tracks) and sheffield 94 (audience). both pretty decent gigs.

[swift]

thanks all for the info, i'll go and look for both gigs to see if they indeed resemble my thoughts about the utrecht gig...

swift