Global Gathering- What Happened ?

[ryanryan]

Just returned from holiday, first chance to comment on UW at GG.

Surprised at some of the reviews here- were people at the same gig? They were shocking.



Went with my mate Dave who has never seen them before- felt so sorry for him as the sound was absolutely awful. All we could hear was a big bass thud that drowned out both Karl’s vocals and the main tune of each song. TMO and the normally magnificent Dark Train were especially awful. It was like listening to the best band in the world through a brick wall or underwater (no pun intended). We were about 10 rows from the front and could talk to each other without having to raise our voices at all- was the sound any better further back I wonder?



Why did this happen? Did UW have any control over their own sound, surly they are big enough to DEMAND control, or was it the Godskitchen people not investing in a decent sound system- where was the mixing desk? It was so so sad we had been looking forward to it for months.



The organisers clearly thought everyone would be so off their faces they would not notice the crap sound. Still think UW are the best- when will they play a decent venue like Brixton Academy?



Will not go to another rip off festival like this, the Godskitchen people should be shot.

:confused: :mad:

[big screen satellite]

i don't think Underworld were personally shocking, they were let down very much by a poor soundsystem...

festivals are generally shite...

all of the best gigs that i have seen of Underworld were on their own with a decent set up...

i think that the set up was basically configured for DJ's and not music artists...and hence the sound was very poor

but they performed their asses off...it wasn't their best show, but i don;t think that it was their fault...

and on stage...you cannot tell if it sounds shite or not...

tbh...despite the poor sound, no-one was complaining at the time and no-one was standing still...they still got a good vibe off the audience...

(but i have to agree with you, i think dance festivals are run by people who don't actually give a fuck about the audience, and once you are in...its not like you can complain and get yer money back...whatever the sound or set up is like...i've heard a lot of people say that they won't be going back)

[Ally]

i think that the set up was basically configured for DJ's and not music artists...and hence the sound was very poor


Also the "outdoor stage" situation - there's a stricter dB restriction on them.

[*_*]

i don't think Underworld were personally shocking

he's saying the the reviews he's read about how great UW were at GG were shocking; due to the poor sound.

glad i didn't blow 100+ quid on GG after all. :)

[Mac Haggis]

I felt quite embarrassed for the boys on stage. They were working their socks off while the people working of the sound desk were obviously having a tea break whilst listening to their own ipods!!!

I will never go to GG ever again and I will do my best to tell everyone about my experience. Creamfields in 2002 was quality, even V2003 at chelmsford was great but GG? fookin roooobash!!

Cant wait to hear them doing their own gigs in places like the Brixton Acadamy.

Karl, Rick and Darren, please promise never to revisit that dump of a festival ever again.

[Rog]

I will never go to GG ever again .

Me neither!.........it was shite

[gaborez]

u n d e r w o r l d r o c k e d i t !

i was with my brother who's got a bad back after a car crash, so didn't want to stray too far forward for a moshing frenzy. we had some space further back and had an ace time. dont recall the sound being bad - maybe it was bad for you guys at the front! or maybe my head was a bit mushy after trying out some of those laughing gas balloons. now that's summat i'm not doing again!

GG was my only chance of seeing the boys this year so i had to go for it. the security & queueing was naff but apart from that i had a top time. i will go again if underworld are playin'

keep rockin'

[Ally]

Obviously this guy has just copied and pasted the same message into a few forums - I wonder if he actually read any of the reviews on the forums he visits.

http://www.efestivals.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=49155

[big screen satellite]

Obviously this guy has just copied and pasted the same message into a few forums - I wonder if he actually read any of the reviews on the forums he visits.

http://www.efestivals.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=49155

yeah - he's not responded to anything we've said since...

why come here and slag the band off, clearly they didn't perform badly, they were badly let down by sound, which he failed to read that we had already mentioned...we all know that the sound was shite, against the odds of that UW pushed on through...

i thought it was at least a 6.5/10 gig

[Rog]

yeah - he's not responded to anything we've said since...

why come here and slag the band off, clearly they didn't perform badly, they were badly let down by sound, which he failed to read that we had already mentioned...we all know that the sound was shite, against the odds of that UW pushed on through...

i thought it was at least a 6.5/10 gig

I would agree totally with you there Matt. The sound wasn't the best in the world but the only song it badly affected from where i was standing was 2 months off.......and even that was bearable! Personally i loved it!

[JeC]

I was there with you at GG ryanryan. What a shame it was. I had flown all the way from Australia, and extended my trip two weeks to fit in Global Gathering.

Apart from the 100 quid train ride I endured, the 6 quid burgers, and 3 quid bottles of water, horrible rules in regards to alchohol (oh and the 4quid beers inside the venu) and camping, long lines, drug searches etc.... I was still happy beacuse Underworld where playing.

I go to a lot of live music, and I love underworld. SO naturally I was listening to the sound and I just ended up getting distracted by how bad it was! I'd seen Underworld in Amsterdam the prevoius week (and that was awesome), so I knew what to expext, I was looking forward to UW a second time... But like you described... 10 rows from the front the sound was absolutly shit.

During King of Snake, I moved back a fair bit, and at that distance it sounded better but still horrible, the bass wasn't as loud back there so you could near that there where mid frequencies somewhere.

I can tell you now... that will be the last Godskitchen show I ever go to... God knows how much money it endedup costing me.

(Tiesto sounded much much better the 2nd night.... and I love him too, but honestly it just made me more annoyed about UWs music.)

-jec

[Dirty0900]

Sound was ace down the front at the barrier, mind tmo did sound a little bit chilled out, i thought it was ment to be like that though;)

[suicidalpenguin]

Have to say that forgetting about the fact it was run by gods kitchen, i actually had a good time (although i ONLY went on friday night to see UW)

Despite queing for 3.5 hours in first que for camping site, followed by another 30 mins to get past drugs dogs, etc in inner que, i made UW with 15 mins to spare-when i got in campsite at nine, people were joining que which was just as long as when i joined it at 4.30-5.00)
This was mostly due to bad planning by organisers in ONLY having 1 entrance to campsite and arena.

Despite this, coupled with £3.50 for a can of kronenburg and the £6 burgers, which did not even bother to try i actually had a good time there (although with commercial festivals like GG and V this should be expected - sad sign of marketing in festivals)

Uw were ace, they did play a fair mix of old + new stuff which is what we all wanted and although i was @ back of sand perimeter despite sounding a bit fuzzy every now and then, it was good and there was definately a vibe goin as everyone was dancing. Did not think sound was that bad - was not that drunk due to £4 cans of beer)

Saw Deep dish later and that was amazing too - again no noticeable huge sound probs.

Obviously not CD quality but its in a field so what do you expect.

Although i did enjoy the UW set and other artists i saw + had a good night i do agree with some of comments here and won't be going next year to GG simply due to the lack of planning and stupid organisation mistakes which were evident there e.g. One lot of toilets so you have to walk the length of the site to get there each time - in the only bit with no lights (not to mention the 1 entrance).

Have been to many festivals and with the plethora of examples to learn from at the moment its a shame as these flaws could have been easily avoided.

[stimpee]

10 years ago, i saw Underworld at the very same venue and they were brilliant and the sound was awesome (Phoenix Festival 1995). however, it was the middle of the afternoon and the sun was shining and there was no wind. plus the sound system was completely different. it is however, an old disused airfield and so the sound can dissipate quite quickly especially if there is a wind. Its unfortunate that this is UW's only UK gig so far as a fair chunk of their core fanbase are there and its an insult to injury on top of the exhorbitant prices and overzealous security checks. I'm sure everyone inside felt much safer knowing that techno-loving Al-Qaida operatives would not be allowed in.

It would probably have been cheaper to fly to Hungary or Serbia and see the band there and I can tell you that the sound in Hungary was top notch and I was about 5 rows back.