ok, slightly longer review this time...
we got there. i happened to be slightly drunk. we'd just come from a student pub in town where double vodka redbulls were £2. so, as you can imagine, i decided to get lashed up before we got there.
so yea, we entered the place, and there was this dub music playing, which is coolio cos i love the dub. i remember some mikey dread at the controls being played, and junior murvin....anyway, we got a 4 pack of red stripe, and wondered down to the middle of the dancefloor.
karl, darren and rick immediately came out, loads of cheering...karl wearing his sequined jacket...karl does a monologue, very artsy, ending in "nottingham, are you ready to go mental?" or something quite similar...anyway, immediately after that, "everythingeverythingeverything" kicks off, which immediately seques into rez, which bangs around...can't believe that choon is now 16 years old....and then cowgirl comes in. much raving.
next up is new track crocodile, which karl gets his guitar out for...not as great live as i had hoped, but still pretty cool. crocodile chills out for a bit, and then BANG BANG BANG goes this spaz guitar, meaning shudder/kkkkking of snake! the crowd are getting seriously worked up on this one, as more and more stuff comes in, harder drums, piano stuff, karl's vocals...yea, they weren't brilliant and sharp on this one, but this is a shouty choon and karl's latest vox are more introspective, maybe...
the snake dies, and then moaner moaner moaner! this really got everyone ballistic, as usual....i was amazed that they played this so early, but it worked.
karl's vocals were perfectly timed on this.
then i think it was the cut up vox from dark train, which led into beautiful burnout....that was very chilled, i went to the bar for some more bevvies by this stage...then the new track, which i wasn't overly impressed with either, but people always dance more when they know the song. which reminds me...mo move came on next, and it was a harder version than i remember from 2002, with no vocals or arpeggi synth that i can remember, just lots of bongos, bd and loads of bassline...it was dark, like dino adventure style dark...
then another ahdo classic, two months off! everyone knew this fucker. the roadies came out and inflated these massive condoms too, which was surreal, but worked well...that was a great moment, the visuals were switched off for this i think....forgot to mention visuals so far, lots of camera shots of the audience and karl's head, spliced with tomato stock...good stuff. lights were impressive too.
but then, the moment that all the half-fans had been waiting for, DRIVE BOY etc as everyone shouted along to whatever bits they knew...they didn't do the 2003 piano bit, probably cos no one would have known what it was....when dealing with half-fans, stick to classic stuff like what the prodigy does, and when dealing with the 'ardcore, mash it up!
big surprise was push upstairs, which sounded mint! although i would have preferred spikee or something, but most people there knew push upstairs.
to end the set, they played probably my favourite u/w song, pearls girl....the drums were driving, but i think they could have jammed on the ending a bit more...it was a bit cut short, and i thought that about the 2002 gig i went to as well....
encore, encore, we chanted.
and then, they came back out, "i've caught beaucoup fish..." vox sample, and then the blissed out lovelyness of jumbo. they could have ended on a harder one to get everyone psyched out, but jumbo seemed pretty perfect.
all in all, amazing! still buzzing! bring on the next 5 year gap!