Luxemburg / I Love Techno 11/12-11-2005

[lloyd]

Underworld @ I Love Techno Gent, Belgium. 12-11-2005

Another day, another gig.
The last one of the BeNeLux tour and by that the last one in our little dirtytour also.

We drove about 300km from Luxemburg to Gent, going up and down hill for a long time before the land got more flat and we were near brussels. Had a late lunch at a restaurant on the way to get some rest and get some life back into Stimpee. On our way again and arriving in Gent. Because the hotel close to the venue was full, the people who were going to stay overnight after ILT had a hotel in the centre of the city. What a bl**dy maze Gent is! One-way streets, a pedestrians touristy area where you can get with your car (we proved that) and lesser roadsigns then you want when looking for something. Finally we dumped the cars at a parkingspot we found and walked to the hotel. Checked in and then went to look for the rooms in another maze! Because of overbooking Raz got a mister president excecutive room with NASA lightningsystem, extra space with extra chairs and seats, walk in closets etc, oh and no CNN or NBC on telly.
We watched some television and little bits of the England - Argentina footy and waited for the others to arrive at the room so we could leave for ILT at the Expo. It took certain people somewhat longer then expected so we were late for the meeting at the Rotonde cafe. Getting there was another challance btw.
Finding the st. pieters trainstation where it should be close to was not easy, only roadsigns for it at roads close to it. At one point I saw a sign [Melle] of which I knew it was another town. I stopped my car in front of a friesshop just behind it. I went in to ask directions. The people behind the counter were very friendly but didn't know where it was, but: 'this is Melle, not Gent' yes miss I know, that is why I stopped. 'And what was the name of that cafe? de Ton? (ton means barrel in dutch so something completly differen then a roundabout which is Rotonde in dutch)' No miss, I know ton is part of roTONde but I really mean rotonde. 'Never heard of that one, sorry' Ok, another take. It should be near to trainstation St. Pieters. There are 2 trainstations in Gent and I need the other one, not the central one. 'Hmm I don't know... but! you can follow the tramrails. Follow them back in the direction of Gent and then euuhr,yeah just follow them, they all end at the trainstation!.' At this point I had to leave these comedians because I couldn't hold my laughter anymore and those people were so friendly and helpfull, so I thanked them and told them I was going to find it. And indeed... when driving back to Gent we saw the tramrails split into two directions...left and right! We knew the expo had the be to the left of us so we followed that one and stopped somewhere to asked again and got good directions.
Finally we were at the Rotonde bar, nice place with nice food where they served janie and me a big bowl of fries with our diner but refused to bring Jason one when he asked 'Do you have a big bowl of fries, just fries for me please nothing else' Waitress: 'If you want fries, go down the street 200 meters and go into a friesshop' uuuuh posh bar.. The food we ordered was great though and we had a good time being loud and telling Cej about the luxembourg gig.
Then we went to catch one of the free trams from the St. Pieter trainstation to the Expo. We had to wait for the tram only very brief while standing in a crowd that was all up for it. The trainride was fun, people banging on the walls and windows, singing, cheering and laughing. 'Wooing' through every corner it made Big cheers when the tram got to the tramstation at the Expo where we got out and then into the cue for the enterance. The stream of people didn't solve very fast because there were fenches set up to controle the stream of 35.000 visitors. At one point we did hear that someone (not one of us) lost his ticket when in the cue and was looking for it, another person had a spare ticket and gave it to him! Great people

The venue consisted of 6 large rooms which can hold up to 5500 people, one big central hall where the stands were of sponsers and merchandise, drink stands and the videostream tent with screens all around. There was also a chill-out space, another big hall. The dressing of the whole thing was nice with big balloons in wierd shapes hanging from the ceiling and lights all over. Videoscreens blasting commercials and big banners too.
We went straight to the yellow room where Underworld would preforme at 12 o'clock. Marco Bailey was playing around with some turntables and records when we got in. At first the vibe felt good and he played some hard techno tunes but by the time we went closer to the stage and waited longer it got bad. Not very much variation, bad mixing and very predictable drops etc. I got bored big time. Much of the other people in the room thought it was great though and danced and cheered all the time and heated the room very fast. By the time Underworld came on stage it was very hot.
Some tune was playing after Marco left the stage and Rick and Darren tweaked some things and Karl greeted the big audience soacking up the good vibe Marco had left in the room. The tune fades out and UW starts....
They started with the same ambient piece with the redlight background as they did at the HMH earlier this year. They mixed another tune in quite early and played a little with it. Rick took off his coat and while looking at Darren and Karl, pumped his fist in front of his chest over the mixingdesk meaning, harder, faster, higher... And it became a hard and fast concert.
All tracks were harder and the beats faster then at other concerts, synths tweaked more to reach the ILT vibe the audience gave back. Great! Although there were a few of the new tunes, this audience came for the big tracks and those were played. Because of the heat and the cooled water ran out in the yellowroom ,besides that it was a problem to get drinks anyway, I felt not well (yes, again) and went to the main hall to buy drinkingtickets and drinks. But the [in] door was closed so that when I had gone out there I wouldn't have been able to get back in :s. Well.. I went to the toilets area to get atleast a drink of water. The cue there was big and I walked a little further down that ally and noticed that I was outside the yellowroom in the mainhall. Stepped back quickly and looked for security people, non there! Great, I went for tickets and got back into the yellowroom, roared at the firts person I saw at the drinksstand that I needed drinks and got some dead cola's which I brought to our people.
Underworld time was blasting the big guns like KoS BS.nuxx/2003/nuxx and moaner and by the sight had a great time enjoying this crowd who had came to celibrate techno to the max. Long cheer and applause when it all was over. Karl talked to the audience again about the web release, thanks everybody for coming, big dirtieeeees shoutout. Darren and Rick bowing on the edge of the stage to thank the crowd and then they left.... On came a woman who asked, Do you want more??? euh well yeah ofcourse!!! but it wasn't more Underworld.. it was to announce a 5 minute chance-over for the next act.
We went to the back of the hall, toilet stops and waiting for Stimps and gathering some fresh and cooler air. After a while we left the yellowroom into the mainhall were we bought drinks and then some more drinks and chilled sitting on the floor. It was 3am then and I was leaving because I had a 2 hour drive in front of me and late shift later that sunday.
Said goodbye to all my fellow dirties I was on dirtytour with and the others we were with that day. I walked to the tramstation, got in the tram and then it drove to the trainstation. After looking at the map there where my car was, I walked to it. While I was looking at the map I saw a 'Antwerpsquare' so pointed my car in that direction because I thought the road to antwerp had to start somewhere near that. The map didn't show where the highway is. After driving around a while the only roadsign I saw was a green [ E17/N411], meaning highway in belgium. I drove that direction and followed that road for a long time driving through subburbia without a clue of where I was going because there weren't anymore roadsigns.. After some 15 minutes there it was, finally! the highway!! Then it was easy and I drove home to arrive at 5 am.
This was a great little holiday with friends I not see often. Touring the BeNeLux, seeing your fav band 4 times, experiencing foreign countries, it was a blast. Thanks Underworld, thanks underworlds troops, thanks people we've met all over the place, thanks dirties!

I'm never gonna forget this.

[Captain Najork]

Surprised there's no thread on here already, maybe not many off this board were there? (edit ---> )

It was the first time I've seen Underworld live so I was never going to be disappointed! After having troubles getting in the room (doors close, go in wrong way, turned away, vault over barrier, led away again, finally got in 40 mins into set...) I absolutely loved it.

Good set for the night I thought, I heard Jumbo which was the main thing for me personally, I reckon Two Months Off would have worked well that night too. Karl's energy was a wonder to behold - after so many years touring with so many people like me hearing them for the first time and wanting to hear their favourite songs I think it's pretty fucking amazing to be leaping around the stage like a loon.

I think this speaks worlds for the quality of the songs they have produced, and for the motives of the people who have made those songs - hearing them, and seeing the way people react to them.

Obviously it's difficult to put across how much you have enjoyed seeing a live performance, but the personal measure for me is that when Underworld had finished, Richie Hawtin had already started, and instead of rushing over there I just wanted to sit down for a good 20 minutes and take in what I'd just seen. Fucking brilliant.

Would like to hear from others that were there. I have some photo / video footage I could share if no one minds / anyone is intersted and knows where I can host it.

Paul

Mod Edit: Threads merged here.

Haha - thanks mod eyes/brain still not engaged

[potatobroth]

hi paul, and welcome. there were a bunch of ILT threads, just might have gotten bumped off the front page here.

sadly, i didnt get to go, but i know many others did. im sure they'll pop up

[lloyd]

Yes I was there with some fellow dirts. And started a topic about it too.
http://www.dirty.org/forums/showthread.php?t=1672
I should have named it in full and not ILT but can't change it for now, my fault.

[elysiumamsterdam]

hey there ,i was at ILT too,it was my 10th UW concert,i had a great time...
it wasn ,t the best gig i ever witnessed,Karl sounded ..uhhhh real tired,
well it was the
fourth night in a row so you can,t blame him..
i loved it when they played that new song....dunno its name...
I saw them at werchter 2002 or was it 2003....?and that was the best UW gig I ve ever seen...

[King of Snake]

Ah, Werchter...we were there too (Lloyd, me and some others). Very cool gig.

[stimpee]

As I was with Lloyd for all the trip, I'm not gonna write that much if anything, as he seems to have covered all the bases, but read it all because some of it was highly amusing

[lloyd]

dirtytour tickets
and
dirty banner

[stimpee]

Originally Posted by Jim Adorno

Hey,

I was wondering ... Did you guys saw the performance of Tom Hades at ILT, and did you liked it?

Greetz,
Jim

Actually, we did catch the last half hour of Tom Hades and he wasnt bad at all. Quite enjoyable in fact. I think we would have appreciated him a little more had we known that we were gonna be tortured by that shithouse of a "DJ", Marco Bailey afterwards.

[Jim Adorno]

Originally Posted by stimpee

Actually, we did catch the last half hour of Tom Hades and he wasnt bad at all. Quite enjoyable in fact. I think we would have appreciated him a little more had we known that we were gonna be tortured by that shithouse of a "DJ", Marco Bailey afterwards.

Then you saw me )))
I was the one standing left. (The VJ)