2014-10-11 Royal Festival Hall

[twicezero]

A lovely gig, being seated was odd, but I don't like the crush so i kinda liked it. Perhaps I'm getting old.

From up front the boys looked kinda tense for the first few songs, I was kinda worried. Then Rick did Surfboy and then everything got relaxed, smiles and the groove.

Towards the end Rick was nae happy with something on right side of his desk, then boom, everything stopped. I heard afterwards someone from backstage say it was something to do with the dry ice.

[whatmakesustick]

Loved the minimal production. Keeping it simple with the graphics and focusing on the typography.

Funny that everyone stood up as soon as they came on and were dancing in the isles after a couple tracks! The sound was amazing - was it me or was it loud (my ears are still ringing), maybe I am getting old.

I don't really have any highlights for songs at this point - I thought surfboy and spoon man were rocking and really picked up the atmosphere (which I think has been lacking a bit recently at recent London gigs except for the Forum show maybe).

Karl did not play guitar on dirty epic which was a bit of a surprise.

I go down to the Southbank quite a lot and it was great that from about 7.30/8 the bars were rammed and the music from the auditorium (overture) was being pumped into the foyer (quite loudly). A bit surreal!

I even managed to day hello to Danny Boyle in the bar before the gig and pick up one of the set of artist proofs for the prints :-)

[Troy McClure]

Originally Posted by Troy McClure

Just found a fair sounding YouTube clip of M.E. from tonight.



Jason

Found a few more YouTube clips of the gig.

Big Mouth (last few minutes with Karl on the harmonica) ....

Dark & Long (Dark Train) ...

Props to the video takers.


--Jason

[kontakt1968]

I doubt I will ever hear dunbo sound better sound quality was amazing some nice suprises on the setlist and yeah surfboy was superb . epic

[Dirty Saint]

What a night. The best UW concert I have seen, and I have seen many!

We were in row F but wandered down to the front to join the others dancing around.

Rez was immense .... Both Ric & Karl seemed genuinely surprised at the crowds reaction to some of the tracks

Only disappointment was the number of woman (who had obviously been dragged along by their husbands!) talking loudly the whole through the slower tracks

Will try to put up some YouTube clips later.

Mistakes, equipment failure but this concert will long in the memory

[markreed]

Been a while since I posted, but easily in my top 20 shows of the 1,400 I have seen by anyone anywhere (not just by UW) in the past 25 years. Have some photos : https://www.flickr.com/photos/mark-r...7648265355720/

[Chippy]

Originally Posted by Dirty Saint

Only disappointment was the number of woman (who had obviously been dragged along by their husbands!) talking loudly the whole through the slower tracks

We saw the same, although it was as much lads with beers talking through Tongue and RoB as much as women. It was a good gig, but a failed experiment for me - I don't think an Underworld audience knows what to do during the more downbeat songs, which is why the band don't/can't play them live.

Interestingly, Karl didn't have this problem on his solo tour.

Overall though, it was brilliant to hear ME live, Minneapolis was awesome and I never expected to see Karl do the harmonica part all through Bigmouth. Shame they felt they had to finish with nuxx though!

[Dirty Saint]

Originally Posted by Chippy

Shame they felt they had to finish with nuxx though!

I was stood at the front and as far I could hear from discussions with the pair they were not meant to play it & only decided at the last minute?

[markreed]

Indeed. Nuxx wasn't on the setlist. And why complain about them playing it. I know they do it at every gig, but it never disappoints.

[BeautifulBurnout]

Originally Posted by Chippy

We saw the same, although it was as much lads with beers talking through Tongue and RoB as much as women. It was a good gig, but a failed experiment for me - I don't think an Underworld audience knows what to do during the more downbeat songs, which is why the band don't/can't play them live.

Interestingly, Karl didn't have this problem on his solo tour.

Overall though, it was brilliant to hear ME live, Minneapolis was awesome and I never expected to see Karl do the harmonica part all through Bigmouth. Shame they felt they had to finish with nuxx though!

I'm not entirely sure it was a regular Underworld audience - perhaps because of the venue? In the lift at the end of the gig there were a couple of 40-something guys and a woman, and one of the guys said the gig had been "a bit more lively than he had thought" and when I smiled and said "Do you think you might have got the wrong tickets?" he laughed and said "Well it wasn't the same as Spandau Ballet".

The combination of early tickets for members of the Festival Hall/South Bank Centre and those who discovered UW for the first time at the Olympic Opening Ceremony may have played a part.

I don't think they could have escaped without playing NUXX in the scheme of things... (would have preferred Spikee though.)