RubySoho
Winston
The Chemical Brothers Are A Shite Band And They Owe Me 110 Bucks!!!
March 11th 2008 01:20
Has anyone seen that South Park episode where the kids track down Mel Gibson because they were furious at the sheer badness of The Passion Of The Christ and they wanted their 12 dollars back?
That’s how I felt on Sunday night. I was down at the Myer Music Bowl for the Future Music Festival. So was all of the Gen Y population of Melbourne it seemed. Never seen so many girls with so little clothes on, and so many boys in tight jeans. Does anyone else out there worry for the sterility of this generation?
But I digress. Luckily we got there about ten minutes before the police arrived with their sniffer dogs. Good use of our tax money there. With all the ills of society, with all the damage and harm that people inflict on each other, that the police can think that the biggest service they can do on this day is to arrest young people who are planning on doing nothing more than having a good time, is beyond me. What is the difference between smoking a joint, popping a pill or getting tanked on five bourbon and cokes, can anyone tell me?
But I digress again. We missed the dogs by a whisker and were overwhelmed by the crowd. The organisers had done a good job of overselling the tickets and there was barely any room to breathe. And it was hot. One of the hottest days of the summer, even though it is Autumn. But luckily, bottles of water were only $5 a pop so no need for anyone to get dehydrated or anything.
There were many bands and DJ’s playing on many stages and some of them were quite good (Datarock were a standout) but, let’s face it, I like the other tens of thousands were really there to see one set and one set only: The Chemical Brothers. I’ve never seen that band/DJ’s live and I’d been following their music fairly closely for over ten years. So I, like pretty much everyone else there that day didn’t mind forking out the $110 too much.
They finally come on stage after what seemed like an endless wait and, of course, the crowd goes wild. Live music has become more and more like theatre only the audience is part of the performance- everyone playing their roles.
They started off well, playing two of their bigger hits-Do It Again and Superstar DJ early in the set. I thought they were just warming up. But things pretty much went downhill from there. There was just no zing, no spice, no electricity to their set. They were solid but just did not seem to be going the extra mile to give their fans a great, memorable night. A look around at the crowd told me that many others were feeling it too.
After about an hour, they left the stage for some sort of intermission, without so much as a “we’ll be back soon”. The girl next to me said ‘hopefully they went to put the ‘chemical’ in the Chemical Brothers”. Well they didn’t. They grudgingly came back on stage and played an even flatter, downright boring set. By this point I was outraged. They topped it all off by finishing early and strutting off stage, once again without a backward glance.
One of the ways in which live music resembles theatre is the charade of the encore. The band pretends to leave, even though you know they have to come back because they haven’t played their biggest hits. But you pretend to be surprised and scream and clap for them to come back, which of course they do. So the crowd keeps their end of the bargain and starts clapping and chanting (albeit half-heartedly). Only guess what? They don’t come back.
I know it was too much to expect to hear Setting Sun, since that song is almost as old as half the audience, but they didn’t even play their most recent hit The Salmon Dance. I will say straight out that I hate that song. I think it is the worst track they have ever put out and I don't feel like I missed out anything but not hearing it that night but I know that 99% of the audience were hanging out to hear it. But they didn’t. What a crock. What a couple of jerks. What an embarrassment for the festival organisers too, since it was that particular track that they chose to promote their event on their website.
What is it with these big acts who are so arrogant they think they deserve the obscene amount of money they are being paid simply to show up? How can they have so little regard for the fans who buy their records and fork out more than a hundred dollars to see them play? There is a lot of competition for our money these days. There are other concerts, other festivals, other things we could be doing with our time and money. We decided to spend it on you and this is how you repay us? Talk about taking the money and running.
Like the boys in South Park, I am furious. I feel ripped off. As far as I am concerned, The Chemical Brothers have $110 of my money and I want it back godammit!
And maybe that $5 for the bottle of water too.
That’s how I felt on Sunday night. I was down at the Myer Music Bowl for the Future Music Festival. So was all of the Gen Y population of Melbourne it seemed. Never seen so many girls with so little clothes on, and so many boys in tight jeans. Does anyone else out there worry for the sterility of this generation?
But I digress. Luckily we got there about ten minutes before the police arrived with their sniffer dogs. Good use of our tax money there. With all the ills of society, with all the damage and harm that people inflict on each other, that the police can think that the biggest service they can do on this day is to arrest young people who are planning on doing nothing more than having a good time, is beyond me. What is the difference between smoking a joint, popping a pill or getting tanked on five bourbon and cokes, can anyone tell me?
But I digress again. We missed the dogs by a whisker and were overwhelmed by the crowd. The organisers had done a good job of overselling the tickets and there was barely any room to breathe. And it was hot. One of the hottest days of the summer, even though it is Autumn. But luckily, bottles of water were only $5 a pop so no need for anyone to get dehydrated or anything.
There were many bands and DJ’s playing on many stages and some of them were quite good (Datarock were a standout) but, let’s face it, I like the other tens of thousands were really there to see one set and one set only: The Chemical Brothers. I’ve never seen that band/DJ’s live and I’d been following their music fairly closely for over ten years. So I, like pretty much everyone else there that day didn’t mind forking out the $110 too much.
They finally come on stage after what seemed like an endless wait and, of course, the crowd goes wild. Live music has become more and more like theatre only the audience is part of the performance- everyone playing their roles.
They started off well, playing two of their bigger hits-Do It Again and Superstar DJ early in the set. I thought they were just warming up. But things pretty much went downhill from there. There was just no zing, no spice, no electricity to their set. They were solid but just did not seem to be going the extra mile to give their fans a great, memorable night. A look around at the crowd told me that many others were feeling it too.
After about an hour, they left the stage for some sort of intermission, without so much as a “we’ll be back soon”. The girl next to me said ‘hopefully they went to put the ‘chemical’ in the Chemical Brothers”. Well they didn’t. They grudgingly came back on stage and played an even flatter, downright boring set. By this point I was outraged. They topped it all off by finishing early and strutting off stage, once again without a backward glance.
One of the ways in which live music resembles theatre is the charade of the encore. The band pretends to leave, even though you know they have to come back because they haven’t played their biggest hits. But you pretend to be surprised and scream and clap for them to come back, which of course they do. So the crowd keeps their end of the bargain and starts clapping and chanting (albeit half-heartedly). Only guess what? They don’t come back.
I know it was too much to expect to hear Setting Sun, since that song is almost as old as half the audience, but they didn’t even play their most recent hit The Salmon Dance. I will say straight out that I hate that song. I think it is the worst track they have ever put out and I don't feel like I missed out anything but not hearing it that night but I know that 99% of the audience were hanging out to hear it. But they didn’t. What a crock. What a couple of jerks. What an embarrassment for the festival organisers too, since it was that particular track that they chose to promote their event on their website.
What is it with these big acts who are so arrogant they think they deserve the obscene amount of money they are being paid simply to show up? How can they have so little regard for the fans who buy their records and fork out more than a hundred dollars to see them play? There is a lot of competition for our money these days. There are other concerts, other festivals, other things we could be doing with our time and money. We decided to spend it on you and this is how you repay us? Talk about taking the money and running.
Like the boys in South Park, I am furious. I feel ripped off. As far as I am concerned, The Chemical Brothers have $110 of my money and I want it back godammit!
And maybe that $5 for the bottle of water too.
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Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
Comment by RubySoho
Music Zone
Thought Zone
I was obviously wrong.
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by RubySoho
Music Zone
Thought Zone
Anon 2- I know enough to know when a band is putting some effort into it and when they are just there for the pay cheque.