From: Matthew Anniss
Subject: (orb) A MEETING OF MINDS

So, the subject title got your attention, eh? Well, this will grab it
too.....

THE DAY I INTERVIEWED ALEX AND ANDY (and saw them play portsmnouth)

Last Thursday (13th March) I had the priveledge of interviewing Alex and
Andy for my show on NERVE FM (which has now reached the end of it's month
long run, by the way.....). After witnessing the most amazing version of
Passing of Time in the soundcheck, the Tour manager, Neil, ushered me into
the dressing room to meet the guys. Lounging on two small blue sofas, the
greeted me quite enthusiastically, telling me to pull up a chair. It was a
nice dressing room - a table with red table cloth and fruit bowl in the
corner, numerous chairs etc. I got out my Marantz cassette recorder and
microphone, prompting Alex to tell Andy to be on the ball (I don't think it
worked that well). The perils of analogue were discussed, briefly, before
we got started.

They were rather amusing, and seemed nice enough guys. They kept going off
at a tangent in the interview though ("Hull is the Las Vegas of the East
Coast" -Andy, "Sheffield is like Detrroit without the music scene" - Alex).
They did reveal that the problems with the release of ORBLIVION were
because of U2. They claim that they didn't want to clash with u2, who were
going to release POP last Autumn (last Fall, American readers). So they
scheduled orblivion for spring. Unfortunately, U2 changed the date and
everthing went pear shaped... or "It buggered it all up" as Andy said. They
also told me that they were going to win the F.A Cup. I ,of course said
"Chelsea, you mean?" and Alex replied "oh, and
helsea as well".

The whole bizarre episode is being chronicled in an article for a local
magazine. This will feature the obvious "Do you work well as a pair?" / "He
works well as an orange" / "You're a banana" routine.


The gig after was great.... but that'll be in a different message!


MATT





From: Matthew Anniss
Subject: (orb) Orb LIVE in Portsmouth

So, you have succesfully made it to Part Two of Matt Meets the Orb...the
Concert..


Well, things were kicked off by Alex Djing some mellow Drum 'n' Bass,
before Witchman played more Mad Jungle. Thomas Fehlmann Djed some cool
stuff, including hard dub. During Thomas's set, LX wandered round the
audience, watching thomas. Nobody seemed to realise who he was except
me. I chatted to him again, for a bit before he dissappeared.

The orb themselves were pretty damm good. They started with the Sportsnight
theme (popular Wednesday night sports highlights programme in UK) into a
monster version of Passing of Time. Can't remember what was next but ythey
played Secrets (great), the manic breakbeat of Delta Mk II, an unbeatable
version of Outlands, Asylum, S>A>L>T, A Beefed up Toxygene and Assasin (a
bit shite). They were probably others but I can't remember. YThe links
between tracks were great, and the samples fast and furious.

So there you go.......

Matt......




From: Smiley
Subject: Re: (orb) brixton gig

yesterday, while in a condition fast approaching a coma, i wrote...

> apologies in advance for the short message - i'll go into greater
> detail later in the week, once i've managed to get some sleep! ;-)
> the line up for the brixton all-nighter was:
> 9-10pm	lx paterson
> 10-11		andy weatherall
> 11-11.30	witchman
> 11.45-12.30	dreadzone
> 12.30-1.30am	thomas fehlmann
> 1.30-3.00	the orb
> 3.00-4.30	dj lewis
> 4.30-6.00	kris needs
> comments and MY OWN opinions later this week...

ok, here we go...

well, the day started when we (me and nicki, my g/f) met up with sean
from the list, along with his g/f rachel, and his friend ian - who had
all come from new york for the gig. that's dedication for you....

we went up to camden, and i dragged everyone around a few record
shops. sean cleared them out of orb stuff, so he seemed pretty happy.
;-)

we then met up with JC (of this parish), and his g/f sophie - they had
both travelled over from paris. so, we adjourned to "the world's end"
pub for a beer or two, and the first official meeting of the
international orb listers....! ;-)

we got down to brixton at about 8.30-8.45, and has to queue for a
while, as the doors didn't open 'til 9pm.  we were all a bit
concerned, 'cos none of us actually had any tickets at that point -
sean and jc had to collect them on the way in at the box office, and
me and nicki were supposed to be on the guest list...

nico - really sorry to hear about the fuck-up with your tickets. you
should really give stargreen some shit over this....

anyway, we all got in ok. me and nicki were on the list - thankyou
andy hughes, you are indeed a gentleman and a top man!

the academy has a sloping floor, but most of it had been levelled off
to make a dance floor.

the music was already banging away when we got in - i only knew that
it was lx djing, 'cos i saw the running order backstage. i think most
people had no idea who it was, as all the djing was done offstage -
faceless techno bollocks indeed!

lx played a pretty good set, with a good variety of stuff. andy
weatherall played a blinding set - the place was starting to fill up
pretty rapidly by now, and before he had finished the dance floor was
packed with people.

witchman was pretty good - just one guy with a bunch of sequencers,
samplers and stuff - drum 'n' bass stuff. i'd quite like to hear him
on record, but i don't think his music will change my life..

next up were dreadzone, who do absolutely nothing for me...nicki
wanted to see them, but decided against it after the first couple of
songs, so we went up to the guest bar for a drink, and a bit more
space.

the guest bar was directly above the auditorium, and you could look
through the windows onto the scene below. there were a bunch of
separate djs just for this bar - there was a female dj who played some
pretty good stuff, but i have no idea who she was...

i bumped into andy weatherall in the bar, but didn't get a chance to
talk to him, although i did try - sorry ernie! :-<

anyway, i saw andy hughes in there, and spoke to him briefly. i'm
amazed that he knew who i was, and checked that i got in ok. he also
asked after JC. the upshot of the conversation was that andy was,
quote 'shitting his pants', unquote. he couldn't understand why, 'cos
he'd been touring for two weeks...

i asked him how the manchester all-nighter went, and he thought it had
gone pretty well, but they'd pissed off the local press by cancelling
all their interviews that day...

he disappeared backstage soon after, so we went back down to have a
listen to thomas felhmann. not too impressed - he just appeared to be
playing the same song for about a hour... :-<

the orb came on at 1.30am precisely, to the strains of the
'sportsnight' theme tune, as they had at the astoria in january.

they opened up with 'passing of time', 'secrets' and 'asylum'. other
tracks were, in no particular order...delta mkII, outlands, star 6 7 8
9, log of dead wood, s.a.l.t, and finished up with toxygene.

it was a pretty good set, but i'm probably the wrong person to review
it, as it wasn't much different from the astoria set - which isn't
surprising, as it was a warm-up for this tour - but it went down VERY
WELL with the packed crowd. the set only lasted an hour an twenty
minutes, and most people were upset that they didn't come back on for
an encore. i didn't think that the set was as 'tight' as the astoria
gig, but that's just a matter of opinion...

if you haven't seen the orb for a while, prepare yourself for a
blinding show - lights, projections, music and all!

after a long pause while the crowd were waiting for a encore, dj lewis
came on and carried on where thomas felhmann left off... :-< we went
upstairs for a bit of a sit down for a hour or so, before meeting up
with the others, and leaving about 4-4.30am.....

so in conclusion - if you haven't got your tickets yet, get 'em, 'cos
you'll miss a good night out.

and then.....we slept, and slept, and slept...

laters.

-- 
Smiley




From: Sean Strout
Subject: (orb) london orblivion (us report)

Just got back, here's a long winded blabbering:

Rachel, Ian and I were running about London, stuck in traffic on the
way to the Tower Bridge because of some large protest proceeding its
way down the road.  A couple of quick snaps and a spot of hot
chocolate and it was down to the Tube to meet the crew.  Met up with
Sir Smiley and g/f Nikki in Victoria and proceeded down to Camden
Town.  Smiley was the musical tour guide, merrily snatching Orb
rarities out of vinyl bins in many a shop like Willie Wonka in the
chocolate factory. Got Assassin 12", Tangerine Dream remix, YMO remix,
System 7 Mircale remix off Habib, and on and on...  Then we met up
with JC and Sophie from Paris who had been on a spree of their own and
decided to compare notes at the World's End pub.  After a few pints, a
certain Bush song came on the air and yes folks, Smiley *did* confess
his secret passion for the group.  ;-)  Sophie and JC recounted past
Orb shows and we all had a good time.  Smiley drilled me on the "G'Day
mate", "Thank ye Mate", "Cheers Mate" rhetoric so I didn't appear to
be too much of a soggy american.

Next was a mad dash to get back to the hotel and meet up again with
everyone to go to Brixton.  The rain was coming on fierce by this
time.  In Brixton station, Smiley plucked the Herb Garden issue with
the Orb tape out of thin air into my surprised arms.  Many a bloke
were selling tickets to the show (very sorry Nico about that ticket
mess, that's a bunch of shite to put up with, did you try getting on
the guestlist or scalp tickets?).

We settled into the Academy around 9pm and were greeted with LX's
djing, although no one probably knew it.  It was some fantastic drum
n' bass that had me dancing in my mind.  Fehlmann next with some
ambient noodling and the ever so humble Witchman who started his set
off with a looped "Witchman! Witchman!" chant. Then it was Dreadzone.
By this time things were getting quite packed so we headed down front
to check them out.  They greeted the crowd with a knock your socks off
bass line that rumbled the ground and launched into their unique style
of reggae/drum n bass/whatever you want to call it (I think Smiley
called it shite :) set.  Their video was info overload, berzerkish,
hectic freestyle images that didn't stop pounding along with the
music.  Interesting.

Orb was next, I think, somewhere around 1:30 am and they opened with
the sports sample and then Passing of Time.  Like Orblivion, the music
was *thick* with samples.  A smorgasborg of sound that ebbed and
flowed through soft, ambient landscapes and dancey drum n bassy
terrain.  Toxygene and Delta MK II was infectious.  Outlands/Star 6789
was another treat - different without the live band.  They also played
Secrets, Asylum, S.A.L.T. and Log of Deadwood.  Also Pi, which was
simply whacked out and grand.

All in all I felt the Orb set was just blindingly brilliant, albeit
far too short.   Loads of ambient segways and dancey bits. The stage
show is hard to describe - a tepee like metal structure with two pods
and 4-6 polygon screens for videos plus many lights projecting
triangles, circle clusters, etc.  The video work was quite good, very
trancey fractals and the sort and high quality.  I do wish they would
have encored, they left everyone in suspense for a while with no sound
before DJ Lewis came on.

I was surprised at how many people they packed into the academy.
There was the main hall, sloped, which was packed to the hilt with mad
dancers and chill outs who tried to sit through the entire show. Out
in the foyer they were selling shirts, hats and the sort. Rachel
picked up an orange rib tshirt for 18 pounds or so.  All along the
walls up the stairway and in another hall were tons of people sitting
and talking.  In one section of the upstairs hall a DJ was spinning
some jungle and people were getting a good dance out of it.

After the show we stumbled out into a rainy London AM, nabbed some
cardboarded orb posters off a side rail and headed on a night bus to
Victoria Station.  We grabbed a quick bite to eat.  Smiley and Nikki
were eating this whacky fries and ketchup in a pita meal that looked
mighty tasty.  We said our goodbyes and headed off in our own
directions. Smiley/Nikki to the rail, JC/Sophie for a walk to Waterloo
to catch their train, and we decided that it was time to take a taxi
to Russell Square given by a particularly nasty cab driver who didn't
care much for our sort. As we were driving past Hyde Park, we noticed
many people with heavy smiles and tired eyes emerging from the various
nightclubs.

A good time, well worth it.  Seeing Orb in London had a certain homey
feel to it.  The people were generally very friendly and chatty.
Thanks again go to Smiley, JC and group for a splendid time!  Now if
you're up for the NY and DC shows on May 9,10, give me a yell ;-)

cheers,
sean




From: Jean Christophe Derrien
Subject: (orb) Oh joys of joys !

I just came back from the Paris gig, and yep should I say I'm a really
happy man ?

I first met Robert and his friend who came just from Netherlands to see the
concert. I showed them two places where thay could find Orb stuff.

Myself, I found AON's "Art of love" 12" for just 3$ !

We ate together and after that, went to La Cigale, a cosy and small concert
hall (smaller than the Bercy hall where they played in 1995).

I think it was DJ Lewis who played a set before Orb, and it was a real good
one, much better than the DJ sets in Brixton Academy.

We (Sophie, my girlfriend and I) met Andy, who is a really friendly guy.

We offered to him some cheesy French soundtrack records, and storybooks for
children. Maybe they will use these ones for future samples !
Then the concert started at 8:00 pm, a very early start for an Orb concert.
Excellent sound, though.
They played :
Secrets
Blue Room
Asylum
PI
Outlands
Delta MkII
A huge ever growing... (just the intro)
Plateau (of normality) started like the Serious Road Trip mix, and
    ended crazy
Bedouin (between the album mix and The Sheiks (Herb Garden))
Majestic (hysteric)
S A L T
Toxygene ( a real anthem)

I think it's the best set with the Nimes arena in 95' that I saw. Not too
much samples, like in Brixton.
It's our 6th time we saw them, and it's always different.

After that, we had a drink with Andy (like I said, a real cool guy), saw LX
a bit (but not much, he seems to be shy).
I think Andy wouldn't mind if I tell you what he said to us :

He's not Ganja Kru. (that's for you, Smiley. He said hello to u "Good old
Miles")
After the Asylum 12" and the American tour, they plan to go back to Berlin
to do a new EP, with 4/5 tracks; it might come out in late August, or
later.
David Fincher (Seven, Alien3) offered them to do the whole soundtrack of
his new movie, "The Game" (I think, with Michael Douglas and Sean Penn),
but they weren't able to do that, because of the Oblivion tour.
But they have other offers to do movie scores, like for the next Bond
movie. (it's not signed yet, so let's keep it for us, okay ? :-))
He told me other things, they did a gig in Besancon ( a small French town)
the day before Paris, they were only 60 guys in the crowd, if I didn't
misunderstand him. But it was mad, and they did a special version of Little
Fluffy Clouds for them.
Did you know that he worked as a sound engineer for Galliano ?  (a French
guy told me that)
And Andy seems to be involved in a project called Cassiopea (with Japanese
guys, but I may be wrong).
Another thing, in August, they seem to go to a festival in Japan near the
Fuji mountain. Great, but may be too far for me.

A French television recorded the whole set on video for a show, it seems
that that will be aired pretty soon (just a one or two tracks, it seems).

That's all I can remember right now. Maybe some other stuff will come to
mind tomorrow, I don't know.
Hey, US pals, don't miss them !

JC From Paris

PS : Did I tell you that I'm a screenwriter for French television ? I sold
a script for a cartoon adventure serie last year, called
Bob Morane : Service Secrets Soucoupes (UFO Secret Service)
I called three characters in the script : Fehlmann is a thief, Hughes is a
man who works in a UFO related objects store, and Paterson is the big bad
guy of the episode.
Andy laughed at the idea. It will come out in France and Canada in
Christmas 97/beginning of 98, I don't know if they sold the serie to US and
UK televisions. We'll see.





From: Ryan Platte

well mates i had a bit different experience than did sean at the orb 
concert in chicago. for me it wasn't an orb/chems concert: my friend and 
i were blown to bits by the orb, couldn't entertain the thought of 
enduring the chems no matter how 'nice' their beats would be. we just 
didn't want to know. got out of there at 11:30! couldn't believe it, and 
we were both real happy to be out. so from that perspective it wasn't so 
terrible. more on that in a bit, but first:

he'd had his ticket ordered on call by someone else who couldn't go, 
quite a mess, so we wanted to pick his ticket up before the rush. no 
ticket booth visible from the street...we go inside the aragon...no 
ticket booth...keep going in...go up some stairs...hear some beats...some 
people playing soccer... yes it's that blond dude in the chems...we're 
both scared like little boys... a person who looked a LOT like andy 
hughes walks around the entire room looking bored as hell...and we're so 
nervous we convince ourselves it's not him. damn. he walks right in front 
of us. oh well. there was like no security at all, everybody looked at us 
like we were supposed to be there. ?!?!? we'll have to come early to all 
of these things, make friends with some very bored people whose music we 
admire! sorry to have been spooked, andy.

finally get in the room by means of tickets that evening, some nice 
chilled beats from "local dj". this is going to rock, fellow ft wayne 
orbie frank says. we say yup. dr livingstone recognizes me from the 
hat...hey, how'd you like it dr? let me know... good to meet a lister. 
concert starts like sean said kind of out of nowhere...started same way 
as live 93, whatever that metallic slamnoise is, "beautiful state here" 
samples, then...

secrets, feel-good beat enhanced, they screwed around with the order of 
the song...didn't bring in that cool bell hook until at least halfway 
through.

lucky saddle! they took out the 'melody' and greatly intensified the 
drone chords, made the effect very anticipatory...of course the whole 
thing was already that way for me...

blue room, something very friendly about all those interplaying shuffling 
beats in the recording...this performance, they seemed to take all of 
them and turn them each into the primary beat one at a time. very cool, 
people around me were really grooving.

asylum started with some of the rose tinted samples amid a LOT of noise, 
then turned into some unidentifiable wall of sound that i think gave us 
concussions. ouch.

outlands, gave hints of the song's outlandish nature, then turned into an 
excuse for more insanity-producing snares...verrry loud.

delta mk II i thought was the best orbience of the evening. it took its 
time to develop, probably five minutes of ducking the various components 
in and out for a very nice texture before letting it fly, and again the 
orbies entered the groove.

plateau...began in deep mindbending orbience, progressed into some cool 
beats too. i think it could have used a hook sample to help people 
relate, but maybe that was the point! some idiot in front of me thought 
he was really cool and was cracking jokes and saying something about 
getting the chems up there. i yelled fuck you. people around me smiled 
and he shut up. ahhh...

bedouin, i was at home. off my head but home inside their beats.

majestic, i was jumping like a madman from the moment i heard the "trip 
over the words" sample...something about this song i love, i was hoping 
they'd play it. paterson waved everybody to get going, and it took them a 
bit but before too long everybody i could see was jumping up and down in 
waves. it was great, it was just great!

salt sucked. i enjoyed the visual ideas, but i'm a designer and the 
execution sucked, and it seemed like the music was just straight, tied to 
the visuals, wouldn't have been bad, but it was like the two weighed each 
other down. plus maybe i'm wrong but it seemed the sync slipped anyway, 
the lips were kissing the barcodes somewhere between the beat and the 
offbeat...bleah.

toxygene got all the poplovers' hands in the air, but to me this mix was 
the kind of orb i just stand still to and take it in...so i did. very 
warm, human music.

a bit of silence...was it over? heh heh NO WAY IS THAT...yup it is. 
Little Fluffy Clouds, a bit twisted and beautiful...the lighting guy was 
kind enough to set an intellilight on one of those settings where it 
makes a ring and center it directly on me so i was within an orb of light 
while the clouds caught the colors everywhere. it was neat, i looked at 
it the whole time.

wow.

silence, then from the insane to the inane, everything else was pointless 
after that so justin and i just smiled at each other, drove home and went 
to bed.

by the way, the set was over two hours...

thanks, orb. next time please don't tour with pop stars. love and respect.

ryan platte




From: Dave Cowen
Subject: Re: the (orb) in chicago

At 06:08 PM 4/27/97 -0500, you wrote:

>concert starts like sean said kind of out of nowhere...started same way 
>as live 93, whatever that metallic slamnoise is, "beautiful state here" 
>samples, then...

My friends and I arrived and stepped foot on the floor of the ballroom 
immediately as the chimes from the Tape Beatles' "Beautiful State" started,
and I was just elated to both not miss any of the concert and not have to
wait for them to start, either... :)

>lucky saddle! they took out the 'melody' and greatly intensified the 
>drone chords, made the effect very anticipatory...of course the whole 
>thing was already that way for me...

One of the best parts about the show was the rear speakers that were 
set up: the sense of surround was incredible, and the drones sounded 
absolutely gigantic that way.

However, I have mixed feelings about the Orb playing ambient sets at
venues that don't have seating... the crowd always seems to get
restless (as another poster mentioned, there seemed to be a
disproportionate number of people pushing and shoving), and it becomes
hard to enjoy the ambient tracks standing up.

>blue room, something very friendly about all those interplaying shuffling 
>beats in the recording...this performance, they seemed to take all of 
>them and turn them each into the primary beat one at a time. very cool, 
>people around me were really grooving.

The Blue Room was excellent.  LX and Andy really seem to have mixed
the old Adventures and u.f.orb stuff into truly powerful dance pieces.
Majestic was a high point of the Riviera show for me, and rocked just
as hard this time: I love the way they slam the beats, layer those
crazy bongos on top of it and... uhh... garble it all up.  I'd really
love to have a copy of the way they do Majestic live on CD.

>plateau...began in deep mindbending orbience, progressed into some cool 
>beats too. i think it could have used a hook sample to help people 
>relate, but maybe that was the point! some idiot in front of me thought 
>he was really cool and was cracking jokes and saying something about 
>getting the chems up there. i yelled fuck you. people around me smiled 
>and he shut up. ahhh...

Personally, I thought that Plateau was one of the low points of the 
evening.  The lack of a hook combined with the inferiority of the Aragon's
sound system made the more subtle elements virtually unrecognizable, and
so the track sank under it's own weight.

>salt sucked. i enjoyed the visual ideas, but i'm a designer and the 
>execution sucked, and it seemed like the music was just straight, tied to 
>the visuals, wouldn't have been bad, but it was like the two weighed each 
>other down. plus maybe i'm wrong but it seemed the sync slipped anyway, 
>the lips were kissing the barcodes somewhere between the beat and the 
>offbeat...bleah.

S.A.L.T. was -definately- the low point of the evening.  LX or Andy, if
you're listening, give this one up.  You couldn't hear what Johnny was 
saying through the Aragon's sound system, the track doesn't really have 
any catchy hooks or beats that work in corcert, the track wasn't really any 
different from what's on the CD, and the pushing and shoving started again
during the track.  This is the only set list change I really would have 
liked: Towers of Dub in S.A.L.T.'s place would have brought down the house.

>silence, then from the insane to the inane, everything else was pointless 
>after that so justin and i just smiled at each other, drove home and went 
>to bed.

We made the mistake of sticking around for the Chems.  What was truly
depressing about the show is the way the crowd responded to the Chem's
bland, rock-show atmosphere with utter abandon.  We were out of there
5 tracks after they started.  I really liked the way the Orb's had no
opening act, just a DJ, for the previous shows, and I wish they could
do that again in the future.  C'mon, with one of the top 200 albums of
all time, you'd think they'd be important enough to do it themselves,
right?

>by the way, the set was over two hours...

This I have to doubt.  There were only two "listen to LX spin disco faves
while Andy swaps the DATs/ADATs" breaks, right?  That would force it to be
120 minutes at most, wouldn't it?  

>thanks, orb. next time please don't tour with pop stars. love and respect.

What he said.  The Chicago show was hardly the disaster some people made
it out to be: I had a real good time, and you can bet I'll be back in 1999.  
But the way that the show was promoted, and the resulting crowd, made it a 
less than stellar time.

signed: ESCHATFISCHE, david




From: Steve Littleton
Subject: (orb) Chicago show

Well, there's been a lot of reviews about this one already, but since
this was my first experience with any type of show of this nature, I
thought I would throw it in.  Myself and six guys whom I hardly know
drove five hours from St. Louis, but I quickly realized that they had
come to see the Chems, as did most of that annoying crowd.  I tried
desperately to find other listers (Sean--did you not wear the Pac Man
shirt?) so that I could enjoy the Orb with other fans, but to no
avail.  It seemed like I was in there for five minutes when LX & Andy
came out doing their thing.  I swear I saw Andy outside in an alley
before the doors opened, wearing a black jacket with "Orb" (a la oxbow
lakes cover) on the left breast.  I had to stick around for the Chems,
but I wandered around restlessly after watching for a bit.  I expected
the Chems to scream "Are you ready to rock, Chicago?!" at any moment.
It was good to see LX and Andy come out and do their thing without
pandering to the crowd at all, although I enjoyed seeing Andy really
get into what he was doing.  The Chems were hard-core and annoying.
Seeing the Orb was the only thing about the show or my road trip that
I really enjoyed, but it was enough to make it worth it.  To anyone
considering going to a future show on this tour:  it's worth it, but
be prepared to deal with the crowd and Chems. Any word on the Lawrence
show last night? Steve





From: DJ ANIMA
Subject: (orb) VISITOR

Hi All!

A friend of my gave me a copy of The Visitor yesterday.  Just gave it to
me!!!  I like it alot, highly suggest you pick it up if you see it.  The
Solaris Mix of *Towers* blew my mind.  Although the alien on the back
cover looks suspiously like Matt Johnson.

     Oh yeah, while we're dropping names: Mahatmus Ghandi and I go way
way back.  Didn't have to worry about any girlfriends or sudden knife
attacks and his mellowness prefigures LX's vibe by AT LEAST sixty years.

  Then there's CG Jung.  I remember chilling with him at his lakeside
home in Zurich one day, and from nowhere he busts out a spliff the size
of David Spade and torches it. Next thing you know, Freud shows up with
an eightball.  Carl or I didn't touch it, but Ziggy huffed it up like so
much teenage pussy, right?  We talked well into the night about the
recently passed age of consent laws for dream characters in relation to
psychosis patients who create them.  Carl seem to think the only way
around the problem was to let the dreamer decide for themselves what
consenting age is, as most dream characters are ageless.  The Zigster
opted for the opposite saying that dream contents want to be fucked into
understanding. At least his mum's did any way.
   
     I sat back and soaked it all in.  I stood up to look for a roach
clip,(David's head is small, you know) when the discussion violently
turned to the meaningingfulness of meaningful coincidences vs. the
meaningfulness of coincidental meaninginglessness.  I stood in Carl's
foray for several minutes staring at a painting of Miester Eckhart and
wondered if he ever encountered sexual tension with his female
apprentice.  I figured if he did it was probaly due to the fumes of the
*aqua permanenes*

     Lastly I wanted to tell the story of the day God and I sat down to
talk about the age of consent laws between angels of people who died in
their teens and and the angels of people who died in their thirties.  He
seemed to feel that angels were everywhere and were in harmony with all
the known Universe.  To make a firm decision about consent would
undermine the duty of angels to visit a person in their dreams in order
to help in the process of individuation.  Whether they take the guise of
the Bodhisattvas, or of an impression of Jesus on a piece of toast, he
felt the importance lies in the fact that we need to recognize them, and
change our pride filled ways accordingly. As I sat on my cloud and
watched Kurt Cobain start an angel's robe on fire, I began to think
about the meaninginglessness of throwing stones.  I mean I know that I
have been in relationships that weren't the best for me, and no one
could dissuade me.  I did however figure it out in my own time and made
the necessary corrections.  I thought about how I have survived incest
and whether or not I would date someone who was not on the same
emotional and mental level as I and decided in my own case I could not,
because of what my father had done to me.  Throughout, the focus
remained on MYSELF! For the life of me I can't figure out what attending
concerts at age 13 has to do with consentual relationships, nor do I
care.  As Mike Scott once told me in a pub, "I've got a madman of my own
to contend with!"

     As I sat on my cloud floating over my parent's home, I heard the
odd combination of hand cymbals and someone hawking a loogie.  I turned
around to see Sid Vicious and Siddartha Guatama approaching me. Sid was
fresh from his most recent gig at the Shadow club in Jupiter's IO
district.  The Buddah hooked up with him on his return from astral
projecting himself into Bob Marley's dreadlocks.  I looked up at both of
them and said, "Hey fellas, what's up?"  

     A peacful smile broke over the Buddah's face.  He replied, " We
were on our way to a pot party at Chirst's place and wanted to know if
you could teach us how to make a pan of brownies."

     "Sure I will, on one condition."

     Sid  snorted, "Wotissit, you right cunt!"

     I looked around me and watched the clouds pass by.  I knew Rikki
would love it here.  I looked below me and watched my parent's home
become a tiny dot on the horizon.  I drew the sweet celestial air into
my lungs and slowly exhaled it into Sid's face.  Tiny stars left my
mouth and circled his face.  A few on them landed on the lotus the
Buddah carried in his hand. I continued, "My one condition is that I
while I am making them, that one of you gets on the horn with Jesus and
finds out whether it is an all ages party"


OM




From: Reverend Overbaugh
Subject: (orb) Phoenix show.
	
	first of all, why didn't anybody say that there was going to be a 
pyramid on the stage?  Was this not present at the orb/chem bors shows?  
It was a... pyramid... and LX and Andy played inside of.  It was cool.  
it was covered with white tarpouline that they projected the images onto. 
	Second of all, I believe they were taping the concert, but they 
might do this for every show.
	Third of all, I didn't meet anybody, of course us Phoenix kids 
kinda forgot to offer descriptions huh?  Well, I was wearing a red visor 
with blonde hair.  Blue and white rayon jogging pants, a white and blue 
ringer t-shirt with a blue logo on the front.  And I was dancing my ass of.
	Fourthly, what was up with the breakdancers??  Sluckily, the DJ 
wasn't putting me in a dancing mood anyhow.
I have no Idea what the set list was, but I do know that they played 
Valley at 11:00.  They ended with toxygene, and came out and played 
Little Fluffy Clouds as an encore. Thy mixed a bunch of samples from 
other orb songs from that era, which kinda confused things.  Well, until 
that old familiar sample came in... "what were the ...."

I got to the club early to do my interview type thingy.  I basically had 
alex do some radio ID things for my station, and him and andy signed ALL 
of our stuff. He signed a total of five posters (two I have) and he 
signed my toxygene 12" too.  Andy signed my two posters and my 12" as 
well.  I also got a picture of me and lx and of me and andy.
 here was the times that were posted before the concert:
	5:00 > 6:00 Dinner
	6:00 Soundcheck
	7:00 > 8:00 DJ "LX"
	8:00 > 9:00 Local DJ's
	9:00 DJ Lewis
	10:00 Orb
	11:40 Dj Lewis
	12:00 Curfew
	Aftershow Tempe to Los Angeles (381 miles)
		Tommorow
	Load in   10:00 AM

they followed this schedule (so far) almost exactly.  There were supposed 
to be two local DJ's but the one, Marcus Schultz got there a little late, 
and I think he didn't spin.  The other local DJ (works at Swell Records I 
think) did a good set, but I think he wasn't prepared to spin for an 
hour, because it seemed to me that his set deteriorated towards the end.  
I like the Beastie Boys and all, but not as a warm-up for the orb.
Lewis cam on at 9:0
	the orb played from 10:00 right up until about 11:50, so DJ Lewis 
didn't bother to come back out.  Yeas Tempe has a curfue at midnight for 
under 18: people, and I think it was all ages show, so that explains 
that.  
	I hope the show at Las Vegas will be as good or better, but the 
Chem's are kinda getting me worried.  (well, actually it's the FANS of 
the chems that are geting me worried)
		peace out yo!

quote of the day:
		ORBLIVION
		... or is it?
		-Andy Orb '97 (signed on my poster)

djblue




From: ALLENST
Subject: (orb) Orb Fest '97

Howdy gang,

Just returned from Orb Fest '97...at least that's what I'm calling the
last three days having seen them in Phoenix, Los Angeles and Las
Vegas.

Quick summary = Virtually the same set each night ~ 1:55 long.   Vegas
seemed to be missing one song as it was 1:45, but don't you dare ask
which one....I DONT REMEBER !!!  :-))))   I was able to watch both
Phoenix and Vegas shows from the front row which was well suited to my
technically minded tastes.

Starts with Secrets, Blue Room, etc, etc,.....SALT, Toxygene and the
encore of LFClouds.   Bedouin and SALT are not "performed" per se, but
are used when they are switching ADATS.   It appears Alex plays
Bedouin form his Sony mini-DAT atop his decks and SALT is off a CD.

Phoenix was a good show - a nice blend of Andy mixing a solid set with
Alex filling the transitions with lots of samples.   Decent crowd but
not overly large, made it nice to be there.   Saw  Alex before the
show and said hello although he seemed to fear for his life as I
approached.   The Pyramid set (anyone else think it looks like a
F-117A) was pretty neat but seemed to set them back from the crowd a
little.

LA - not a great time :-(    The Orb were good, but they played a much
mellower set.   Andy really toned down some of the opening tunes and
Alex didn't seem to add much in the transitions.   The real problem
for me was the crowd, typical LA bullshit.  No flames, as I was born
and raised all 31 years here.  LA sucks !!  The crowd seemed more
interested in seeing or being seen. I had a nasty suspicion that a
fair amount of those in attendance couldn't name an Orb tune to save
their hides.   Such flakes...some guy was quoting the bible louder
than music during the opening song....I looked over during the height
of one song and the woman next to me was looking in a mirror
"adjusting" her make-up....the crowd in front of me was snorting more
coke than on an episode of Miami Vice, etc, etc.....    Such a waste.
Their Pyramid set was placed really far back form the crowd (?? 30
feet) and this probably didn't help things.   Also expensive; those
$20 shirts from Phoenix suddenly became $25 in LA...maybe that darned
tariff to help pay for all that riot damage.

Las Vegas -  KICKED ASS !!!!   There had been fear of the Chems
overshadowing the Orb, and Andy and LX may have felt they needed to
show the crowd a thing or two.   Well they did.   One great time! Andy
was going ballistic dropping the beats in and out and did some great
live remixing.   LX seemed in fine form adding just the right amount
of samples.   The crowd seemed really responsive and actually cheered
between songs, and I felt that the Orb had indeed captured the
attention of those who may have come just for the Chems.    Because of
the quick set changes between the the bands, the Pyramid was not used
and Andy and LX were right at the front of the stage, and I think this
really helped their performance.

The Chems came on after about a 40 minute changeover and as expected
the crowd went nuts dancing.   Their set was about 90 minutes long and
I observed from the upper story, thankful that I had seen the Orb
up-close and the Chems from a distance :-)    Their set was as
expected, one continuom of loops and breaks, sounding like a DJ was
just mixing their records.   Maybe it was the lateness (or my own
prejudices), but they didn't seem to hold the crowd's attention all
through their set.   At the end, they finished their last song and
waived goodbye...no one really chanted for an encore like they did
with the Orb though.

I took a buddy along who is not into either of the bands and his
unsolicited comments were interesting.   He said the Orb's set didn't
really make him want to dance, but that he found himself transported
to another place with the music and was blown away by how time just
flew by...a real euphoric kinda state.    He later said "these
Chemical brothers are good, but they don't have the creativity in the
music to keep it interesting".   Case Closed.

Sorry for any typos or the rambling length, but I've not slept much
this week.

Take care all, Scott.





From: rachel
Subject: (orb) SF Reports

from one weary-legged orbster to the others, it was quite a night....

sorry to everyone i didn't meet up with, and nice to see those i did...
things always seem to get chaotic towards the last minute... (a map of
Oakland would've done me a lot of good...)

let me preface this all by saying the orb live is the orb live, and
i'd go hear them under any circumstances, even the not-so-good ones i
saw them under last night. i mean, live orb in poor conditions is
better than no orb at all, right?

so we get there in time for the doors to open at 8pm, only to find
they've opened earlier, and i walked in just as the Orb was
starting... yes, they played at 8pm!!! it wasn't even dark yet, and
the ambient light from outside was shining through... a bit
disconcerting, as chad, seofon and i stood arond in our confusion
thinking "this can't be them ALREADY!!!" but indeed it was. the
pyramid structure was way cool, the videos were kickin (IMHO) and the
lighting was superb... there must've been some serious tech rehearsal
to get things THAT synched up. the set list was exactly as everyone
has posted, and i can't remember the specific order, but Outlands was
INCREDIBLE, Majestic blew me away, and contrary to other reports i've
heard, i really enjoyed SALT. personally, i didn't dig the version of
Delta MK II for reasons i probably couldn't communicate effectively at
this point.. pity, as it's my favourite off the album. they ended with
LFC (of course)... no encore, and then the set was totally stripped
during this weird set by Robbie Hardkiss. total playing time: 1 hour
40 minutes if my calculations are correct. the crowd was surprisingly
amiable... no meat-head chem worshippers that i saw, although in a
stadium of about 6000, it's kinda hard to tell. actually, i saw a lot
of people jetting when the orb finished. i'm assuming LX and Lewis
spun prior to 8 (if at all), since i sure didn't see them... chems
seemed to drone on for longer... they started powerful, but it got old
after a while, and nothing seems as full and rich as the Orb's
sound... they're a hard act to follow, and everything just seemed
empty after that beautiful set. the Chems had a lot of kickin video as
well, but the lights certainly weren't as good, and they didn't play
any of the songs with that lovely woman's voice (i forget her name at
the moment)... i'm thinking the venue may've been assholes, as the
chems also finished without an encore, and they basically ripped down
the stage and turned the lights on at midnight (yes, MIDNIGHT!!) for
only being 4 hours long, it was a power-packed gig. i deifnitely had
an excellent time. this, however, was the worst of 4 different tours
i've seen, and i only hope that's because of the venue, not the Orb
themselves. like i said, live Orb in mediocre places is infinitely
better than no Orb at all...

i know this comes off as negative, and yes, i'm a bit disappointed, as
i've seen better (and i'm grumpy cause i'm at work now) but when i say
Outlands blew me away, well, i was practically losing my mind, and as
tired as i think LFC is, it was still amazing... the orb live is a
treat, and i'd highly recommend them under any conditions....

and i spoke to Irvine Welsch on Sat who said he'd be attending...
anyone see him? =)

time to rejuvenate my legs.... it was some SERIOUS boogying!
good luck and happy ventures for those going to future dates!
=)
rachel




From: Christopher William Niemitz
Subject: (orb) Re: sf show, remixes....

i was also a bit bummed about the show. i was still hunting for a
parking spot @ 8 pm & was surprised to find out that the show was well
under way by the time i got in... they also didn't seem to use many
samples this time around, maybe because it was a shorter set overall.
i heard Paris, Texas; La Wally; Natacha Atlas; and what sounded like
Led Zeppelin's "Whole lotta love" played on kazoos. Wanted to hear
that "These are a few of my favorite things" w/ S&M lyrics, but no
such luck.  I also thought it was interesting that they opened up
little fluffy clouds w/ brief use of the sample but didn't use it once
the track really got underway... the light show wasn't as impressive
than the last time around, but perhaps that's because it was geared to
smaller venues.  I thought the sound system was excellent though.

the chemical brothers were a boring following-up. no samples,
not much variation on a theme, but the largely under 30
crowd that stayed to watch them were all raising their hands
in the air and screaming as if it were Aerosmith or Van
Halen.....

Orb remixes: the NIN remix is 6 minutes. a bit strange beat-wise &
much different than the orb's other remixes (Andy & not Alex was
listed as the mix engineer), i was hoping for some wigged out drug
reference samples on this one, instead they do a little manipulation
of Trent Reznor's voice. not really danceable, not really
dub,breakbeat or d&b....hard to describe. the MBM remix is quite nice.
Also falls through the cracks of categorization, however, it uses a
very nice melody over top & seems a bit more ambient.....anyway, both
should be out on CD in the US soon.




From: Bobby Tribble
Subject: Re: (orb) Bay Area Reports

rachel@ironlight.com wrote

> let me preface this all by saying the orb live is the orb live, and
> i'd go hear them under any circumstances, even the not-so-good ones
> i saw them under last night. i mean, live orb in poor conditions is
> better than no orb at all, right?

I never got around to contacting the other Bay Area Orbheads.  I guess
next time!  I was the guy in the Orbus Terrarum shirt if you noticed.  =)

I'd never been in the Kaiser arena before.  What is this, like a
basketball court or something?  Me and my non-techno friend (aka, my
ride there) went up to the seats at first, but I made the good decision
to go down to the floor.  Anyway, I went to see the Orb at the Warfield
about four years ago and the setup was _way_ better.
Although, running around the smoke filled corridors with Delta MKII in
the background was kind of cool, and there was one spot in those halls
with pretty good acoustics...

> so we get there in time for the doors to open at 8pm, only to find
> they've opened earlier, and i walked in just as the Orb was
> starting... yes, they played at 8pm!!!

Yeah, I got there around 8:20.  That'll show me.

Anyway, my thoughts FWIW:
Majestic was really great, first of all.  I thought the video for
SALT was good too, good enough to make a video if not for all the
copyrighted logos...  And, the lights for Toxygene were top notch.
I also got a kick out of, well I know it as the beginning of "Orb
vs. Coldcut" the thing with the rooster and opera.  Though I 
felt like I was the only one who wasn't thinking 'what the hell's
going on?' at that point.  And, I like hearing the "guy clearing his 
throat" over the big sound system.  Yes, I enjoyed all the actual songs
too, of course.

The sound wasn't too great, mainly I would have sacrificed a little
of the volume for more clarity; or maybe I was just too close to the
stage!  I think the Chems songs were hurt a little more by the lack
of clarity than the Orb's, I don't remember too well but their songs kind
of pounded together, and that long spoken sample at the beginning was
just a bunch of moosh to me.  Oh yeah, and can't forget about that
sound at the beginning that drilled a hole through my eardrum either.

My friend and I thought the Chems were a little too boring (and he had
a class the next day - in San Luis Obispo!) so we ducked out about 3-4
songs into their set.  Still a pretty good day.  Oh, and I thought the
end of the Hardkiss set was pretty good too, they had that ceiling
light/strobe (that wasn't part of the Orb's setup) which covered a lot
more of the audience than the up-front lights.  As for the Chems'
lighting, well, you like strobe light?  =)

I remember someone else saying there was a lot of Orb merchandise at
one of the other shows. Here, only 6 different shirts (I got the cool
one), the Chems had their six shirts, plus stickers ($4!) knit caps
and lighters (!).  Plus, staff was giving out concert posters on the
way out!  My conversation with the first guy - "can I have another one
for my friend?" "NO"  My conversation with the second guy - "can I
have another..." "Take two, take three!"  OK.  That reminds me, I
asked the guy at Mod Lang if they had any more of those cool Orblivion
stickers and he gave me about 15!  Geez, OK, if they're free... =)

BTW, I did ask the clerk and he thought they might have some more of
the Orbscure Trax, might not.  If anyone's still looking and wants one
I can get it for cost of Orblivion - amount Rasputin's buys it back
for = $8.  See, you knew there was some reason you read this far...
Though, the guy wasn't sure if they had 'em or not.  If anyone e-mails
me I'll find out.  Plus you get an Orblivion sticker.

FINALLY (I really didn't intend to write this much) there was an
article about the show in the Oakland Tribune.  Fooey on them!  I'll
type up the interesting parts...

--

REVENGE OF THE TECHNO NERDS
Chemical Brothers give techno pop the human touch
By William Friar

...

But Sunday night, the Brothers stuck close to their techno roots.  In
doing so, they proved they can do a tremendous amount with little more
than drum and bass effects.  They kept the music from growing monotonous
by constantly shifting the tempo and rhythms.

...

Orb less engaging

the Orb, which opened the evening, also kept the crowd dancing, but it
did so with ambient music that, while intense and deafening, was less
engaging than what the Chemical Brothers had to offer.

There was a cerebral quality to their music that made it ultimately 
kind of tedious.  While all electronic music is constructed, this _felt_
constructed.

Founder Alex Paterson and his current cast of helpers delighted in
pulling all sorts of goodies from their bag of sonic tricks:  harpsichords,
tribal drums, bloops, bleeps, an opera aria, Bugs Bunny, even a snippet
that suggested a kazoo orchestra doing Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love."

Many of these aural excursions betrayed a sense of humor, especially
"S.A.L.T.," which is little more than a preacher's rant about how the
bar codes on consumer products prove the Apocalypse is nigh.

It helped that the Orb didn't seem to take themselves too seriously.
But not enough.

---

Oh, BTW, I still have those Orb flyer scans up at my homepage.  I'm
taking them off in a week, so if you're interested take a look now!

- Bobby





From: teiwaz barana
Subject: (orb) oaktown357 orb /bros.chemical

orbies

dunno.  seems to me the orb keep getting better or is that bigger?

anyway the tickets said 8pm and if it ain't worth gettin' there 15
minutes early, why bother? Hope you didn't think they'd hit the stage
at midnight--this ain't the Warfield. My friends (the ones that
actually made it) and I got there at 6pm--doors opened at 6:30 and
after a little chaos about will-call we found ourselves inside. Guess
it was Scott Gavin Djing before the orb--if that quasi band 'tween orb
and Bros. Chemical was R.Hardkiss & Co.

Venue problems--dead soda machine, crappy ventilation--can you say
steam bath? Parking--enough for 100 vehicles, but I must admit parking
was cheap--$3/carload.  Or you could take your chances around Lake
Merritt--a not too friendly place.   Looks better than SF's Market
street--though.

Product--what's with the puny T-shirts?  I doubt LX (where's the XL?)
could fit in those.  Maybe he could fit in one from the bros.
chemical.  Anyone buy a $6 chemicals' lighter?

The orb set was pretty much as published, no big surprises.  Kept
looking for the ambient in the ORB--guess they bowed to the chemicals
crowd instead. Highlight for me--the Arabic samples from Bedouin and
the motorcycle samples.

Didn't know what to expect from the bros. chemical.  Mostly got volume
and block rockin' beats.  They fluctuated the volume so they could
keep dropping in those big beats.  Highlight for me was the repeated
LSD sample--not sure exactly what it said and the chemicals track--a
private psychedelic reel--with its hieroglyph visuals trance-forming
into playing card royalty--kings and then into jesters--finally ending
with a Love iS all you neeD slide.

The crowd seemed a little dead during the first fifteen minutes of the
orb, but from then on it was dance dance dance--guess the bros.
chemical fans wanted to be impressed first.  Whatever happened to
smart drinks?  Guess you don't need'em when it's only a four hour
show, but hey, I'd go again in a New York minute.

--teiwaz (still recovering)




From: basehead 
Subject: (orb) NYC

*boggle*

okay i just got back today, was in new york for the hammerstein show
last night..

two words..
FUCKING AMAZING!

they had some local dj i believe playing from around 8 to maybe 9:30 (?),
then 'we' played for about 90 minutes (it seemed like forever).. they
were utterly crap, i dunno WHAT that stuff is supposed to be but the
bass was so loud you couldnt hear much of anything, and the beats were
nothing impressive..

dj lewis keogh came on around 11 and played an absolutely INCREDIBLE
set.. the crowd was really going nuts, that guy has to be one of the
best dj's in the world (underrated too, you dont hear people talk
about him much)..

after about an hour i believe, maybe a bit less, andy and lx came on
.. i'm guessing around 12.. to BIG time cheers.. it was great knowing
there weren't going to be people sitting there looking bored and
smoking waiting for the chem bros or something.. everyone was there
to see who they SHOULD be there to see..

i was too engrossed in the whole thing to write down a tracklist but
what i remember went something like this (in no particular order):

ubiquity
plateau
delta mkii
asylum
blue room
majestic
s.a.l.t
toxygene
outlands
valley (i do believe i heard it in there)
a huge evergrowing pulsating... (they played a few minutes of it)
spanish castles in space (with a perfect bit of percussion over it)

and little fluffy clouds for an encore.. the crowd wanted a second one
they clapped and screamed for about 1.5-2 minutes but they never came
out again..

then dj lewis spun the crowd out.. several hundred people didn't even
think about leaving till he was done with the end-set.. maybe 30-40
minutes.. he's just amazing


the visuals were stunning, as i had expected.. i was practically
crying when blue room started because the visuals mixed so well with
the song (which is my favorite of theirs)..

they played some interlude bits too, some were silly, some were damn
cool (i dont know if they were unreleased tracks or alex just put someone
else's record on while they set up)..

alex was having a lot of fun, he could tell the crowd was into it.. and
andy was just going nuts, headbanging the whole time.. they had the
crowd wrapped around their finger.. they never let anything go on
too long, they set up incredible builds, dropped the hard beats
exactly when the crowd needed them, gave people some chance to rest
(plateau spent about 10 minutes building up an amazing groove and then
they threw a new beat on top of it that meshed perfectly), overall
they were just great showmen.. showed great creativity and they really
gave the crowd something to remember.

all in all, one of the best shows i've ever seen.. GREAT location too.
beautiful place.. by FAR worth the $20 gen admission.

still reeling,
dan g




From: ALLENST
Subject: (orb) Re: Orb on Tour 

Hello All from a confessed techno gear geek,

>From Ethan
>  I'm curious as to why they played the exact same set each night on this
tour
>  I imagine it has to do with the linear nature of an ADAT,

and Rachel

> more likely having to do with the painfully synched lights and
> videos... if they're working off one video tape (and they did say in
> many an interview that this was a stripped down tour, with as little
> as possible coming along) and to get the proper video with the
> proper song, you'd have to do the same set... the lighting was also
> spot on as far as i could tell, which would reinforce the necessity
> for the same set list every night...

I've seen three shows this tour and it appears that some (all ??) of
the graphics portions are computer driven rather than off a video
tape, so there could be some variation between shows (mainly in the
length rather than the content).   I got fairly close views of the
stage at Phoenix and Vegas and the morphing/rotating images were
appearing on the computer monitor behind Alex.   He also had a
controller that he would adjust as he watched the screens...it
appeared he had some control of at least the computer controlled
graphics  (maybe rotation speed or bellows intensity :-).   As far as
the lighting and overall graphics/set list, I'd agree with Rachel and
say they're pretty limited to using a prearranged setup with their
stripped down tour.

and Steve
> This actually got me curious about their bass lines. Alex has said
> that it started as a DJ project. Watching them on stage, you see that
> the beats are coming from a pair of records and someone's trusty 1200's. 
> Are the beats on the album The Orb's own creation or were they just
> sample happy?

The only instance I saw of using the record as the main bassline/beat
was the song (don't remenber) where Alex was mixing in a record with a
ching, ching sleigh ride bell sound ...kinda Christmasy (the kind
around a Rudolph's neck).... kinda American Indian.... you know what I
mean.   At the end, Andy dropped the ADAT and LX kept the record going
seamlessly mixed.   Sounded great and they did this at all three shows
I saw.   Other than this, I think LX used the decks just for playing
snips or loading the sampler.   He did use the mini-DAT for Bedouin
and a CD for SALT.


Now that this tour is winding down, any news of their guesting on the
compliation summer tours here in the US ... Lola/Technopalooza,
Organic, etc ??

Scott.




From: Sean Strout
Subject: (orb) living in orblivion, nyc

The band of merry travellers piled into the Altima and jetted down
wind for a weekend in Orblivion.  The first stop was the trendy,
upstart Hoboken, NJ, where we sampled the atmosphere and grabbed a
train to the heart of Uptown.  Drifting off the tube, we descended
onto 33rd and fused with the metropolis.

The city was alive and teaming with energy.  We stopped off in an
Irish pub to sample some Guiness and catch the opening quarter of the
Knicks game. We ate a hot meal, served with a smile and everything was
at peace.

Floating back onto the streets, I couldn't help but feel hopelessly
dwarfed by the architecture that encased us on this island. Images of
the Orblivion cover art jetted through my mind. We strolled down 7th
in giddy anticipation, arms entwined and frantically trying to
remember the laverne & shirley theme song lyrics.

We were approaching near madness when the Manhattan Center jumped out.
After a heavy frisking from a WWF wrestler, we were "in da joint".
The Hammerstein Ballroom was breathtaking.  The huge cathedral ceiling
with the angels cried down to the masses below. You know you're in a
classy place when there's a man in the bathroom handing out paper
towels to you and a dixie cup of beer cost 5 bucks.

I heard some Vangelis "Blade Runner" music and lo' and behold the dr.
was on stage, so I scurried over to the left end.  It didn't take long
to get into the beat and soon we were deep "In the jungle". Mad
breakbeat, stop and go rhythms - LX was whipping the crowd into a
frenzy.  I think I caught him smiling more than twice, how refreshing.

After LX bowed out to many cheers, the ambient noodlers 'We' were
onstage. This is the part where many people were trying to figure out
if this was the Orb or not.  The music was more experimental dubby,
definitely in the ambient vein and not very danceable.  Most people
zoned out to the plant life projection on the overhead screen.  I
started to wonder where all the people I had been dancing with went,
so I foraged for nuts downstairs.

And folks, can you imagine the smile on my face - as big as a
schoolboy with a delicious chocolate ice cream cone on the first day
of summer - when I descended into the depths?  By the time my feet hit
the second flight, I was teleported to party central.  The place was
teaming with young hip kids strutting their stuff to some fantastic
breakbeat/jungle/ dnb.  Glowsticks abounded, swimming in the rhythyms
that just would not stop.  Breakers where styling on the floor, and
*everyone* was jumping, hooting and hollering.  The DJ would
momentarily pause the rhythyms, only to launch arsenal upon arsenal of
morphing beats and snappy synth sounds.  The heat was on full blast,
burning a hole through our cores and fueling the fire.

Word was out that DJ Lewis had started his set so we pounded out the
last store of energy and made it back to the raised foyer that
overlooked the stage.  Some internal recalibration and several jugs of
pricey water later, and it was time to descend on the floor.  Our
navigational adjustments lined us up down front and center.  Again
many people around us were wondering if this was the Orb.  Their fears
were quickly dissuaded when they were assured they had not been
"Orb'ed yet".  Tired feet and heavy smiles later confirmed their due
happiness and respect for the experience.

But now what of the Orb, you might say?  Did they manage to convert
even the most diligent skeptic?  Could they possibly live up to the
hype and expectation that had been placed on them by the thousands of
trendy NYC'ers who had gathered?  Nay one die hard oldie or fresh hip
kid escaped mentally unscathed.  They launched - no rocketed into
Orblivion, as if they were single handedly trying to summon the
apocalypse from its unborn future.  To put it bluntly, friends, they
completely and totally fucked up the face of the planet. From beat #1,
Andy was fused with the mixing board - it was a knob twisters wet
dream.  His head was pounding - no banging, to the beat. Hair and all
flying in a mad dance.  And LX, with his goofy beach hat on, was
snatching record after record from his pile, conjuring up the force
like Master Yoda. It was total synergy, crowd and conjurers merged
into one unified theory. The forces aligned, Einstein was reborn and
hyperspace travel was finally enabled under the master plan.  God
removed the virutal reality helmet from his forehead, giggled, and we
all plummeted into the Blue Room for the masterful chill session.
When the visionary S.A.L.T. bled into a frantic Toxygene, there wasn't
a single person left behind at the peak.  We left indents on the
concrete floors of the ballroom that will last forever.  Rodgers and
Hammerstein jotted a few notes down in the book of knowledge before
the angels floated down from the ceiling and blew their trumpets.  A
few were carrying the blue sky and the white, fluffy clouds, so we
could play in them as well.  The encore lasted for an eternity plus
one day.  Laughter and smiles were written on every face.  It was the
most beautiful music to listen to.

Absolutely everything was different than the London show - but we've
grown accustomed to the ever changing nature of the Orb, no?  No two
sticks of this chewing gum are ever the same, and that's why we love
'em.  Again they were blindingly brilliant and again we danced in
unity.

Time was irrelevant in the mother spaceship.  But the earth watch
recorded a 2 hour 10 minute show.  When we landed back out on the
streets, the steam poured out of the ballroom.  The energy dispersed
into tiny points of light that streamed down the streets in various
directions - off to an after hours party to dance the morning away, to
catch a train, a walk in the streets, a drive in the city that never
sleeps - everywhere and anywhere in the ubiquitous nature of things.

We of course, had other plans - for a mere 17 hours later the hustle
and bustle of Washington D.C. and a date with destiny at the 9:30 Club
was calling.  It was time for yet another adventure beyond the huge
ever growing ultraworld that never stops pulsating from the center of
eternity. Now where did we leave the car again?  part 2 laters, peace
and smiles folks! !-)

-s.




From: Danjel van Tijn
Subject: (orb) Toronto show: not as good as the 95 show

Here is the set list:
1. Spanish Catles in Space (dark triphop version)
2. Secrets
3. Blue Room
4. Asylum
5. Outlands
6. Delta MKII (extended version)
7. Plateau (really weird mix)
8. Bedouin
9. Majestic (Heavy hard version)
10. A Few of My Favourite Things (xxx rated version )
11. S.A.L.T.
12. Toxygene
13. Little Fluffy Clouds

I am sorry to say that I was a little dissapointed. The sound system was
setup for the Chem Bros and distorted all of the Orb's bass and
definition. Most of the mixing involved adding a bit of echo or the
occasional new sample. The lighting was very mionimal although there
were really cool video backgrounds b(new orb video?) My highlight was
getting to meet LX after the show and getting my Toxygene boxset
signed.  I gave him my demo tape and I am very interested to see if I
get any feedback. The opening DJ was not very good but the second DJ
played some nice hard drum n bass. I am not a fan of the Chem Bros. but
I was impressed with teir show. The lights and sound worked well for
them. I really miss the old Orb and I hope they will return someday with
a live band again. Imagine a tour with Jah Wobble and Steve Hillage!
cheers,
	Danjel
p.s. Does anyone know who the freaks were that were blowing their raver
whistles during the Orb's set?




From: Daneel Olivaw
Subject: (orb) DC

I'm going to keep this brief, because I know that I could care less
about other people's minute details of their orb experience, and they
could care less about mine.  I also don't want to go off on a tangent
about the state of pop-culture in the USA.

The show was very impressive.  I was afraid that there wouldn't be
graphics, since I didn't see any screen to speak of, but was
pleasantly surprised when I saw the pyramid above the pyramid light up
with video.  I thoroughly enjoyed the extra and extended samples
throughout several songs, along with the revamping.  My biggest
complaints are the house music as mentioned before, along with the
fact that S.A.L.T. (my current favorite orb track [next to towers of
dub] - no flames, please) was EXACTLY the same as the cd as far as I
could tell, which was the only track that I believe they didn't
remix/redo.  Also, the fans.  People, if you see or hear something
that you recognize or think is humorous, there's no reason to laugh
obnoxiously out loud for long periods of time.  Also, just because you
know every word to S.A.L.T. doesn't mean that you have to shout along
with it.  I do to, and I refrained.  Save it for watching Naked in
your home.  Otherwise, I would say that the Orb were very impressive
live and I hope to see them again sometime soon.

Emmett




From: "it's a ufo beemin' back atchya" BARRETTM
Subject: (orb) Minneapolis Show 16.7.97

Hello, please let me quickly introduce myself. i'm matt and i hardly
know much about techno (i'm jargon illiterate here so please forgive
me if techno is the wrong term).  i've been exposed to it mainly over
the last year as 2 of my 4 roomates listened to it a lot. and the orb
was one of my two favorites.  i had the chance to see the show last
night and i wanted to see what this kind of show would be like.

let me tell you it blew me away!!!  it was perfect.  nice and
interactive if you know what i mean.  great heavy bass, but not the
sound was not too loud.

anyway, i really didn't know any of the song titles (just fluffy
clouds and toxygene).  does anyone have a set list of the show, or
even better yet, does anybody know where to obtain a copy of the show?
i'll do whatever i can if somebody could help me out.

thanks a whole bunch
take care,
matt




From: clietz
Subject: (orb) orb show


just got back from teh show at the metro in chicago.   about 100% better
than the last show with the chems.  list went something like this;
spanish castles (aubrey mix)
lfc
a huge...
blue room
salt
ubiquity
toxygene
gaia?
assassin (the weird live 93 version, you could tell there were some new
orb types cuz they didnt really know what to do with this one)
some other stuff

outside of the intense heat it was a great show.  if you have a chance,
go see them, it was better than the last time.
c




From: Dave Cowen
Subject: Re: (orb) orb show

At 02:33 AM 7/20/97 -0500, you wrote:
>
>just got back from teh show at the metro in chicago.   about 100% better
>than the last show with the chems.  list went something like this;
>spanish castles (aubrey mix)
>lfc
>a huge...
>blue room
>salt
>ubiquity
>toxygene
>gaia?
>assassin (the weird live 93 version, you could tell there were some new
>orb types cuz they didnt really know what to do with this one)

Well...close.  The official track list (ie, the one I bummed off of the
sound board guy) was:

Spanish (Castles in Space... indeed, off of Aubrey Mixes)
Terminus (I had never heard this before... looks like a new track!)
Blue Room
Bedo!n
Delta
Outlands
Towers (huh?  I didn't hear this, unless it was a -weird- mix)
Lovin U (Great new beginning... then a huge neverending Orbital dance mix)
Fluffy (Clouds)
S.A.L.T.
Toxygene
Assassin

The Metro was so fucking hot, though, I had to step outside as they were
starting to play Bedoin.  I came back during Outlands... and I didn't
hear them play Towers of Dub... so it's possible that they were playing 
Ubiquity instead of Delta while I was in the subterranean chill of the 
SmartBar attempting to recover from the ridiculous temperature of the 
main floor.

>outside of the intense heat it was a great show.  if you have a chance,
>go see them, it was better than the last time.

DJ Lewis spun a (few) great sets, and Sun Electric sounded great.  LX and
Andy, whenever you're on tour, bring along a collaborator for an opener, eh?  
The problem was that the heat truly was overwhelming (perhaps a ploy for
people to buy the $1.75 bottles of water?), they wouldn't turn on the fans,
and I found the show rather unenjoyable because of it.  My friends and I 
debated on the way home which was worse, the Chems or the heat, and it was a 
toss up.  Fuck the Metro.

If only they would have played the Riviera.  It would have kicked ass.

signed: ESCHATFISCHE, david




From: Richard J Bide
Subject: (orb) Orb Live in Detroit

Well, it's 3:00 PM and I'm just recovering from being blown away by the
Orb's live show last night.  This was my first time seeing LX & co, so I
wasn't sure what to expect.  The venue was Cluth Cargo's, a converted
church in Pontaic, about 20 miles north of Detroit. My friend and I got
there about an hour early, and after spending 20 minutes trying to find a
place to park, we camped out on the church steps waiting for the doors to
open. 8:00 comes and goes with no one opening the doors.  A couple wander
by, the girl clutching an LP.  Someone comes out and tells everyone to
form a line to the left.  As fate would have it, we are on the correct
side of the steps so we are about 10th in line, right at the bottom of
the steps.  I glance behind me and notice the girl with the LP, talking
to someone with a pony tail.  Could this be Alex himself?  Naw, probably
some roadie.  He has an Orblivion T-shirt on and shorts, with what looks
like gecko lizard tatoos around both of his ankles.  He is speaking
softly to the girl, but his British accent is unmistakeable.  Twice he
says to her "Don't say my name".  Is it him or isn't it?  The doors open,
the crowd all looks forward and the chap ambles back around the church,
presumably for the stage doors.  No one in the line notices him, and he
is smiling.  In we go.  The $15 T-shirts are unavailable in XL and the
rest are $25.  Oh well, none for me.  The converted church has a stage at
one end and a large main floor, with a balcony running around each side. 
After checking out the stage, we head upstairs and grab some rail about
50 feet from the stage.  We talk about who will buy the first round, but
quickly realize that once we move, we will have lost our prime location. 
Instead, we remain anchored at the balcony railing for the next four and
a half hours.  The chap we saw outside is DJing - could be Alex!  One of
the bits he keeps weaving into the mix is from KLF's Chill Out - the
pedal steel guitar and the first line of Elvis Presley's "In the Ghetto".
 Is this a favorite sample of his, or did he dredge it up because he saw
me in my KLF Last Train to Trancentral T-shirt outside?  I can dream,
can't I? 

Little Brother Love, a two-man band reminiscent of early Orbital, play a
decent set for about an hour, then DJ Clark Warner gets the main floor
going.  Finally, it's the Orb.  And they were every bit as good as I had
hoped they would be.  Thanks to whoever posted the track list from the
Chicago show (sorry, I deleted the post after I cut and pasted the track
list), they played the exact same set.  The reason you didn't hear Towers
of Dub was because they didn't play it.  But they played everything else
in order.  Terminus sounded interesting.  Loved the dancing baby during
Loving U.  S.A.L.T. sounded like they just played the album track, but I
suppose it is hard to improvise on that track, as it is driven by the
movie sample.  Every other song just rocked.  

And it WAS Alex!  Now, what does Andy look like?  Besides Alex, there
were two other guys on stage - one had blonde hair and was fairly tall
and skinny, while the other guy had long wavy dark hair, and kept tossing
his head like a death metal guitar player when he laid down particularly
heavy beats.

All in all, a great show.  The lights, the music, the pyramid, the
intimate venue.  Catch them if you can.

 - Rich     




From: Wallace Winfrey
Subject: Re: (orb) Pyramid on tour too???


On Fri, 18 Jul 1997, Steve Littleton wrote:

> To satiate many people's curiosity, I thought last night was much better
> than the Chicago show.  Obviously partly due to the lack of Chems, but I
> also enjoyed the set much better.  From what I can remember, they played
> LFC, Toxygene, S.A.L.T., a huge ever growing..., blue room, towers of dub,
> valley, and a few others.  About an hour and a half's worth of Orbience. 
> Noticably lacking in Orblivion material, heavy on the U.F.Orb and
> Adventures stuff.   Fine by me.  Some tracks overlapped from the Chicago
> show, but somehow, they seemed better this time around.  Everyone should
> definitely see this show.  Wallace, what do you think?

First off, I missed Sun Electric - *major* bummer. I've been a big fan
since I first picked up 'Kitchen' a few years back and of course the live
album is amazing. My friend saw them (they played from 8:15-9:00pm) and
said it was great, much to my chagrin.

DJ Lewis spun some great IDM-ish/breakbeat/UK stylee tracks till about
10pm -- excellent as always.

The Orb -- well, I'm a believer that the quality of any live performance
is determined a great deal by the reaction of the crowd. Unfortunately for
us true Orb fans in the audience, Dr. LX and Andy, the St. Louis crowd is
one of the worst audiences to play to. For the most part, the methed-out
St. Louis rave kids (which seemed to make a big part of the audience --
where were the older Pink Floyd fan-types?) didn't quite "get it", only
dancing when the beat took the semblance of house. How the fuck people can
stand when the bassline kicks in on Blue Room I'll never know, but that's
what happened.

To top things off, the venue was absolute shite.

LX and Andy are classy fellows though, and delivered the goods at any
rate. Although I thought their peformance in Lawrence, KS back in April
was much better, there was still a lot to be said for the St. Louis
show. Blue Room rocked my world, as did Towers. Next time I'd like to
see the Orb better promoted, and in a better venue.

That's my $.02...

--
wally




From: nhetrick

Just got back from the *second* D.C. Orb show in three months, and I'm 
dazed, tired, ecstatic, and blissed all at the same time.  I may have to 
post a better, more coherent review later, but for now I'll at least say 
that it was a truly amazing and wonderful evening.

Alex DJed a set of very upbeat & groovy techno alongside the KLF's "Chill 
Out" (slide guitar and Elvis and chanting Tibetan monks and all) ... a 
real treat.  Then Sun Electric stood behind a rather minimal setup 
(Anthony Bryan's post a while back listing 2 Nords, a Prophecy, Waldorf 
filter, Mac Powerbook, and small-ish mixing desk was right on) and blew 
me away (and everyone else, too).  Their tracks seemed largely improvised 
and were generally harder than the studio stuff on "Present."  They're 
brilliant to get all that out of their setup, as I dunno what on earth 
they used for effects and most of the rhythms (no obvious processors, 
samplers, DATs, ADATS, or other such stuff to be seen).

DJ Lewis spun a gorgeous set of hard-ish electro techno along the lines 
of RAC, but it was all stuff I didn't know.  I do wish American DJs would 
pick up on this style in stead of the usual house that gets played around 
(house just isn't my thing).  The beats eventually died into syrupy wash 
of sounds that slowly evolved into an Aubrey-influenced "Spanish 
Castles," and the Orb were off and running.  I couldn't accuratly recount 
their set, but it included "Castles," "Delta MKII," "Bedouin," "Blue 
Room," "Outlands," "LFC," "Assassin," "Brain," "S.A.L.T.," and 
"Toxygene."  Some tracks sounded a lot like they did a couple months ago, 
but others were much more improvised, especially "Blue Room," "Assassin," 
and "A Huge Ever Growing Brain."  The lighting was beautifully done, 
creating a rich tapestry that intermingled with the Orb's spacious 
quadrophonic mix.

All in all, I came away feeling much better about this show than the one 
two months ago.  Even though they didn't play anthing from "Orbvs 
Terrarvm" (!!), the performance was easily as good as on their superb 
1995 tour.  These guys all have the greatest jobs in the world, and they 
do them *very* well.  THANKS SO MUCH to all the Orb/Sun Electric crew for 
the fantastic show!

Orb be out u....


Neil Hetrick




From: desrtfox
Subject: (orb) Orb and SE in Boston

        The show that the Orb did last night at Avalon in Boston was
pretty much the same as the show that someone just described for the
DC venue, so I won't go into repetitive details.  They did NOT play
"Assassins", which really irked me, because I really like that
song...but the rest of the setlist was the same.  I'd say the biggest
difference from the show this spring was the crowd makeup, because
last time I saw them w/ the Chems and all their fans...as opposed to
this time, when everyone there was there to see them:) much different
atmosphere...on a side note, Sun Electric was GREAT!  I was really
impressed; think I'll have to buy some of their stuff. Great fun,
guys, thanks. -das mook.




From: eanders

Well its good to know there are other people out there besides me  who 
would like to drop out of society and follow the Orb wherever they go. 
And I thought Deadheads were annoying. Hmmm. In any case I was able to 
see both the Philly and Boston shows last weekend. The set list was 
identical, except no encore in Boston. Boo.  It was, in order 
..Spanish (I'm told, couldn't figure it out), Terminus, Blue Room, 
Bedouin, Delta MK II, Outlands, Pulsating Brain, LFC, S.A.L.T., and 
Toxygene. Philly had a long "disco" type song (sounded a little like 
Chic) pumping away for a few minutes in the middle of the show, but 
Boston got a long wall of noise (kinda My Bloody Valentine-ish, sounded 
beautiful!) right after Blue Room. Both shows didn't really seem to 
catch fire til Delta MK II, but quite amazing from then on until the 
end. The Philly show was fun, but the Boston show really was 10 times 
better, mostly due to the fantastic sound at Avalon. It got deafiningly 
(sp?) loud at times, yet was still crystal clear and didn't hurt the 
ears at all. The crowd was also more enthusiastic in Boston, maybe 
because the Philly show started at 7pm and the Orb played at 1am, 
whereas the Boston show started at 9pm and the Orb came out at 1030pm. 
Of course, I will have very fond memories of Philly because I found the 
U.S. CD5 of Perpetual Dawn in the first store I wondered into, and it 
was very affordable 9.00.  One question: how come LX has remarked that 
Bedouin is a spoof of Deep Forest, who he doesn't like, but sounds 
exactly like Deep Forest?

Anyone out there will to sell a (homemade) tape copy of the Aubrey's 
Mixes? E mail me privately of course. And how come no one has talked 
about Jo the Waiter on the Gary Numan tribute double CD?

Also, anyone out there like Spiritualized? When I saw them last year, I 
thought they sounded like a "rock" version of the Orb, with an 
amazingly clear wall of sound that just sends you into a another level. 
Maybe when you're sober, too !  They will be touring the U.S. this 
month, keep an eye out for them.

Cheers,

Eric





From: orb_me
Newsgroups: rec.music.ambient
Subject: Orb at La Luna

We're having a heat wave in Portland, Or., and not even the Perseid
meteor shower could cool things off during the Orb concert at La Luna.
I don't have time to review the entire concert, but I'll try to describe
what was, for me, the peak moment.  It was during the 'pulsating brain'
song that ends the ultraworld CD.  The live version was much more hard
driving than the CD cut.  While standing there watching the lights
strobe off the bodies of the dancing throng in front of me, I was
hypnotized by the loudly driving beat vibrating into me, all the while
watching a computer generated 'baby with soul' dancing on the screen
behind the performers.  At that moment I believed that the world was
asleep and only we lucky concert goers were awake to reality.  Awake to
the Orb ushering us into the new millennium.
And I only had one beer.

From: Steve Levering
The Orb
The Chemical Brothers

April 24, 1997
The Bomb Factory, Dallas, TX

I first saw the Orb in 95 at Deep Ellum Live in Dallas. The show then
was thoroughly hypnotic and left me in a trance with the dubby bass
and trippy projections. With that first experience, I couldn't wait to
see them again...

That the Chemical Brothers would be joining them was an enjoyable
addition for me. I have one of their albums and several of the
EPs/Singles, but I mainly end up listening to them in small doses...

The press surrounding the show was somewhat frustrating, as almost all
of it focused on current hypedarlings Chemical Brothers. Several
referred to the Orb as ambient techno pioneers or something like that.
Hey, the Orb has released a few albums since Adventures Beyond the
Ultraworld, guys...

Because of the great wall of hype, most of the people were there to
see the Chemical Brothers, which made it not very difficult to get a
decent vantage point during the Orb's set.

A DJ played records for a couple of hours in the beginning. When the
Orb came on, they did so without fanfare or announcement. The only
cues that they had taken the stage was the DJ mix stopped momentarily
and the appearance of LXs bright yellow cap.

Soon after, the Orb began projecting images that corresponded to each
song. They were playing inside a pyramid type of area, and the
projections were displayed on areas on the top and bottom of the
pyramid.

Blue Room was exceptional, as was the accompanying film of a trip
through an eerie, blue-tinted house. As you watched, you felt as
though you were roaming the hallways... Another standout was the film
accompanying S.A.L.T. The end times diatribe was perfectly matched
with flying UPC codes and product symbols with the occasional
religious imagery thrown in for effect.

The Orb show was good, but I enjoyed the Orbus Tour of 95 better...

After dancing and moving through the entire Orb set, we moved to the
side of the building to cool down and buy some bottled water from the
bar. A fresh DJ started up immediately following the Orb and he played
while the roadies tore down the Orb set and began constructing the
Chemical Brothers stage.

What thoroughly amazed me was that people were still dancing during
the DJ. I looked at them and wondered if they were in top physical
condition or on artificial stimulation... Of course, they probably
hadn't worked all day either... Anyway, it was fun to watch them dance
like maniacs while we cooled off.

After the Chemical Brothers came on, we decided to stay against the
cool wall and chill out for a few more minutes while the crowd surged
towards the Chems stage. I saw a couple of guys I knew (any R.M.C.
readers, one of them was Neuros)...

While I enjoyed the Chemical Brothers music, I just didn't find it as
interesting as the Orb's... It was fun to dance to, and certainly to
watch other people dance to, but it doesn't affect me as deeply as Orb
music does...

We walked around the outskirts of the crowd and people-watched
for a while. Lots of metallic silver pants and shirts, one guy with a
clear plastic raincoat holding glow wands, several goths, lots of
trendy sportswear...

Around 1:30 or so, we decided to go out to the car and drink some
water and eat some chips while we waited for our fellow
concert-goers. We decided to hit the restrooms on our way out...
One of the guys that was a dancing maniac earlier was puking in the
sink... mmm, thanks... Did ya push yourself a little too hard? Ah
well...

So we're walking to the car, which is about a block and a half away,
and amazingly, you can clearly hear the Chemical Brothers still
playing. And it's fairly loud outside! What amazes me as well, is that
there are "luxury lofts" across the street in a reconditioned former
hat factory. How do those people get any sleep? Of course, you don't
have to buy a ticket to Bomb Factory shows, just open your windows and
listen.... Craziness.

We hit our parking lot, and a guy comes up to us and says "Can I sing
you two a melody?" Now, previously in San Francisco, this street
singer asked me that and I said "Yeah" and he sang one of the
smoothest, coolest songs I've ever heard... And I really enjoyed it
and gladly paid him a couple of bucks at the end. So, to this guy, I
said "Sure".

So he started singing, and it was alright. It wasn't fantastic, but it
wasn't horrible either. And then he kept singing, and then he sang
some more, and then some more. Now, my wife and I had just walked out
of that hot, steamy Bomb Factory where we had been sweating and
dancing, and now we're standing in the chilly night air in a parking
lot while this guy doesn't know how to finish his song. And we're
getting cold....

So, I see Pam looking at me and I knod at her. When he finishes the
next verse, we both started applauding. I dug a couple of dollars out
of my pocket and handed to him and started towards the car. But he
wasn't finished yet...

He then started to give us his views on life, the universe and
everything. He said that we were a cute couple and that we should have
kids "right away". (Er, um, thanks...) He talked some more and then
some more, and then he sang a little bit more. I finally explained
that we were chilly and that we were going to get in our car. He
finally got the hint...

It was, in retrospect, kind of funny and surreal having this guy dance
and sing for us in the parking lot while we could hear the Chemical
Brothers playing in the background. It was interesting hearing this
processed, computerized music in the distance and a guy trying to sing
his heart out in a nearby parking lot...

As we were sitting in the car, we heard the Chems finish up and the
roar of the audience. Not long after, our concert companions came back
to the car and we took off for Ft. Worth.

I'll definitely go see the Orb again... I've seen the Chems now, and
I'm fine with that...

From: LiquidW
Subject: How I got into the Orb

i took mescaline , and heard

From: jjustice@united-ad.com
Subject: just saw orb in portland 8/13

alrighty then
i have been an orb fan for about
5 years now
and this is first time i've used this
news group.

i hoping to find some intelligent
thoughts and comments about one
of
our favorite things of life

the orb

sorry for the mush
heres the scoop

i've never been to portland
but its a strange place

it was fitting thought cuz this show
was the most bizarre exncounter
i have ever had at an orb show

they assaulted us with sound
it was brutal and beautiful

it started off kinda choppy
they got a groove and some sounds
going which weren't from  recorded
orb material
only to stop abruptly

at first i thought this was some
sort
of problem
but as the night wore on
i felt like alex and andy
were just straight up tearing the
house down

tricking us into being a bit
comfortable

and then dropping the floor out
from underneath us


here's what i think they played

1. spanish castles in space
   i have never heard them play this
b4 and was floored when i
recognized
it. it wasn't slow or ambient at all
more like a fast dub version

2. crazy dubbed out shit

3. secrets
   this was only recognizable from
the samples

4. more crazy dubbed out shit

5. bedouin
   straight-foward but fun to shake
the booty to..

6. blue room
7. outlands
8. huge ever growing brain...

these three all flowed into one
another and it was sick
sounded like nothing ive ever
heard
in my short life


9. delta mk2
 it was definately the most
amazingly brutal/beautiful thing
of
the
evening.....   maybe?

9. little fluffy clouds
i was kinda worried when they
played this cuz every time i've
heard it
they do it the same way. but they
created these thick rumbling bass
drones
in the middle of the song with no
beats just this drone and
a voice

10. S.A.L.T.
another surprise but they didnt
fuck this one up as much as they
could/should have

11. toxygene
this one came from another world
that i pray i never inhabit...

hopefully
someone out there has enjoyed my
little story


anyway
its weird to hear that they played
a similar set at other shows
cuz the whole thing really seemed to come from
from some new uncharted place....

assasin would've been nice

but i was left fully satisfied

From: Sean Strout
Subject: (orb) belated philly Orb review

Warning - This post contains incessant, perhaps repetitive rambling of
a certain night on July 26 in Philadelphia, and by all rights should
be deleted.

The theme is dehumanization.  Picture if you will the future vision of
Terminator - a metallic wasteland of digital nightmares where vapid
robots stalk and destroy their human creators.   Picture it?  Ok, come
with me on yet another psychotropic journey...

Our spirits were lightened and the short hop down the Garden State
Parkway was a joy.  Ion navigated the route to the Electric Factory
while I participated in a heavy electro shock therapy of Orblivion.
Just then, Ben Franklin's spectacles were spotted, peering over a
large warehouse near the 676.  "Dorothy, I don't think we're in Kansas
anymore", Toto barked.
 
The Electric Factory was juiced up for a night of thumping and
chugging to wide open filters and madly fluttering oscillators.  The
mass of teeming youngsters downstairs were meticulously perched in the
ozone.  Tiny ziplocked bags passed precariously from hand to hand on
the dance floor. The vacuous stare from dialted pupils was enough of a
window into the soul to succintly summarize the situation.  An ultra
humungous guitar was suspended from the celing.  In someones twisted
imagination, the Jolly Green Giant would undoubtedly come out to play
it.

Upstairs, silent Japanese animations played in a never ending rhthym
of zooming and panning to still shots.  The distinction between
reality and fantasy has certainly been skewed.  The hazy duel for
control of the beats ignited on the dance floor.  Silhoutted by the
runway of strobes, the frenzy of wildly flailing bodies broke down
into recongnizable form.  Sun Electric had taken the stage and forged
this misshapen chaos into their distinct brand of Euro-justice.  The
arpeggiator on the Korg Prophecy squealed in analog ecstasy, like an
electric Porky Pig.  Their colloquial talents were, indeed, of the
highest order.  My mind raced across the altered soundscape at
alarming speed.  Was I lost in the rhthym or was the rhthym lost in
me?  No one professed to know the answer.   The trancey sounds
continued to hypnotize the 3,000 or so travellers present.

The congestion on the floor reached maximum levels by the time the
dubious dubsters, The Orb, had taken control of the spaceship.  They
set a course straight for the heart of the sun and locked it in at
warp speed.  What followed was a blistering set that once again
redefined the Orb experience. Walls of distortion took a reefer spin
through the galaxy before colliding with monstrous beats.  The Mk's
were glowing hot as the devilish Patterson spun on.  Vinyls melted on
the sacrificial alter to the techno gods.  Hughes set the blender on
purify, mixing thunderous chunks of alien sounds into a hedonic soup
that the sinful audience swallowed by the gulpfulls.  Oliver Twist
screamed out from the crowd for "Seconds!!", and the Orb obliged -
encoring with an adrenaline fueled rollercoaster ride through
Assassin.

And then it was over.  The sound died and we buried it forever in the
grave of our memories.

Bathing in post modern bliss, I took refuge on a couch on the
outskirts of the floor and swept my mind into a lullably.   The sweet
music danced in my brain as the virtual seconds ticked off Father
Times clock. The unicorn dream invaded my thoughts and I bounded for
the light at the end of the tunnel. I awoke in a mechanical nightmare
where horn beeping, gasoline guzzling metal monsters ruled the land.
I was stuck in the choked traffic artery of Boston - another helpless
victim of the "Big Dig" and in danger of missing the follow-up Orb
show at the Avalon...

(part 2, anyone?)

[about the cancelled australian/nz tour & starbait w/ Black Grape]
From: Smiley
Subject: (orb) the Oz tour...



mornin' all - thought you'd all like to hear the official Orb response to
this...

> >any news on what's happening with the Oz tour...?

> bastards, bastards, bastards, bastards, bastards, bastards, bastards,
> bastards, bastards, bastards, bastards, bastards, bastards, bastards,
> bastards, bastards, bastards, bastards, bastards, bastards, bastards,
> bastards, bastards, bastards, bastards, bastards, bastards, bastards,
> black grape bastards, bastards, bastards, bastards, bastards,
> bastards, bastards, bastards, bastards, bastards, bastards, bastards,
> big gripe bastards, bastards, bastards, bastards, bastards, big hype
> bastards, bastards, bastards, bastards, bastards, about sums it up
> really...

over and out.

--
Smiley

Date: Mon, 12 Jan 1998 12:47:56 GMT
From: Smiley
Subject: (orb) re: le petit orb in concert...



hi guys. thought i'd forward a little comment from andy...

> from da list...
> >Then Orb (as the Petit Orb - Fehlmann, LX and DJ Lewis) played my
> >university's student union (at last I got around to taking some hard
> >drugs with Orb) and was blown away - a group of us formed a circle on
> >the dancefloor and held hands while the music played (I think people
> >thought we were nuts - but then again, they were probably dancing too
> >koolly to notice the music) and we swayed and fell over and etc...
> >etc...

> 'ere that were me not thomas (o he of great lists) that did that gig
> - it was a couple of februarys ago. one of the best laughs i've had.

l8rs.

--
Smiley

From: won-ton Danjel van Tijn
Subject: (orb) le Petit Orb - not so small!

Wow, what a great concert! Mixmaster morris was walking arround the whole
time in a space suit (he is a really friendly guy, during the Orb set he
was walking up to all sorts of people including myself just to chat), the
Taiko drummers were really interesting and there were some great jungle
DJs. As for the Orb, they were on a one foot high stage that had two tables
side by side on it. On one table was LX with turntables (one of which was
fucked, all the bass was feedingback) and the other hand Andy with his mini
rig. It was pretty cool to be able to watch from a cross a small table than
from behind barriers and security guards. For all you trainspotters I
noticed that LX has a tattoo of one of the turtles from Aunt Aubreys remix
album on his right fore-arm. As for gear, Andy was using: a Korg Z1 as a
control synth, a nice mac powerbook, a sherman filter, a Mackie 1604 mixer,
one of thos weird Latronic Notrons (on his lap) and a mini rack of stuff I
couldn't see except for a Digitiech Studio Quad v2.
Musically they opened up with some old school dub reggae. At this time
Andys monitor was fucked so he was screwing arround with that while LX was
dealing with his problamatic turntable. They eventually got sorted out and
broke into Perpetual Dawn (with full original vocals). They also fooled
arround with one of the songs from Orbus Terrarum (I can't remeber the name
off hand) for a long time, bringing in some hard beats now and then. The
only other Orb song I remember them playing was O.O.B.E. Mixmaster Morris
was all over hearing that! Other than these three songs I think they played
some new stuff which was really hard 4/4 time stuff (more like U.F.Orb) I
remember Smiley saying he had thought the new stuff was pretty hard as
well. Anyways, after the dub and selected ambient samples they went right
into the hard 200bpm+ drum & bass. This is where Andy used the Notron to
add in some fucked up beats and sounds. The crowd definitely seemed to
respond best to all of the hard jungle stuff. It was a good show, too bad
the equipment held them back a bitat first.  Toronto has been lucky to have
LX visit four times in the past year. Maybe we will see them again this
summer?
cheers,
	Danjel van Tijn

From: Smiley
Subject: (orb) re: le petit orb in concert...


hi guys. thought i'd forward a little comment from andy...

> from da list...
> >Then Orb (as the Petit Orb - Fehlmann, LX and DJ Lewis) played my 
> >university's student union (at last I got around to taking some hard 
> >drugs with Orb) and was blown away - a group of us formed a circle on 
> >the dancefloor and held hands while the music played (I think people
> >thought we were nuts - but then again, they were probably dancing too
> >koolly to notice the music) and we swayed and fell over and etc...
> >etc...
 
> 'ere that were me not thomas (o he of great lists) that did that gig
> - it was a couple of februarys ago. one of the best laughs i've had.

From: "Andrew Cieszkowski"
Subject: Re: (orb) le Petit Orb - not so small!


>Wow, what a great concert!

(snipped big time)  I have to admit I am somewhat orbsessed and TOTALLY
rearranged my plans for the weekend just to go to the show (I'm moving to
Ottawa and had to drive back to TO at 3am Sat just to make sure I was there
only to have to drive back to Ottawa on Sunday afternoon) and I am so glad I
did.  This show was my first live Orb (damned thing called work just kept
getting in my way).  This show was great.

>It was pretty cool to be able to watch from a cross a small table than
>from behind barriers and security guards. For all you trainspotters I
>noticed that LX has a tattoo of one of the turtles from Aunt Aubreys remix
>album on his right fore-arm.

I noticed this too.  Exactly how close were you standing and were you
wearing an Orblivion t-shirt?  I was standing about 2 feet in front of LX's
table.  Very cool to be able to be this close.

> They eventually got sorted out and
>broke into Perpetual Dawn (with full original vocals).

It was, I think, the best part of the whole set.

> They also fooled
>arround with one of the songs from Orbus Terrarum (I can't remeber the name
>off hand) for a long time, bringing in some hard beats now and then. The
>only other Orb song I remember them playing was O.O.B.E.

This too was excellent.

I have to say it was a little harder than I had imagined it would be but I
guess that makes sense. It was an excellent show, well worth the extra 1100
km I had to drive this weekend.  The ambient room was pretty cool too.

I was surprised at how few people actually appeared to be fans rather than
being there for the whole event.  I admit, I like A Man Called Warwick
(ambient room DJ), and the thought of seeing the Japanese drummers got my
interest.  However, with all the extra driving involved, there is no
question that THE reason I did all the juggling was to see LX and Andy.  I
think everybody enjoyed the show but not as many people as I had expected
moved up to the front where we were when the set started.

From: Smiley
Subject: (orb) Re: LE PETIT ORB

Smiley writes:
>> Le Petit Orb will be making the following appearances;
>> Sunday March 1st - 333 Club,Old Street

turned up just before nine, blagged in on the guest list (nice!).

had a couple of beers, and a quick chat with andy. even lx smiled and said
'hello', so you could tell that he was in a VERY good mood.

the club is a dingy, dirty, sweaty place - just about right, imho.

'le petit orb' were playing in the basement, which probably held a couple of 
hundred punters.

i was quite surprised at how good a mix of people there were, as i thought
the place might be populated by pretentious wankers as it was in london.
there were young-uns, old-uns, clubbers, ravers, etc.

they eventually started playing just before 11pm - andy, lx, and (unless
i'm very much mistaken) a certain Nick Burton on percussion (bongos).

started pretty well - fairly mellow for a few numbers - and lx played a bit
of reggae/dub/ska (including the track the Blue Room vocals were nicked
from), but it still felt a bit like they were warming up - i think there
might have been a few technical gremlins as well, which didn't help.

anyway, once they'd got going, they were SUPERB - and lifted the roof off
the place. the beats and tracks were getting harder and harder, and lx and
andy were really going for it. by the time they finished around 1am, they
were practically a hardcore drum 'n bass collective.

the place just went mental, and the set went down a storm.

however, it WAS NOT an 'orb' show - more a experimental set/dj thing -
don't go expecting what you saw on the last tour, 'cos it aint gonna
happen.

unfortunately, i had to leave once the band had finished, and drive back to
sussex - try and get about four hours sleep (i failed and got about 30mins)
- and then get back to london for a meeting first thing this morning.
ahhhh!

the place was meant to shut at 1am, but as the crowd were making so much
noise, lx came back and started to dj again, but i dunno how long he
lasted, as i had to piss off.

all in all - a top night out, and one that will be repeated on the FIRST
sunday of every month for the forseeable future. ;-)

here's to next month, as i might have got my hearing back by then... ;-)

...[another Smiley msg - ant, ed.]

Frankie G writes:
> the question is (attn: smiley) was this original material or just them
> cuttin' it up with the wax of others?

a bit of both. it was hard to tell what was what - lx was playing some
tunes, but andy was playing stuff too, including a bassline at the end that
came pretty close to shaking the place apart.

i though jimmi cauty had turned up in his AAA tanks for a bit... ;-)

l8rs.

-- 
Smiley

From: Kev Hegan
Subject: (orb) ORBULLETIN: Alex Paterson DJ's to help an Autistic Child

Hi Orbheads,

I'd just like to let those of you in the London area know about a gig on
Saturday 9th May at the Powerhaus, Finsbury Park.

This should be a great night, for as well as getting a chance to see my
band Hex Projekta (I'm sure all Orbheads would like our sound), Alex will
be DJing. We also have persuaded Zion Train to leave their retreat in Wales
and dish us up some large helpings of digidub. We've also got a couple of
Dodgy people (Matthew and Nigel) taking over the room upstairs and doing
their thing on the decks. It starts a 9 and goes on through to 4 in the
morning and tickets are 8 pounds.

All money raised goes to help send Tom, a six year old Autistic boy, to the
Options clinic the US. His parents have to raise 17,000 ukpounds to cover
the course, accommodation, flights etc etc. I've known Tom all his life,
and he's a great kid, full of energy and life. He and his family deserve
this chance.

So, if you're in the area, come on down and enjoy some good music and help
Tom get to the Options clinic.

See you there



Kev
kev@hexprojekta.demon.co.uk

From: rachel the goddess
Subject: (orb) the good doctor


so i managed to bash my knee up realy good skiing on friday, and return
home on saturday feeling quite lame (literally). so gimpy,. in fact, that i
seriously debated NOT going to see LX spin last night - what a mistake THAT
would've been! however, the parcel of orby love (thanks again, Smiley -
you're an angel!!!) waiting on my doorstep was all the persuasion necessary
to get me hobbling out of the house towards the Maritime Hall in San Fran
for a hard-core dose of good medicine ---

LX spun for more than 2 hours, and it was a set to end all sets, and far
surpasses anything i've heard him play previously. clad in a yellow-striped
football jersey (i beleive) and something resembling a white fishing hat,
he proceeded to tear it up in a manner i'm going to have a hard time
conveying in words...

it started with some lovely dubby reggae, progressing into funk, trip-hop,
gangsta-rap-sounding grooves, which took off into a drum-n-bass jungley
groove which was intense and delicious. followed by a nice selection of
good old fashioned orb-like grooves - some of it almost sounding
higher-than-the-orb style, ABTU influenced type stuff.  after a pleasant
journey through space, he started mixing and scratching a-la Coldcut,
cutting it up to a degree which just compelled people to rush forward, as
it was unbelieveable that he was mixing it up like that on the spot. the
set eventually wound down with some tribal/trancey stuff with bongos that
sounded so real that i had to double-check some one wasn't playing them
live. (ok, so i wasn't sober or anything) the cherry on the cake of my
night was Satellite Serenede - it sure doesn't sound like that on my stereo
at home!!!! LX disembarked with this weird show-tuney type of fanfare,
accompanied the entire time by WAY bizarre videos - strange mixes of
Japanese live action cartoons, Cabaret, Jesus Christ Superstar, Flash
Gordon (of course) and Tron. the sound set-up was unparalled, IMHO,
especially considering the Maritime's (poor) track-record in that
department.

and after a long night of one-legged boogeying, i'm feeling much better.
let that be a lesson to the non-believers: there's nothing that a good dose
of the doctor can't fix!


anyone else catch the show? anyone still reading this even?  just felt i
owed the list my take on the excellent set, and to encourage you all to
catch him live, alone or with the crew, as he's a very talented man....

=)
rachel

From: Steve Wright
Subject: Steve's adventures with Thrash


Hi everyone, Im not sure if I have mentioned it before but when living in
Shrewsbury in Shropshire I bumped into Thrash at a bus depot.  I had only
been listening to the Orb for a few weeks (Aubrey Mixes was my first).
Anyway I noticed this guy behind me with an Orb T-shirt on and mentioned my
recent purchase, and he said "oh good, the Orb are really nice people" and
smiled.  I thought nothing of it really, until about a couple of months
later, I saw a magazine with a review of UFOrb and an interview with the
band.  So naturally I bought it there and then and how did I see but the
same bloke who was on the bus :-)  And did I feel a wally

Steve

From: rachel
Subject: Re: (orb) Orb Commercial

>I wonder if the orb is making the same kinda deals...

ok, so a couple months ago LX was in San Francisco djing, and while i was
too chicken to go talk to him, my buddy wasn't - they proceeded to smoke a
bowl together, and pal-o-mine asked him about the VW commerical. his
response was that he "had some bills to pay", and while he didn't disclose
the figure, i think its safe to assume that they did get a  decent sum
(although probably not $5mil like that annoying elton john commercial)...

=)
rachel

From: chicken
Subject: (orb) orbstock


dan writes:
> according to my friend, (who was there working for Deee-Lite), the Orb
>played twice at Woodstock; once for the ravestock show, & Sunday night,
>right after Peter Gabriel.  Can any list members confirm this? and are any
>tapes about?

greetings all
my name is chicken and i have been lurking on here for about 2 years
i just never felt that i had any new information and any questions i can
think of have been answered
i am ever grateful to this list because i know when to hit the shops
looking for that certain remix, etc.

anyway, yes the orb played twice at woodstock ( the main reason i went )
they finished saturday morning around 6am
i was driving by the festival at this time and could see the reflections in
the morning sky from the stage lights, but could not go in to the festival
then cause of the police road blocks at all the nearest exits
once in to the site, i confirmed with someone the orb did play that morning
oh well missed it but at least i knew what i thought was the orb was the orb
spent a good amount of time tring to find out more about orb set and the
ravestock thing but it was very difficult to get any info from anyone
most people had no idea what i was talking about
i thought i might have a chance to meet dr lx in the tent with the
light-goggles relaxation type thingie,
but didn't see him

after a crappy rainy muddy but interesting weekend with a few unconfirmed
rumors of orb playing again sometime during the festival, it happened after
peter gabriel on the big stage (the last scheduled performance)
i was worn and tired and stumbled over to the second stage (long walk)
i could here outlands in the distance, you can imagine the rush i felt
the orb was playing again!
excellent outdoor show (my favorite kind of orb)
i think muddy mudskipper was played cause of the mud ( ya gotta love the
orb's sense of humor)

surrounding the stage was a field of tents being blasted with heavenly
sounds people either being orbed for the first time or annoyed cause
they were trying to sleep
i never did see any listing that the orb was playing this second show, i'm
just glad i was there

all i know about tapes/cd's of this show is dipping into the cyberworld cd
(playing now)
and i later read somewhere that the orb were much more pleased with the
sunday show
i love this band
chicken

From: Babylon Sigma
Subject: Re: (orb) T Shirts Frenzy !


>
> * A blue t shirt with the sheep from Live 93. No back.

Hmm..

Man I am somewhat loath to tell this story but. I once drove LX crazy over
a T-shirt. I was in Tokyo in 1993 when the orb played club Yello there. I
had met a couple of younger American Expatriates living in Japan with their
folks, while their folks has business stuff going on. One of them mentioned
they had heard that the orb was playing. So my mates and I were entirely
stoked on going to the show. We showed up and there was a huge line for it.
We managed to get past all that and sneak inside and hangout in the
chillout area before the show.

They had a really cool sculpture going on with black lights, little fish
bowls, and tiny TV screens. The tv screens were behind the fish bowls,
which had bubbles going in them so it distorted the picture. It was quite
cool. They also had one of those trippy headphone, goggles things. The one
with the glasses you put on that have lights that flash in time with the
sound in the headphones. It was actually a very nice rig, with complete
control for tempo, pitch, etc. Also they gave out a citrus tasting, of
course, Smart Drink tablet to some of us.

Anyway on with the story. So the show starts and the place is completely
packed. It is elbow to elbow, even on the stairways and in the hallways. LX
had a both setup downstairs and had multiple turntables and other gear down
there. From the upstairs near the bar you could look over the railing
directly down into the both. It was a really good show. Except for the
heat, and overcrowding. I took a bunch of pictures which mostly are blurry,
cause I am a lame photographer, it was so crowded I could not stay still to
get long exposures in the dark, and I broke my camera the third day of the
trip so I was using one of those little disposable types.

*** The real story begins here ***

We quickly notice there are no shirts. Not a single item for sale. I was
extremely excited to get a tour shirt from Japan, to prove that I saw the
orb by random chance. But there was none to be had.

Later that evening we were hanging out in Roppongi, the nightclub district
not far from club Yello. Up comes a freind of the American Expats we were
with, someone who went to school with them. She had along with her LX
Patterson. We were introduced and chatting along when I thought to ask why
no Tshirts. To which he replied " I left them in the hotel room", " I
didn't feel like bringing them". So I our infinite wisdom, we start
harrassing him to swing by the hotel and hook us up with some gear, which
we would gladly pay for. At this point he throws his hands over his head
and runs off down the street, waving his hands and yelling along the way.
Man we felt like assholes after that. Oh well....

So my T-shirt collection is smaller then it should be.

I almost tried to send the orb a mail before this years Tokyo show to see
if he was going to have shirts this time. I almost flew over just to see..


Oh well..

jon

From: Steve Nappa

So, here goes.  In the summer of 1997, I took summer classes at college and i interned at a record label  (I hope to work or one someday but that is'nt happening right now).  This recor label was London Records, the New York office.  Well,  I hung out there long enough....three months.... and in July, was the scheduled Portishead gig at Roseland.  This is the gig that was recently released (PNYC).  Anyway, I went to the gig and met some of my friends there.  Excellent show by the way, I highly recommend checking them out live.  After the show, everyone was just hanging out waiting to leave.  So, i'm standing there waiting with my fiends and I catch this glimpse of some guy with this girl over to my right.  Nowthis is only two feet away, so i new this was too strange  and i did a double take.  I look  at him a little longer this time and unfortunately, he catches sight of me staring.  He just kind of noticed and turned away.  Meanwhile, my friends are oblivious to who this guy is.  At this point in the summer, I had seen The Orb twice and had been on a huge orb listeneing frenzy.  I knew what they both looked like so I went up to him and said ,"Uh, excuse me sir.   I hate to bother you but is your name Andy by any chance."  He replied," Yes".  Then, I said, "well you don't know me but my name's Steve, and uh, let's just say I'm a big fan."  I shook his hand and he said thank you and I walked away. 

     I found it extremely odd that he was at a Portishead show  but i realised that he was in the city for a gig the next night at this place called Carbon in the city.  So, it all made sense now.  As we left the venue, I was completely wired from this experience and i was extremely happy i had to tell the friends i was with.  Once again they didn't know who he was and neither did anyone else in the venue.  So, since I knew no one would believe me later on that I met him, I mustered up the guts and went up to him again to ask him for his autograph.  I know it's an unforgiveable Rock n roll cliche that should be looked down upon, but i couldn't help it, he and Alex are people i admire and  would love to sit down and have a conversation with.  The way i look at it is that he is someone who has affected my life in a positive way and i give the both of them the respect that is due. 

So, back to the story,  he did sign the paper  and asked me if i was going to the gig the next night. I wanted to go but couldn't because of unforeseen  circumstances but i didn't tell him that.  I said i would try and we both said goodbyeand i wished him luck.   Since i didn't want to bug the  guy anymore, i left him alone after that.  It was his day off anyway.  It read on the paper: Andy ORB 97

Steve

From: Smiley
Date: Fri, 23 Oct 1998 02:39:00 GMT
Subject: (orb) orb at the royal albert hall



mornin' all!

it's almost 2.45 am in london, and i'm just passing through my office,
on the way to catch the 5.15 am train home - and spend friday
sleeping.

briefly...pretty good gig tonight. excellent place, set took a little
while to kick in - went brilliantly, seemed to get stuck about halfway
(i think there were some technical problems with the mixing desk),
then went ballistic up until the end.

set list was (very roughly) as follows:

Blue Room
Perpetual Dawn
Towers of Dub (with a little bit of Secret at the end?)
S.A.L.T.
Majestic
Assassin
A.H.E.G.
NEW TRACK?
Toxygene
Outlands
LFC

they played for just over 2 hours. marvellous.

oh yeah, and Simon Phillips was on stage too - playing bass guitar.

neither jc nor i recognised the track after AHEG, but we both spotted
one bit of the track that sounded VERY similar to something we heard
at Trident Studios some time ago....maybe a taster of the new album?

anyway, we were standing at the top of the hall, looking down on the
whole place - it sounds like a crap area, but it was THE BEST place to
be.

we could see EVERYTHING - the lights, the back-projections - got
excellent acoustics, and we could dance about a bit too.

someone told me that the concert was being taped for an anti-racist
charity, but i have no idea if that's true...

anyroad, after it was all over, we used the laminates that were with
our tickets, to get us into a very brief aftershow drinks area. it
finished off about 1am or so, and then the real people in the know
disappeared off to wherever the real party was.

anyway, amongst the people i spotted were:

Annie Nightingale (radio 1 dj, and mother of the orb's manager)

Irvine Welsh (author of 'trainspotting' amongst other things)

Mike Jones (clash/big audi dynamite main man)

and, two guys who looked REALLY familiar...the thumping bass must have
affected my brain, 'cos these two were standing right in fromt of me
for AGES and i couldn't work it out...

...eventually, i managed to work out one of them - it was YOUTH.

i didn't suss the other one until just before i left. i should hang my
head in shame too, 'cos he's one of my heroes.

i was thinking, 'Where the HELL do I know the scruffy looking bloke
with the grey/black hair and beard from?'

then, he stood next to Youth, and it ALL came flooding back. it
reminded me of an old 'Brilliant' picture sleeve.

Jimmi FUCKING Cauty!

doh. i need some sleep.

back on monday....

much, much, l8rzzzzzzzzz......

--
Smiley

From: Andrew Cieszkowski
Subject: RE: (orb) orb at the royal albert hall


Hello from Canada,

I have to say a few things about this show:

1)  I was very dissapointed that we were not able to hook up before
the show.  I guess I was just thinking how cool it would have been to
get all these Orbheads from all over the place together for a pint.
Oh well.

2)  Sorry about pinching one of the posters off the wall, but let's
face it, it was there, and I had no idea they were going to be selling
them outside after and the security was a joke (not your usual Royal
Albert Hall crowd I don't think)  Let me tell you how much of a
problem getting this back to Toronto was without ruining it.

3)  This was an amazing venue for the Orb.  As Smiley said, the
accoustics were top notch.  The chairs were cosy (for when I was
actually sitting) and the fans were having a great time.

3)  I saw KLF shirt and old Adventures shirt.  I have to say, the
U.F.OFF shirt was not very Orbish, I was a bit disappointed.

4)  I was first in Section J and then moved to right next to the stage
to take some photos ( I will post them after I get them back) and then
I went to the back under the projectors where the sound was actually
the best.  The set was, well, the best of the Orb, and they were
pretty much at their best.  Very few problems and overall a great
show.

5)  While in London I was able to find the video with the bonus CD
(?12.99),  the 2CD UFOff (?13.99), Sun Electric live (?5.00)(very hard
to find in Canada) and FFWD (?5.00)(very hard to find everywhere). For
this I really must thank Smiley for sending me in the right direction.
This pretty much made my trip.  Thanks.

Anyway, too bad we didn't get together fo a pint, but I had a great
time regardless.

Andrew