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ventaI was a bit unsure about going to see Massive Attack live - after all, they're a band who rely heavily on samples, and surely would have to use large sections of pre-recorded stuff.
However, this really didn't seem to be the case. There actually seemed to be relatively little use of non-live sampling - and more real instruments than I'd expected. We counted ten people total, though never all on stage at once (and one of them was a guest rapper called (?) Mos Def). At least five different people on vocals at various times, not counting the rapper, some of whom really could sing.
So, you've got your drums set up at the back, then a bass and a guitar or two. And a couple of blokes operating things that could have been keyboards, or synths, or generic boxes o' twiddly knobs - difficult to tell by sight. And somehow the sound seems to be built up in layers in such a way that the end result is of such a complicated texture that it nearly becomes a tangible thing in its own right.
Despite not actually being that loud (compared to usual loudness), the sound had an enveloping quality which seemed to draw me in and surround me. And instead of getting three and four minutes of song at a time, as you'd expect at a rock gig, you get drawn-out, drugging areas of sound which slide from one song to another. I'm going to start saying things like "polyphonic" in a moment, so should probably quit while I'm ahead.
They also had a light show, which I'm not used to seeing at gigs at all. It was mostly just random patterns, occasionally bursting into rapid fire letter arrangements which seemed to be the written equivalent of glossolalia. It only really seemed to gain relevance during a song dedicated to the ordinary people of Iraq, during which it spelled out a long sequence of names and ages - presumably child casualties of the war.
And I did my bit to be a Nice Person, and was pleased to find there are other Nice People out there, too. On leaving the toilets, I noticed that there was a girl looking really, really ill, so paused to ask if she was OK - the answer was "no", and she said she'd like some water.
The queues at the bars were huge, so I asked one of the security guys whether there was anywhere I could get some water for someone who wasn't well. "Water?" he said blankly. I explained again. And again. "Someone ill ? Ah, you need first aider!" he said, in a very thick accent. No, I didn't. He demanded, very suspiciously, to know what it was I was asking for water for. And so it went on. It worries me that if there were some kind of crisis at a gig, the people trying to marshal the crowds would be people who don't really speak much English.
Anyway, a random bloke who'd overheard collared me, and we established that the ill girl was his friend. He waited for her, I went off to hunt down water. Trying to avoid the queues, I requested of the couple at the front of the mob that they got me a glass of tapwater, for someone who was ill. After some faffing, a bottle was passed back - no, Brixton don't provide tapwater. The bloke refused to let me pay for it, saying I should get back to the friend who was ill ("he's just a nice guy", shrugged the girl with him.)
I trundled back, the girl had gone - hopefully feeling better - and so had her friend. Presumably she thought I'd just wandered off. Leaving me with the uncomfortable feeling that I'd scrounged a bottle of free water from a hapless bystander. I drank it, and chucked some money in the charity bucket on the way out, writing it off as karma.
Incidentally, is there anyone who knows for definite what the legal requirement for places to provide tapwater is ? Preferably with citable references ?
As a side note, I don't believe I've ever had so many people offering to sell me drugs. Not even at Glastonbury.
However, this really didn't seem to be the case. There actually seemed to be relatively little use of non-live sampling - and more real instruments than I'd expected. We counted ten people total, though never all on stage at once (and one of them was a guest rapper called (?) Mos Def). At least five different people on vocals at various times, not counting the rapper, some of whom really could sing.
So, you've got your drums set up at the back, then a bass and a guitar or two. And a couple of blokes operating things that could have been keyboards, or synths, or generic boxes o' twiddly knobs - difficult to tell by sight. And somehow the sound seems to be built up in layers in such a way that the end result is of such a complicated texture that it nearly becomes a tangible thing in its own right.
Despite not actually being that loud (compared to usual loudness), the sound had an enveloping quality which seemed to draw me in and surround me. And instead of getting three and four minutes of song at a time, as you'd expect at a rock gig, you get drawn-out, drugging areas of sound which slide from one song to another. I'm going to start saying things like "polyphonic" in a moment, so should probably quit while I'm ahead.
They also had a light show, which I'm not used to seeing at gigs at all. It was mostly just random patterns, occasionally bursting into rapid fire letter arrangements which seemed to be the written equivalent of glossolalia. It only really seemed to gain relevance during a song dedicated to the ordinary people of Iraq, during which it spelled out a long sequence of names and ages - presumably child casualties of the war.
And I did my bit to be a Nice Person, and was pleased to find there are other Nice People out there, too. On leaving the toilets, I noticed that there was a girl looking really, really ill, so paused to ask if she was OK - the answer was "no", and she said she'd like some water.
The queues at the bars were huge, so I asked one of the security guys whether there was anywhere I could get some water for someone who wasn't well. "Water?" he said blankly. I explained again. And again. "Someone ill ? Ah, you need first aider!" he said, in a very thick accent. No, I didn't. He demanded, very suspiciously, to know what it was I was asking for water for. And so it went on. It worries me that if there were some kind of crisis at a gig, the people trying to marshal the crowds would be people who don't really speak much English.
Anyway, a random bloke who'd overheard collared me, and we established that the ill girl was his friend. He waited for her, I went off to hunt down water. Trying to avoid the queues, I requested of the couple at the front of the mob that they got me a glass of tapwater, for someone who was ill. After some faffing, a bottle was passed back - no, Brixton don't provide tapwater. The bloke refused to let me pay for it, saying I should get back to the friend who was ill ("he's just a nice guy", shrugged the girl with him.)
I trundled back, the girl had gone - hopefully feeling better - and so had her friend. Presumably she thought I'd just wandered off. Leaving me with the uncomfortable feeling that I'd scrounged a bottle of free water from a hapless bystander. I drank it, and chucked some money in the charity bucket on the way out, writing it off as karma.
Incidentally, is there anyone who knows for definite what the legal requirement for places to provide tapwater is ? Preferably with citable references ?
As a side note, I don't believe I've ever had so many people offering to sell me drugs. Not even at Glastonbury.
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no subject
Date: 2004-07-12 03:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-13 01:42 am (UTC)Neilh is at least back in the country, and was in Oxford a week ago - I'm a little unsure of his current exact whereabouts.
no subject
Date: 2004-07-13 10:04 am (UTC)