We rocked into the Entertainment Centre late, due to some house mixing and drinking before seeing English DJ heavy weights Chemical Brothers. (C’mon who wouldn’t stay at a place where there’s virtually free beer and the DJ plays requests?)
As such the entry to the Entertainment centre went quickly. Surprisingly quickly – the bar lines were another thing that looked long, but moved as quickly as you can say ‘whaddya want?’
Grabbing the drinks I’d noticed the crowd was mostly in their later 20’s and 30’s which I heartily appreciated. There must be one good thing about the almost $100 price tag for tickets – keeping the teeny boppers away.
In saying there were no kids in the place, there was a high contingent of shaved heads, fluoro and beaded, tall gents with spiked hair. There was also one fella with a clown faced make up (whom I later saw being booked by the cops for an undisclosed misdemeanour) whom was a scary looking juggaloo mofo. Which I didn’t realise until later the clown makeup was a reference to the Galvanise film clip, and not the Insane Clown Posse. Bad fan. Naughty.
We’d missed Art vs. Science, but we did catch the very tail end of Zane Lowe – the kiwi born, BBC1 presenter who also doubles as a DJ. I was surprised to jump into a space right down the front and with enough space to soothe my claustrophobia.
So we had drinks, enough room to dance and surprise surprise were not being deafened by the music coming from the stacks which were no more than three meters away. Finally I’d found a sound engineer who knew his stuff! Whomever you were Mr Sound Engineer, I applaud your work, cause dude it was loud enough, but we weren’t quickly losing our will to live by being physically pummelled by sound nor was there any reverb or echo bouncing off the massive walls or roof of the stadium.
As the very quick change over happened the Centre was slowly filling up with smoke. The smoke machines were going off like a frog in a sock. Complain though I may be doing now, it was well worth the smell and uncomfort for the laser show later on in the night.
The original Dust Brothers, Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands, came out to raucous applause – with lowly glowing lights and enough smoke to create a ethereal, other world vibe.
The set up on stage was what looked like a 24 channel mixing desk, with enough individual level controls surrounding the boys that it looked somewhat like the inside of the Tardis.
And the first track dropped was Galvanise – I’m sure Mr Clown Makeup would’ve shat his pants at this point.
The ADHD kid in me was mesmerised by the light show. Seriously I can’t explain who enticing and bug catching the lights were. I was like a mosquito flying towards the blue like I couldn’t help myself, or stop staring.
The light show was just insane; the circle of lights which descended and ascended time and time again paired with the roof to floor TV screens – the animations were inspiring and entertaining. From people kissing, to swimming and jumping girls, to flocks of birds circling the sky to paint balls exploding in slow and fast motion. The animations enriched the musical entertainment going on.
Although throughout all the animations, there was one part that reminded me of a TV show from my childhood on the ABC. It was a show where some crazy UK kids went through a grandfather clock and met up with a dancing fluoro tiger who came apart and his stripes and feet danced separately. (Man those show creators must’ve been on some serious mind alterers). Anyways there were animations on the big screen that me reconsidering just how much I’d had to drink (only three! I swear!) and reminiscing over childhood TV shows. Funny what fluoro dancing furniture will make you think of…
What can I say that hasn’t already been said? The music was seamless track after track of old favs like starting off with Galvanise and through to Star Guitar to Hey Girl, Hey Boy and Saturate, also featured. Block Rocking Beats and Believe weren’t left behind either.
Ending the night with All IS LOVE in red scrolling lights around the massive column of descended lights was a nice touch. Although there was a many a fan calling out for SALMON! SALMON! SALMON! They weren’t to be satisfied. I can’t speak for those people, but honestly I think last night at the Entertainment Centre was one of the best performances of the Chemical Brothers, they absolutely killed it.
You lucky people tomorrow at Future Music Festival – I envy you. The Chemical Brothers are well worth the price of admission to the Festival, if not go and see Zane Lowe as well. Oh and all those other acts… I’m sure you’ll be entertained. 🙂
And as a very good friend reminded me this morning: Just remember! To fall in love! If nothing else! If nothing else!
