2000 got off to a pretty good start, gig-wise, with not one but two pairs of free tickets, courtesy of my local newspaper. The first of these * was Moby at The Anson Rooms, Bristol University Student Union's sizeable venue in the heart of upmarket Clifton.
Back then, it didn't occur to me that my luck in sending in my details to the Evening Post - I don't recall that there was even a question to answer, to make it 'competitive' - and 'winning' on both occasions may have had anything to do with an underselling gig.
Moby's star was on the rise once more and after playing Glastonbury that summer, the chances of seeing him perform live in such an intimate UK venue again were nil. There was a catch, though: the free tickets included a 'meet and greet' with Moby before the show.
I went to The Anson Rooms with my friend Dave. We were both working together at the time, and were both fans of the album Play well before it became a global phenomenon. Dave was always up for a gig or club night and so we got there early to meet the man himself.
I honestly don't know who was most awkward, myself and Dave, or Moby. There were a fair few of us in a small room, variously sat at tables or standing, and we could see Moby making his way round, until he finally sat with Dave and I.
I hadn't really given the 'meet and greet' a lot of thought, so I was not there with questions ready to pull out and talking to artists pre- or post-show is not something I've actively sought, before or after.
So there we were, exchanging a few slightly uncomfortable niceties, which trying to show how pleased we were to be there and see the show, when I suddenly blurted out,
"I've seen you once before, at The Fleece & Firkin, when you toured the Animal Rights album. It was brilliant."
Now that was all true but, as history has continued to demonstrate, it's probably the one Moby we don't talk about. After the commercial success of the club-oriented 1995 album Everything Is Wrong, Moby's follow up Animal Rights was pretty much a full-on metal album and pretty much a full-on failure in terms of sales.
Whilst hopes for Play in 1999 were modest at best, it was at least a return to the electronic mindset that had previously proved fruitful and no doubt the imminent concert was going to (excuse the pun) play to those strengths.
So, being reminded of the Animal Rights album by a bumbling Bristolian and worse, getting the impression that said tour was the standard by which he would be judged was probably the last thing that Moby wanted to hear prior to going on stage. He thanked us both for coming, even though he must also have known we'd got free tickets, and went to the next table.
Suffice to say, Moby smashed it that evening. There are probably those who came to the gig on the strength of Porcelain or Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? and expecting some lovely if melancholic dance music that was easy on the beats (and the knees).
And whilst there were moments like that, including the intro tape of My Weakness and the mid-set placement of Everloving, both downtempo moments from Play, the set as a whole hit pretty hard, even the relatively gentle singles Natural Blues and Run On sounding considerably beefed up in a live setting.
As for the dancefloor diaphragm shakers, plenty of evidence throughout the night: Machete, Go, Next Is The E, Ah Ah, Bring Back My Happiness, Bodyrock and Feeling So Reel had the audience's adrenalin pumping and Moby was matching it, bounce for bounce, frequently climbing or standing on kit and jumping off (though no stage divimg, that I recall).
The evening ended with set closing staple, Thousand, evey single one of those thousand BPMs rinsing out any angst or worry about the earlier encounter with the raving lunatic on stage.
The only downside was that neither Dave nor I had thought to book the following day off work. 'Light duties' and ringing ears are pretty much all I can remember about Thursday 3rd February 2000...
The running order for Moby's show in Bristol that night hasn't been published online so for today's Dubhed selection, I created a composite of setllists from Moby's concerts in Vienna (Jan 2000), Darmstadt (Feb 2000) and Glastonbury (Jun 2000) as they are all very similar.
As the selection runs to a whopping 18 tracks, I've opted for single, radio and video edits for many, the occasional (short) remix and then album versions for the rest. All of which means that this gig facsimile comes in at just under 63 minutes, considerably less than the concert itself which I think ran for nearly two hours.
The gig tickets is also a fake, courtesy of the Ticket Generator app. I don't know that I actually received a physical ticket for either of my Evening Post freebies; it's possible that I was just a name on a list at the door.
1) My Weakness (Album Version) (1999)
2) Machete (Album Version) (1999)
3) Find My Baby (Video Version) (1999)
4) Porcelain (US Video Version) (2000)
5) Go ('I Like To Score' Version) (1998)
6) James Bond Theme (Moby's Re-Version) (Single Version) (Cover of John Barry & Orchestra) (1997)
7) Next Is The E (Cool World Mix ft. Nicole Zaray) (1993)
8) Everloving (Album Version) (1999)
9) Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? (Single Version ft. The Shining Light Gospel Choir) (1999)
10) Ah-Ah (Album Version) (1992)
11) Bring Back My Happiness (Album Version ft. Rozz Morehead & Saundra Williams) (1995)
12) Natural Blues (Single Version ft. Vera Hall) (2000)
13) The Sky Is Broken (Album Version) (1999)
14) Bodyrock (Video Intro / Album Version ft. Nikki D) (1999)
15) Honey (Remix Edit By DJ Fafu ft. Kelis) (2000)
16) Run On (Video Version) (1999)
17) Feeling So Real (7" Edit ft. Kochie Banton, Myim Rose & Nicole Zaray) (1994)
18) Thousand (Single Version) (1993)
1992: The Story So Far: 10
1993: I Feel It / Thousand EP: 18
1993: Next Is The E EP: 7
1994: Feeling So Real EP: 17
1995: Everything Is Wrong: 11
1997: James Bond Theme (Moby's Re-Version) EP: 6
1998: I Like To Score: 5
1999: Play: 1, 2, 8, 13, 14
1999: Run On EP: 16
1999: Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? EP: 9
2000: Natural Blues EP: 12
2000: Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? / Honey EP: 15
2001: Play: The DVD: 3, 4, 14
* The second was The The a couple of months later, which I thought I'd previously covered but haven't. One for a future Dubhed selection...
No comments:
Post a Comment