Underworld concert number 3: "We're old, but we're here"

Giant Karl Hyde shadow.

Back in my mid-20s, my hands-down number one musical goal was to see Underworld live. I'd seen video of their concerts, and the idea of a non-stop dance party to all of my favorite electronic songs was enormously appealing. I'll admit, I even thought about going to see them in Europe if they never made it back to the U.S. on tour, because there for awhile, they were pretty quiet on album output, and played only a few select European dates.

Then they released "Oblivion With Bells," and played a few dates in the United States, including one in New York at Central Park. Underworld a mere train ride away? My friend Melvin and I jumped at the chance to see them, and it was an amazing concert — one of the most memorable nights of my life. And then surprisingly, they came around again the year after, to play Virgin Fest in Baltimore. So Melvin and I went again, to watch them play an incredible set in a terrible venue (Virgin Fest called it the "Dance Tent", but it should have been the "Dust Tent").

I went a year with no Underworld concerts, but then this year, wonder of wonders, they played at the 9:30 Club here in D.C. Well, after all that trekking to see them, there's no way I was going to pass on it when they were a Metro ride away. So, you guessed it, Melvin and I (and let me just note, I am exceedingly lucky to have a friend who loves Underworld concerts as much as me) went to see them again last night. Now a full four years after our first Underworld concert, we were remarking on passing 30 and getting old before the concert. In my case, I've been battling a problem with my foot since February, and, well, let's just say there aren't a lot of bands that could get me out to a concert on a Monday night these days. In fact, there might only be one.

But hey, we did come out on a Monday night, and so our mantra became "we're old, but we're here." We were out with the rest of the trending-older crowd — the median age was looking pretty thirty-something — to dance nonstop for a couple of hours to the group that literally redefined electronic music in the 1990s. And yes, foot or not, I danced (although I will admit to wearing my New Balances); the latest theory on my foot is that there's nothing structurally wrong with it, so I decided to put that theory to the test.

This was the sort of crowd that pulled their glow sticks out of retirement.

But enough about me. What about Underworld? Well, going back to the whole age thing, these guys — who are at least 20 years older than me — put out two almost entirely nonstop hours of high-energy music. It may actually have been the most intense Underworld concert I've been to, and that's saying a lot.

They started things out with Downpipe, then into Always Loved a Film, one of the better songs off of their new album, "Barking." I'll admit that I'm not loving "Barking" as much as their previous albums; it's pretty poppy and accessible, almost too much so. I think now that I've heard some of the songs, though, I might come back to it and give it another try. It's never going to be a "Second Toughest in the Infants" (the greatest electronic album, ever), but then, maybe I shouldn't expect a group to be able to replicate that level of genius again. The video screen — an Underworld requisite — came up during Film and was used periodically throughout the night, showing videos that were arty, occasionally strange, and, as always, key to the experience. The lighted tubes from the last two shows were gone, however (or they just didn't fit on the 9:30 Club stage).

Then they were on to more familiar territory with the lovely one-two punch of Dark Train, complete with the requisite flashing lights accompanying the synth chords at the song's climax, and then Two Months Off. Two Months Off is the song that gives me hope for the new Underworld album, because I didn't really get it when it was on the album. It was okay, sure, but it always felt kind of odd and stilted. Live, though, it loses all those harsh edges and comes out huge, hopeful, and immensely dance-able. I have a feeling that somewhere on "Barking" there's another song like it, one that will continue to morph live until they've turned it into one of the big Underworld dance anthems everyone's always waiting for at their concerts.

However, I don't think You Do Scribble, the next song, is going to be that song. It's one that's already been developing over the years (they actually played it in Baltimore and I think I liked it better then) and somehow turned into a poppy breakbeat thing that just doesn't entirely do it for me. That's the weird thing about Underworld. They've got these songs that, live, just hit you in the gut and compel you to dance. There's nothing identifiably wrong with Scribble, but it just doesn't have that gut punch. Bird 1 was next, one of the slower songs they did, and probably the one I could have most swapped out for something else (Rowla, you were missed).

Then again, it was a handy breather for my old self, and I needed that breather when it was time for Rez/Cowgirl. There weren't any slippery-awesome transitions to it this time, just standard Rez/Cowgirl, which is still always, always, always outstanding — that moment when the bleeps and blips really kick in and the crowd just goes nuts is always one of my favorites.

Rick Smith does (heavily processed, but still!) backing vocals!

They went back to new material in their next two songs, but it was stronger stuff (two candidates, perhaps, for the new Two Months Off). Between Stars was nice and crisp, and Diamond Jigsaw was a real surprise, with Karl Hyde strapping on a guitar that was core to the song, instead of a little extra texture. And indeed, it does have that same sort of big, happy feeling that Two Months Off does.

At about this point, I was feeling like Underworld might have played a few too many new songs, and that was going to cheat me out of some of the big, barnstorming electronica anthems they're known for. Um, no. Instead, they just played a longer set. And that is why I love them.

King of Snake kind of snuck in, without any of Shudder, so it was a slowly dawning realization that they were going to do it, and it was an excellent one. I was kind of disappointed in the transitions this time around — there weren't as many of those brilliant little moments as they slid from one song into another. But it seemed like they were working on something else this time, equally brilliant and interesting, and that was reinventing songs like King of Snake. Yes, the gigantic I Feel Love, four-on-the-floor beat was still holding up the bottom, but the piano was gone, replaced with new bleeps and blips, and it made the song every bit as dance-able as it's always been, but newly intruiging.

Karl Hyde has impossible amounts of energy.

And then, of course, Underworld might try a set in Europe without Born Slippy .NUXX, but there's to be none of that in the U.S. People might tend toward mutiny if they never got to shout "Lager! Lager! Lager!." So it was next, without the sneaky little bit of the original Born Slippy kicking it off this time, just a booming beat and some dissonant wailing synth that built and built and built until it was identifiable, and increasing amounts of the crowd lost it. What do you say about Born Slippy? It's the ultimate gut-punch song, something you can play and never fail to get a crowd going, and saving it for the end left us all primed and ready for it.

They closed with Born Slippy, and left the stage for two or three minutes, max, (granted, the crowd was screaming and clapping for the entirety of that time) before coming back out for an encore. I was primed for disappointment at this point, because the last two times I've seen them live, they closed with Jumbo, which is one of my least favorite Underworld songs. Oh, but this time, they came in with that distinctive opening to Dirty Epic and I screamed at the top of my lungs. Truly. Something snapped loose in my throat when I did it, and today I sound like I gargled with razor blades.

Dirty Epic is one of my all-time favorite Underworld songs; not a dance song, but one that shows their range, their ability to create these amazing, atmospheric electronic songs. Every time I listen to it, my brain creates its own little Underworld video screen, filled with dark rain-soaked brick alleys and old houses with faded wallpaper and London Tube platforms late at night. It's beautifully evocative. And maybe it doesn't translate all of that live, sped up smidge so that some of the crowd was swaying, and some people were out and out trying to dance. But so nice to stand there and close my eyes and sway and sing those strange and brilliant lyrics.

Moaner: Crazy intense.

Both of the previous times I'd seen them, Underworld did a one-song encore. But this time they weren't done, and they pulled out a wicked transition to redeem themselves in the transition department and close out the night — hinting, hinting, hinting, and then, finally, Moaner. Rez/Cowgirl might be a thing of beauty, and Born Slippy might be the electronica anthem of all time, but NOTHING is more intense live than Moaner. They come in with that big booming undertone and the high, frantic synth, and then top that all off with the increasingly desperate vocals, plenty of smoke and impossibly fast strobe lights, and everybody can't help but leave it all on the floor.

And we did, capping off a two-hour set, watching our hands stutter above our heads in the lights. Dancing because this was it and it was crazy and our guts compelled us to, no matter how old we were.

Videos and more photos here

Naked man and Spoonman (Virgin Fest)

So Melvin and I had a shorter trek to make this year to see Underworld. Last year we had to go to New York, and we were prepared to go to New Jersey to see them at All Points West this year, but then they were announced for Virgin Fest in Baltimore. A 45 minute drive to see Underworld!

But first, the rest of the festival. We thought it was going to take a lot longer to get there — that there was going to be a giant line of cars heading into Pimlico. But that was not in fact the case. So we were there WAY early with plenty of time to catch Cat Power's set to start out.

I wasn't quite sure how she was going to sound live, but she sounded great and did a good, bluesy set. I love the way she completely reinvents songs for covers, and she did a cover of "Fortunate Son" that was very much reinvented.

We headed to the other stage after that, for Gogol Bordello's set (we wanted to be able to get a decent spot for Lupe Fiasco, who was on after them). I had never heard of Gogol Bordello, and I'm not necessarily sure that I'd put them on my ipod, but they put on a hell of a show. Their lineup at the beginning of the show included a fiddle and accordion, and by the end they had out a marching band bass drum and the lead singer was banging on a bucket. Fun times.


We moved up close for Lupe Fiasco's set, and I realized it was TOO close not too far into the set when the crowd surfers started going forward from far behind us. The crowd was pretty hepped up already, and they were flinging all kinds of things in the air — frisbees and water bottles. We saw a girl get hit in the head with a frisbee, and at one point a gallon jug full of water went up and came back down almost in slow motion. It didn't look like anyone got hit in the head with that one. I got kicked in the face by a crowd surfer at one point, but no serious harm. After Lupe's short but great set, we retreated farther back on the lawn where we could chill out and listen to Bloc Party and The Offspring — if the crowd was that wired for Lupe Fiasco it was only going to get worse, and I needed some rest to be ready for two hours of solid dancing during Underworld.

Bloc Party's set sounded good but they didn't have a lot of stage presence. They just pretty much went out there and played. The crowd perked up a lot more for The Offspring. They sounded exactly the same as they always have, but I tell you what — nothing that's happened as I approach 30 has made me feel as old as seeing Dexter Holland look more like a guy who just dropped his kids off at soccer practice and grabbed a microphone than the lead singer of the punk band of my high school days. Yikes. It was fun, though. As they kept bringing out more hits, I kept going, "I forgot about this song!" They closed, of course, with "Self Esteem," and it had the crowd jumping all over the place.

Then it was time to head over to the dance tent and scope things out. In the midst of our pizza eating/Underworld-prepping, Melvin and other people around me started pointing and giggling. I turned around to see what they were pointing at, and there was a naked man standing not too far away from us. He looked more disoriented than drunk or protesting something, and eventually he wandered behind some bushes as the crowd continued to grow.

I'd been trying to figure out what to do with the beach towel I was using to sit on the lawn, as I didn't want to lug it through the Underworld set. Melvin wisely suggested we give it to the naked guy, so he chucked it over the bushes. Naked guy picked it up, and we thought he was going to use it to cover up, but instead he just put it around his neck. So that's the story of what happened to my beach towel — Melvin gave it to the naked guy.

And then it was time to find a good spot for Underworld. We were able to get pretty close this time, but not scary close.


Again this time, I had expectations for Underworld, but this time they were actually based on having seen them live before. Once again, they met and maybe even surpassed my expectations — although the "Dance Tent" venue was not as good at Virgin Fest, Underworld sounded as good as they did last year, and maybe even better.

About that Dance Tent — I suppose it was a good idea in terms of making it dark enough for lights for the day acts. But by the evening, the grass that had served as the floor was pretty ragged, and once the concert started, the air got hot and stifling with all of the dust the crowd was kicking up. Not quite the same as astroturf and open skies at Central Park. But Underworld can't be blamed for that.

The set:

1. Crocodile — This was the only song they played off of the new album, which surprised me. I thought we'd get "Ring Road" or "Glam Bucket" at least. This was called the Dance Tent, though, and Underworld definitely kept the pace up the entire show.

2. Spoonman — !!! Worth the price of admission. For the entire festival. There was a transition period and then they played the distinctive "muuuuuurwgh" They wound into it slowly, got up to pace, and then went through another slowdown where Karl was reading the lyrics. Then they kicked the pace back up to close it out.

3. Rez/Cowgirl — They rolled this out early, and the crowd went nuts from the opening blips of Rez. I preferred the more unique arrangement they did in Central Park last year (still my all time favorite rendering of this), but it was still note-perfect.

4. Pearl's Girl — This might be my least-favorite song off of Second Toughest in the Infants. Being my least favorite song off of my all-time favorite album, though, is still pretty damn good, and I've really enjoyed this song both times live. That big helicopter beat down low really hits you.

5. Push Upstairs — They did this brilliant, sneaky transition out of "Pearl's Girl." We were in that song, dancing away, and then all of a sudden it morphed, and twisted around, and it was "Push Upstairs." And once they got to the song, it was great — huge on the bottom, and Karl Hyde really selling it on the mike.

6. New Train — This came on all stealthy and foreboding, and then they built it up to the big crescendo, with the lights flashing on the chords.

7. You Do Scribble — They wound things down after "New Train," and then came back with this rarity — a big surprise, but a nice fit — which built slowly on the blippy instrumental, Karl coming in at the end with the vocals.

8. Two Months Off — I was surprised on this one when they started blowing up the giant inflatable tubes, as I'd thought there wouldn't be room on the tiny Dance Tent stage for them. But with a lot of maneuvering by the stage hands — they were still adjusting them well into the song — they got them up and placed and I'm glad they had them. The colors in the tubes really add to the effect, which I think you can see in my pictures. The song, as it was in Central Park, sounded excellent, and was immensely great to dance to.

9. Rowla — I love that they bust this song out live. It sounds different than it does on the album, and it's perfect to dance to. HUGE on the bottom, and a little faster paced.

10. Shudder/Born Slippy .Nuxx — They did that little cymbal crash from the beginning of Shudder/King of Snake, and I thought at that point that was what they were going to launch into. But then...they didn't. And the transition went on, and it became clear that it wasn't "King of Snake," but instead the long-drawn out intro to "Born Slippy .Nuxx" — the same one they did in Central Park, which I think has some of the original "Born Slippy" mixed in. Gradually they started to slip into more recognizable bits of the song, and more and the crowd started to recognize it and anticipate what was coming. When they hit the big, signature chords, and everybody went nuts. The pace was frenetic, and by that time I had inhaled so much dust I had a hard time even shouting "lager lager lager" with everyone. Amazing, as always.

11. Moaner — We never did get "King of Snake," but if the tradeoff was that I got to hear "Moaner," it was so worth it. They came at this one with EVERYTHING, and it was extremely intense, with the huge undercurrent of bass, and Karl singing the vocals in an almost desperate way, and all of the lights flashing with the music.

12. Jumbo — They closed out the show, as they did in Central Park, with "Jumbo," which is my least favorite Underworld song. It wasn't bad at all — it seemed like they sped it up a bit to stick with the whole "Dance Tent" thing. I was just hoping for something different this time around, preferably "Ring Road," or even "Dirty Epic" (which would have thoroughly blown my mind). Still, though, it was a nice way to wind down at the end of the concert.

That's all I've got, words-wise. But I have pictures and video clips up at Flickr.

Underworld in Central Park

And now for an extremely long and detailed post about the Underworld concert. There will be a later post on New York. Sometime.

So I posted earlier that the Underworld show in Central Park completely exceeded my high expectations. Most of the reason for that was Underworld, but part of it was the venue. We were at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park, which was much smaller than I'd expected. Underworld isn't nearly as big in the US as in Europe, but still, they played the Hollywood Bowl for their Los Angeles show, and Paul Oakenfold opened for them, so they're not exactly small, either. They've been gravitating toward outdoor venues, so maybe that's the only place in New York that was outdoors and worked.

For whatever reason, it was a much smaller venue than I'd expected, and we were maybe 100 feet from the stage. So instead of watching an outstanding show where we could barely see the stage, we were close enough to see everything and really really feel the thump of the bass.

The thing — well, one of the things — that makes Underworld different from other electronic acts is that they do an actual live show, and they have an actual front man — Karl Hyde. There's nothing pre-recorded, and the setlist isn't set in advance (well, except everyone knows they're going to play Born Slippy), so Rick Smith, the other half of the duo, is up there piecing together little snippets throughout the show. In the pictures I link to later in this post, you may notice a third guy up there, on the boards with him — that's Darren Price, their DJ for the live shows. Add to that a huge video screen in the background, synched to the music, and you certainly have the makings for a hell of a show.

Here was the official setlist:

1. Luetin
2. New Train
3. Crocodile
4. Pearls Girl
5. Biro The Leggy
6. Two Months Off
7. Rowla
8. Glam Bucket
9. Rez / Cowgirl
10. Born Slippy Nuxx
11. King Of Snake
12. Jumbo

There's some confusion as to whether it was Biro the Leggy or Beautiful Burnout, off of the new album Oblivion With Bells. It sounds like Beautiful Burnout may be Biro the Leggy's younger brother. Here is an unofficial setlist, put together by someone who has better memory than me:

1. Luetin
2. Dark Train
3. "HMH Untitled-2" improv
4. Crocodile
5. Improv
6. Pearl's Girl
7. Improv
8. Beautiful Burnout
9. Two Months Off
10. Rowla
11. 5 Foot 5
12. Glam Bucket
13. Improv
14. Rez/Cowgirl
15. Small Conker and a Twix
16. Born Slippy .NUXX
17. King of Snake
18. Jumbo

Luetin was an interesting choice to kick things off. It's not one of my favorites, but with a slightly slower beat it gave the crowd a chance to warm up. Karl read the lyrics off of a music stand, which cut back on the energy of the piece a bit. It was the only sign all night that they were at all out of practice. Although, to his credit, Luetin doesn't really make any sense, so he can't really be blamed, except for writing it in the first place.


Luetin video

They followed Luetin with New Train, which is some variation (perhaps in name only) of Dark Train. It was a great choice, and one the crowd definitely appreciated. During Dark Train, the video screen behind them kicked into overdrive with a barrage of images, clipping through them at an incredible pace. The screen continued to change throughout the night, sometimes showing live video of Karl or Rick and Darren, sometimes filmed video of Rick and Karl, sometimes photos or other video, and even vintage Atari games — Asteroid, Space Invaders, and finally Pong.


New Train/Dark Train video — this is the cleanest video I've been able to find out of the concert, although you can't really hear the big Underworld bass.

Crocodile sounded great live. It was very danceable and the crowd responded very well to it. Definitely the next Big Underworld Dance Song.


Crocodile video

It took the crowd a little while to catch on to Pearl's Girl, but it still sounds as good as it ever has. I really liked the multimedia screen during this one — words in varying font sizes flashing across the screen so fast I wondered what Underworld was subliminally dropping into my brain.


Pearl's Girl video — this is the best one I could run back across but I feel like I've seen one that's less jerky and lets you see the video better. If I track it back down I'll replace it here.

Beautiful Burnout / Biro the Leggy was a little slower and a little heavy on the vocoder for my taste, but still definitely danceable. I'm very curious to hear how it sounds on the album. I think there were some layers that didn't translate well live, and some of my favorite Underworld songs are just too intricate to really work live. They play Dirty Epic rarely (although they did play it in Denver...Denver also got Moaner — so jealous) and I don't think Banstyle/Sappys Curry ever left the studio.


Beautiful Burnout / BTL video

Beautiful-whatever-it-was was well-positioned, because the next song was a huge, sparkling version of Two Months Off, which had the crowd jumping up and down and screaming, "You bring light in, to a dark place." It was sometime before Two Months Off that they busted out these giant inflatable air tubes to video of Rick and Karl messing around with them in a giant field. The air tubes seemed a little weird at first but they became part of the show, repositioned by the crew periodically and lit up to go with the music, and they worked remarkably well.


Two Months Off — The audio is really fuzzy, but you can see the air tubes and the bouncy crowd

When I finally heard where they were going after the improv period, I exlaimed "Rowla!" Talk about a song that translates well live — it lost the delicacy of the album but was driving, booming, and very danceable.


Rowla video

Glam Bucket was dense and experimental, something to sway to, which was good, because I realized at this point just how much my knee hurt. Normally, if Karl's on the guitar, it's just one of many layers of sound, but you could definitely hear it in this one. I love those little guitar moments in a lot of Underworld songs, so this is another one I can't wait to hear on the new album.


Glam Bucket video

Glam Bucket gave the crowd a chance to rest up, which is good, because Underworld was about to launch into an impossibly spectacular string of songs. Before I go into those, though, some general observations:

1. Underworld puts on a multimedia show. Granted, it's a multimedia show where the music is the obvious star. but between the music, Karl Hyde's crazy antics on the stage, the lights, the smoke, the glowy air tubes and the video screen, there's a whole lot going on. Combine that with dancing and I was in total sensory overload for two-plus hours, but that was part of what made it so oustanding.

2. Karl Hyde is awesome. I knew this already, but I finally got to see it in person. He looked like he was having an absolute blast up there, dancing around. If you saw him bust out some of the moves he pulls at a club, you'd probably stare and go, "what's up with that guy?" Because, let's face it, we're all a little reserved and always trying to make sure we don't do something uncool. But Karl Hyde comes out in front of thousands of people with his arms flung up in the air, dancing around like someone who doesn't care what anyone else thinks about his dancing. And he pulls it off with such joy, such willingness to just embrace the music, that you feel jealous, and then realize that you're released to do the same thing — throw your arms in the air and just go with the music. It's a very powerful feeling. Karl didn't stay in the spotlight the whole night, though. He generally hung back by the deck whenever he was playing the guitar, and sometimes went to the back of the stage and danced there. It made us focus on Rick, who was Very Seriously bent over the deck the entire night like he was doing surgery, and Darren Price, who kept darting around with a hand on his headphones.

So with that said, now it's time to descend into the brilliance that was the best version of Rez/Cowgirl I've ever heard, and I don't say that lightly. Out of a big booming improv bass-y piece, they pulled out the lyrics "everything, everything," over and over again, and it really seemed like they were going to play Cowgirl without Rez, which is pretty much sacrilegious. The loop slowed down and the lyrics distorted, and they slid in the twangy beginning to Cowgirl, and I thought, "wow, they really are going to play Cowgirl without Rez," and I honestly felt a little cheated.

Oh, me of little faith. Out of the twang came just the slightest few electronic pops, and then it slid perfectly into the beginning of Rez, at which point I started screaming and turned to Melvin and yelled, "You can't play Cowgirl without Rez!" with a giant grin on my face. The crowd was already super riled up at this point, and when the song hit that big Rez crescendo, which will never, ever, get old, they went apeshit, myself included. I didn't even consciously think about it — I just HAD to jump up and down and wave my hands in the air with the rest of the crowd.

The transition to Cowgirl was flawless, and Karl sounded great. The crowd was singing along with him — thousands of people yelling, "I'm invisible, I'm invisible." If it wasn't already, it was clear at this point that despite a long hiatus filled only with scattered concert dates, online-only releases and soundtracks, Underworld hasn't lost a thing (or a beat, if you prefer a bad pun). The crowd had huge energy, all the way through to the end, but how could they not?


Rez/Cowgirl 1 — don't turn the volume up on this one too high because it's pretty fuzzy, but it's the only one I've been able to find so far that has the Cowgirl tease at the beginning, through to Rez. I am so hoping that they release audio of this concert, particularly this song.


Rez/Cowgirl 2 — the Cowgirl half of the above video. Again, don't turn it up too high.


Rez with cleaner sound (although less bass)

I was a little sad when they started the opening to Born Slippy Nuxx, because I figured that was it, save maybe for an encore, and the concert would be over soon. But then it kicked into gear and I got caught up in the music, telling myself to just enjoy the hell out of what was left.

Some bands, I think, play their big hit with a little weariness, maybe even a little contempt, like they can't believe they have to trot out the damn song every night. There was none of that with Underworld. It was more, here it is, we're all having so much fun, we know you guys love this song, and it is what it is. And of course the crowd went nuts, jumping up and down, fists pumping the air, despite the fact that we'd all just expended so much energy during Rez/Cowgirl. It goes without saying that we all shouted "Lager! Lager! Lager! Lager!" when the time came.


Born Slippy Nuxx — the sound's about as good on this one as you're going to get, although every video I've found of Born Slippy looks like complete and utter chaos because the cameraman is getting jarred so badly.


Born Slippy Nuxx (different clip)— I mentioned smoke earlier when I was talking about multimedia, and you can see what I was talking about here. The smoke and the lights in time with the music look outstanding. Turn down your volume, though, because it's pretty fuzzy. Lager! Lager! Lager! Lager!

When Born Slippy was over, it quickly became clear that they still weren't done, and then, after a transition period, they brought out King of Snake, and the crowd went nuts again. It was an extremely high energy version, with the big I Feel Love bass line cycling around quickly, Karl spinning around in the back of the stage and the camera, like, Blair Witch close on his face. I was dancing on adrenaline at this point — the music sounded so good, there was no way I couldn't keep moving.


King of Snake 1 — The sound's reasonable on this one, and it's even pretty still.


King of Snake 2 — Second half of the above clip

They really did end it after King of Snake, although they were back quickly for an encore. It was Jumbo, which is actually my least favorite Underworld song. But I wanted the concert to keep going, and I actually liked the song much better when it was live and I was there, swaying and clapping with the rest of the crowd.


Jumbo 1


Jumbo 2


Jumbo 3

Jumbo wasn't nearly enough to unwind my brain. As we followed the stream of people out through the dark, tree-lined paths of Central Park, I felt stunned. My feet were so sore I could hardly walk, and I kept asking myself, "did that really happen?"

Hands-down the best concert I have ever been to. I thought that seeing them once would be enough, but if they come back to the US again, I am so definitely there. And if they don't, well, I can think of worse reasons to go to Europe.

Concert pictures on Flickr:
• trontnort
• kainproductions
• The359

You bring light in to a dark place

Melvin and I, pre-concert.

So this weekend I did two things I've yet to do in life. One was visit New York (not sure how it came to be that I never made it there before now, but I didn't), and the other is see Underworld live.

So Melvin and I took the train up to New York, where we went to a concert that was AMAZING. I tried not to get my hopes up, because Underworld hasn't done much more than play scattered dates in the last few years, and because I thought that nothing could possibly live up to my expectations of their live show.

Turns out they WAY exceeded my expectations and completely blew my mind. There will be much more later, when I get my truly mammoth blog post done, but I wanted to at least get a post and a picture up now. Sadly, I didn't want to take my digital camera because I had visions of it being crushed or smashed underfoot, so I got a little disposable job. Despite 1000 speed film, most of my pictures didn't come out, and those that did are still grainy (I think I am done with film). Fortunately, I realized that out of all of those people holding up digital cameras in front of me, at least some of them were going to post their photos on Flickr. And they did. So there will be links, and lots of them.

For now, go listen to the new single Crocodile.

Massive update

So it has been a very long time since have blogged, and that is primarily because June was crazy. I suppose it is time for an update.

1. Eileen and Jeff came out to visit over Memorial Day weekend, and much fun was had. I finally got to meet Melissa in person, which was v. cool, and Melvin joined us for our Baltimore adventure. The Orioles and seafood were involved. That's all of us there in the picture. Photos on Flickr

2. Not long after that, it was time for the second round of visitors. My parents brought my grandfather out to see the World War II memorial and the rest of the city. We did Tourmobile, and my dad and I got off at the Vietnam memorial. I hadn't been there since I moved out here, and had only been there once in 8th grade. It definitely has a different emotional resonance at my age than it did in 8th grade. If you are like me and haven't seen it as an adult, I definitely recommend it, but be prepared to cry. We caught up with my mom and grandfather at the World War II memorial. All in all a good trip, and my grandfather said he really enjoyed himself. Photos on Flickr

3. Pretty much immediately after they left it was time to turn around for another visitor — my friend Tanya, this time. It is amazing, despite having so many visitors in such a short time, I really did almost entirely different things with everyone. Tanya and I hit a ton of museums, including some I hadn't yet been to, so another v. fun visit. Photos on Flickr

4. Now it is time for ME to travel (although my parents are in town again at the end of next week because my dad has a work thing). Up this weekend — San Francisco, for Eileen's transcontinental birthday bash. Then at the end of July it's time for the annual family cruise. This time to Canada/New England, which should be fun. I'll get to go to both San Francisco and Boston for the first time this year, and...

5. I am going to see Underworld!!! They are playing in Central Park on Sept. 14, and Melvin, Katherine, Eric and I all have tickets already. I am crazy excited for this. I have never seen them live and have always wanted to so so much. And, oddly enough, I have never been to New York, either (which is really inexcusable now that I am a 2-hour train ride away), so that'll be another major U.S. city crossed off the to-visit list.

6. Putting a slight damper on San Francisco is a mystery leg problem I seem to have developed. Last week I looked down at my calf and there was a giant bruise that I couldn't remember getting. No, I hadn't been drinking. Much. The bruise kept going down in size but over the last couple days I have been experiencing odd random pains, tingling and numbness in my leg. Sometimes it feels like a shin splint. Sometimes my knee (this is, of course, the leg with my bad knee) hurts. So today I went to the doctor and he wasn't too alarmed, which I took as a good sign. I did have to get x-rays but they won't send them to the doctor until I'm already in SF. So hopefully I will not get a call on Monday telling me that a legkillerapede has burrowed into my calf or something. Fortunately, I can walk on it pretty well. It's actually sitting and standing that it hurts the most.

7. The good news that came out of the visit to the doctor today is that my cholesterol, which had come back as absurdly high for someone my at my age and fitness level, has dropped 90 points. Or they screwed up the test in the first place. Being that I've done little different except eat less meat and more blueberries, and I'm taking a B vitamin, I'm going to go with the screwup. Either that or Trader Joe's B vitamins are miraculous.

8. Is anything from China not contaminated with dangerous things?