From noze Sent Mon, Nov 23rd 1998, 03:04
From noze Sent Mon, Nov 23rd 1998, 03:04
WARNING: DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU DON'T WANT THE MBM CONCERT SPOILED FOR
YOU. HALF THE FUN OF THE SHOW WAS SEEING WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!
I haven't seen too many reviews of this show yet, so here goes one from
the Austin show last Saturday:
We missed out on Q-Burn's set, but a couple of people said he did a good
job. Josh Winx came on stage with a medium sized arsenal of electronic
equipment. He had turntables, cd decks, fx processors, some samplers,
and a 303. His set began with some weird ambient in the background while
he explained his show's purpose over the music. This was basically the
only interesting part of his show because he was fucking with his voice
with the aid of the fx processors. After that we were subjected to one
hour of boring tinkering and beats that sounded like the presets that
come with ReBirth. About the only redeeming aspect of the affair was
that Meat Beat's video screens were providing the audience with a
videotaped account of Winx's day in Austin. We get to see Josh and his
compatriots walking through the streets and various record stores.
Basically it was filler.
Ok, enough of the shitty part. Meat Beat came on rather quickly after
Winx was through and they completely tore shit up. Meat Beat was on my
list of bands to see before I die, so I had some pretty high expectations
going into the show, and they were all met and exceeded.
The stage was rather small, but since there were only three members in
the band, it didn't seem too cramped. Jack was stage left with the other
guy off to the far right and the drummer in the back. Jack had the usual
keyboards, samplers, and other gadgets you'd expect. The coolest toy he
had was the electronic drum kit which he employed quite frequently
throughout the show. The music was like an onslaught of beats because
there was the computer or taped beat as the foundation, the live drumming
on top of that, and then Jack putting some more beats over that. You'd
think that all these sounds would sound like mush together, but thanks to
the venue's acoustics and the musicianship of the band, it ended up
sounding incredible.
The empty space in between the two guys was left empty and I just
assumed it would be filled by the dancer who didn't appear until later.
The lighting was great and they had two high-res video screens in the
back. The video images matched up perfectly to the music and the films
were much more than the usual screen saver drivel. There were some
hilarious, almost Conan O'Brian, moments with Spock singing and moving
about. One down side about the screens was that since the songs were
synced to the videos, I guess that doesn't leave the band with much room
for improvisation time wise.
They started off with "Hello Teenage America" which was very fitting and
then continued to put on a "Best of" MBM show. The only songs off of the
new album were the singles, "Acid Again" and "Prime Audio Soup." I
thought that was very disappointing to not hear #3,#4, or #11. Those
tracks seemed to be likely for them to perform live, but oh well.
Instead we were treated to material from previous albums including (in no
particular order) :
Radio Babylon
God OD
Edge of No Control Pt. 2
The "I am Electro" song
She's Unreal
Helter Sketer/Dogstaran (my personal fav)
Helter Skelter was the last song in the set followed by an encore of
unknown songs (to me at least.) The dancer came on stage after about 30
minutes of the band performing and he did a great job. He basically
performs break dance moves and attempts to get the crowd more hype. One
thing I liked about Meat Beat's setup was that there was no shortage of
things to look at. I had a hard time concentrating on one thing because
of the visual onslaught they provided. The dancer also super soaked the
crowd and stage dove a couple times. I was disappointed that the show
didn't sell out, but it was a good turnout none the less. Apparently,
some people still think Meat Beat is an industrial band because there
were all sorts of Goth types in the venue.
Jack was very personable and jolly on stage. At one point, a girl from
the audience made her way on stage in between songs and gave him a big
hug and kiss which he seemed to enjoy, but as usual, an asshole security
guard threw her back into the crowd. Speaking of the crowd, it was funny
listening to people shout out "Jack!!!" repeatedly during the concert.
For some reason, I didn't want to hear the regular rock concert bullshit
while enjoying the music, but I guess it was to be expected. It was also
hilarious seeing people attempt to start a "Meat Beat Man-i-festo" chant
in between the set and the encore. It's not an easy chantable phrase
like "Pearl Jam" since there's so many syllables in MBM and it just
sounded stupid.
I don't know what the crowd thought, but this was definitely not the
Pantera concert. I was up in the very front, and people were moshing and
going nuts like we were watching a metal band. This died down a bit
after some dirty looks from people, and then the meatheads figured out
they were supposed to be dancing instead. I guess the display of
testostone was to be expected however; this is Texas were talking about.
All in all, a great show and a fun night, definitely catch the tour if
you can, but try and show up an hour or two after doors open to avoid the
sudden bouts of narcolepsy during Winx's set.
By the way, the whole time during the concert, I was wondering if MBM was
taping the show. A live album would a nice thing to have. The live
versions sound really cool and I'd love to have a copy of the show. If
anyone has any bootlegs of their shows, please let me know, I'd be
willing to trade it for some rare stuff I have.
--danger-fied
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