Ed wrote:
Proper here is Southern Cali. This review appeared in the Times this morning.
Yeah, no shit. It's been nearly *5* years since we've had a proper Orb show in Los Angeles.
"Orb's Paterson Comes Down To Earth In Engaging Show" By Steve Baltin
Heh. At least we had more than 50 people...indeed, the Knitting Factory seemed nearly as full as last time, which had much better publicity. Did anyone catch the name of the vibe-killing middle act? Damn, their mix was rotten. It is *not* a good thing when your archival film footage is more engaging than your live music. And what's up with nicking the giant inflatable orb; when opening for LX Paterson?
Dancing, jumping, smiling and waving his arms, Paterson was downright engaging. And as he settled into a groove roughly 40 minutes in, he even became a but playful with the audience, egging on the dancing fans with his motions. Also unexpected was how technically adept he was. True, Paterson has been performing as a deejay since the late 80's, but since most associate him with his own productions, his slick transitions and well-developed style were a bonus in a night full of pleasant surprises.
Heh. Did this guy see the same show the rest of us did? I like LX, and you like LX, but technically, he was worse than usual. The initial trouble with figuring out how the CD-deck worked in the mixer only presaged later issues. More than once LX crossfaded into dead silence, or into blatantly un-cued music. However towards the end, he did get into a real groove, and turned in his usual sort of slapdash mixing, but made it work in that wonderful way of his. As a selecter, LX did his usual fabulous job, indeed, I was quite happy with the number of BOBs played, as well as a couple of tracks from CD-R that I *really* hope are the fore-runners of new Orb tracks. Before the set, LX was wandering the crowd as usual, and at one point, actually went right through the middle of the pit, with basically no one recognizing him. I fought back the urge to yell out to him from the balcony. ;) Hi to the list-member that stopped and said "Hi", unfortunately, I didn't get your name, but hopefully you were able to buttonhole Alex. Despite any minor carping above, it was a good show; I'm glad I went, and definitely had a great time. Chris