Spiritualized

First time I saw them was at the Brighton East Wing (part of the Brighton Centre complex). Can't remember the exact date but think it was just before the Pure Phase album was released. Pretty small venue, probably around 300 capacity with a really low ceiling. The support band was some kind of choral/strings affair, an all-girl outfit but I can't remember their name for the life of me. It was that Spiritualized era where a lot of people sat down to watch them. A lot of spliffs were passed around and I just remember it as a very special night. Would be very interested if anyone has any idea what the setlist would have been and if anyone else from the board went?

Only seen them about 4 or 5 times since, the RFH and Brixton gig with Primal Scream for the Hoping Foundation were particularly good. Really enjoyed the show at the Brighton Concorde 2 for the Amazing Grace tour. Again, pretty intimate with a great sound and light show. Really can't wait for them to tour again.

wow all of you are so lucky

Spacemen 3 performance recorded at Waterman's Art Centre in Brentford on August 19, 1988 they did Revolution twice and called for a stage invasion where the audience grabbed anything they could bang/rattle/tap to a Spaceman 3 ready to play for hours! how lucky am I??? Nothing ever happens in Brentford expet perhaps football. Also I went to the also recorded Spiritualized show at the Royal Albert Hall October 10,1997 when I had alikened the experience to dropping a tab, all these white balloons came cascading down fron the ceiling which looked like massive ant eggs or something I assure you however I was not tripping!! So glad I got to see/hear such great performances. A

starstarstar wrote:Spacemen 3 performance recorded at Waterman's Art Centre in Brentford on August 19, 1988 they did Revolution twice and called for a stage invasion where the audience grabbed anything they could bang/rattle/tap to a Spaceman 3 ready to play for hours!

lucky you were, 1988 was a good year for all of them. bad points made some to struggle, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, spacemanrich will agree everyway.
"Revolution" over and over again - thats where Jase found the word cabaree.
how much you can play one song over and over again - yeah, so, many times like with "Electricity" and "Come Together". but he is not willing to respond any of the audience reactions. he is not taking calls.
but he is unpleased that SP3 did Revolution too many times and thats mostly cuz they were asked to. Jase has now his own band and he is not taking calls...................................
but LICD tour had encour and second encour followed - all that stuff was programmed...??? revolutionary? heh, lots of contradictions.

anyway, you say in the beginning that performace recorder at.
did You record it?? or is it my misunderstanding?

Crikey your English is a bit dodge or is this some avant-garde style that i'm not used to? The world is a contradiction on loop, urm yes... but i do believe somewhere out there there is a recording of the Waterman's gig on Spaceage records. Hope J Spaceman is all better does anyone have any news about his recovery? Hari Krishna : )

albert hall 0ct 10 1997.
tops.

starstarstar wrote:Crikey your English is a bit dodge or is this some avant-garde style that i'm not used to? The world is a contradiction on loop, urm yes...

i like to mix style with blurry english. atleast you didn't take me too seriously and thats fine.

just don't read my comments when you're sober.

and yes world is full of contradictions on loop, i agree. i sayed "contradiction" without an angry face, thats just the way it is.

would love to read someone talking again about the flux festival performances with Steve Martland. that must have been tremendous.

someone said the first is the best. i've only been twice, and the first was the best. spiritualized at the paradise club, boston, september 1995. this experience was what made me "get" a whole area of music i'd not been into before. and i only knew the newest album, PP, and not very well either. it kills me to think of all the stuff they played that i didn't know at the time .
they were about 45 mins late going on, everyone's feet were tired of standing, waiting, but then it started and after about halfway through- well, after 11 years i still don't know how to describe it. but it was Good (and i was just drinkin beer).
i remember jason calmly lying down onstage for awhile to play guitar. just layin there, for about 15 minutes maybe. i wonder what song it was. i guess shine a light.?
i'd been in a bad mood when i got there and by the end i was in another world. and it was an epiphany for me. for some reason i'd never let myself get lost in music that way before. so, i have a lot of gratitude for spiritualized.
anyone know the setlist for that show??

edit- and with the strobes and the projection on the wall.... fully immersed in it.

Probably the Roadmender show with Mercury Rev and Dr. Phibes, about 1994/5. Mercury Rev were devastating that night, and I really didn't see how Spiritualized could follow them, despite having seen them a few times before. But they did, and were even better. And I got J's setlist. I saw a show in London too, on the LICD tour where me and one of my friends did a lot of MDMA and I remember that being a good'un. Friends who went as well and didn't do any of the fluff confrm this. I remember "Born Never Asked" being a highlight and actually liking the version of "On Fire" the did that night, whereas the studio version I never even listen to. Glastonbury '98 was good as well. Almost made me forget I was standing in the biggest muddy puddle since, well, Glastonbury '97.

Saw Spectrum at the Roadmender in about '92 or '93 as well. Now THAT was cool. Watching/hearing Sonic bring about guitar meltdown at the end of Revolution is about as close as I'm ever likely to get to seeing SP3, I guess.

getting back to the ICA in 1991, I found this http://www.kittenpainting.co.uk/timebomb1991.html and it even includes a crayon drawing of the gig.

Starfish wrote:getting back to the ICA in 1991, I found this http://www.kittenpainting.co.uk/timebomb1991.html and it even includes a crayon drawing of the gig.

What a top website. Reminds me of being about 14/15. Sweet.

someone said the first is the best. i've only been twice, and the first was the best. spiritualized at the paradise club, boston, september 1995. this experience was what made me "get" a whole area of music i'd not been into before. and i only knew the newest album, PP, and not very well either. it kills me to think of all the stuff they played that i didn't know at the time Crying or Very sad .
they were about 45 mins late going on, everyone's feet were tired of standing, waiting, but then it started and after about halfway through- well, after 11 years i still don't know how to describe it. but it was Good (and i was just drinkin beer).
i remember jason calmly lying down onstage for awhile to play guitar. just layin there, for about 15 minutes maybe. i wonder what song it was. i guess shine a light.?

I always envisaged J lying down on his back playing the banjo in the song Feel like Goin' Home, the last song on Pure Phase, which plays quietly until the guitar comes in, then comes back in beautifully at the end. At least I think it's a banjo. That's a very beautiful song, a friend of mine that had never heard it proclaimed afterwards, "It feels like I just layed in a hot tub for awhile!"

i'd been in a bad mood when i got there and by the end i was in another world. and it was an epiphany for me. for some reason i'd never let myself get lost in music that way before. so, i have a lot of gratitude for spiritualized.
anyone know the setlist for that show??

I wish I'd gotten to see their early shows, I have F'ed Up Inside and a few poor quality mp3's from the 1994 Worthing Pier show that are beautiful. If anyone has high quality songs from early shows that are outstanding I'd like to include them on a Spiritualized compilation I am putting together. I have plenty of rarities but not much live stuff. Actually it wouldn't just have to be early stuff but I'd like good quality material from a great performance. I will be posting more about this compilation soon in the Music section. It's going to be like a best of/collected works album with some remixes/remasterings I've done as well. Anyways, that's getting way off topic and wrong category but if anyone can point me in the right direction I'd be very happy. Thanks!

~ Matt

Northumbria University 2004,everything just came together perfect at that gig & if theres a recording of it floating around Ill gladly trade as many camels as you want for it

nonk21 wrote:

someone said the first is the best. i've only been twice, and the first was the best. spiritualized at the paradise club, boston, september 1995. this experience was what made me "get" a whole area of music i'd not been into before. and i only knew the newest album, PP, and not very well either. it kills me to think of all the stuff they played that i didn't know at the time Crying or Very sad .
they were about 45 mins late going on, everyone's feet were tired of standing, waiting, but then it started and after about halfway through- well, after 11 years i still don't know how to describe it. but it was Good (and i was just drinkin beer).
i remember jason calmly lying down onstage for awhile to play guitar. just layin there, for about 15 minutes maybe. i wonder what song it was. i guess shine a light.?

I always envisaged J lying down on his back playing the banjo in the song Feel like Goin' Home, the last song on Pure Phase, which plays quietly until the guitar comes in, then comes back in beautifully at the end. At least I think it's a banjo. That's a very beautiful song, a friend of mine that had never heard it proclaimed afterwards, "It feels like I just layed in a hot tub for awhile!"

i'd been in a bad mood when i got there and by the end i was in another world. and it was an epiphany for me. for some reason i'd never let myself get lost in music that way before. so, i have a lot of gratitude for spiritualized.
anyone know the setlist for that show??

I wish I'd gotten to see their early shows, I have F'ed Up Inside and a few poor quality mp3's from the 1994 Worthing Pier show that are beautiful. If anyone has high quality songs from early shows that are outstanding I'd like to include them on a Spiritualized compilation I am putting together. I have plenty of rarities but not much live stuff. Actually it wouldn't just have to be early stuff but I'd like good quality material from a great performance. I will be posting more about this compilation soon in the Music section. It's going to be like a best of/collected works album with some remixes/remasterings I've done as well. Anyways, that's getting way off topic and wrong category but if anyone can point me in the right direction I'd be very happy. Thanks!

~ Matt

Matt

Look for the torrent of the 1990 bedford show - it's usually about but PureLiveGigs is bound to have it, even if you have to register and ask someone to reseed - they are usually very accomodating there, just keep your share ratio decent once you start downloading their stuff.

I've got it archived somewhere and I think it's on my iTunes as mp3 but I'm sure the original was a decent FLAC so can easily be coverted to wav for proper quality CD playback. Would look for it now but trying to do as little as possible as currently burning compilations for some folks here and don't want another app with a burning engine open when I'm using Nero.

From my recollection it's not the best live Spz gig on lossless bootleg by a long way, but if you want stuff from that era it gives you an insight into the early live sound, plus it seems by far the most common one to find. If you can't find a torrent try eDonkey but that'll take ages compared to a torrent.

I think it's gotta be the first Warchild benefit show at Fibbers in York a couple of years ago......... so close to the stage, so loud and......... John Coxon smiled. Honest!

stevelee wrote:I think it's gotta be the first Warchild benefit show at Fibbers in York a couple of years ago......... so close to the stage, so loud and......... John Coxon smiled. Honest!

I remember briefly meeting John Coxon after Spring Heel Jack (in their early D&B days) played a Megadog do in Sheffield around 1996. He looked younger then as I recall (though lysergic lenses!). I think I asked him something geeky about D&B and he gave a very serious, thorough answer.

Can't say the photo on Amazing Grace is the most flattering shot but he's older than me and still has his hair so...

If only Bob and the rest of the Dogs were still doing there thing instead of Club NME sprouting up in every town

the ica irn bru rock week 1991 gig can be seen in the run video i think. will was still playing bass, whilst sean cook should have played bass for electrahead as the support band.

Just realized that I never posted on this thread. There a couple "best shows," but really only one "favorite show" - 1995 with Spz. opening up for Siouxsie & The Banshees at the Wiltern Theatre in L.A.

I don't know if J. was inspired to sonic attack the old goths that were waiting for Siouxsie to come on or if he was just frustrated at having to use a Vox AC30 amp instead of his fave H+H one, but he (and everyone) was rocket powered that night.

First song: "Medication"
Result: HUNDREDS of goths fleeing into the foyer of the Wiltern where they cowered shoulder-to-shoulder. There was NO ONE left in the hall except for me and some guy with a LGM t-shirt - both of us grinning like madmen.

The Wiltern has (well, had - they've since changed the floor from fixed chairs to standing-only which altered the sound) the best acoustics in town and transmuted the racket on stage into a altogether transformative hallucination. There was so much Sound going on during "Things'll Never Be The Same/Clear Rush" that you couldn't do/think/experience anything else. Kevin Shields hints about that whenever he talks about the "holocaust" section of "You Make Me Realize" and it was at this show where I got an idea of what he was talking about.

I have no idea what the show was like for Jason & co. on stage, but he did politely say "thank you" (which is the J. equivalent to throwing down a guitar and hollering "THANKYEWANDGOODNIIIIIGGHHT!!!") to the couple of us who were in the hall.

Wow thanks Chris. I'd love to have seen that show. I lived in San Diego at the time but remember 11/5/95 very well. I was still in High School but it got pretty crazy during cop shoot cop. About 12 people left the room when the guitar player John hit that fuzz wah pedal. We were standing in the front and it felt like getting beat up, but in a good way.

Another show worthy of mention in this thread are the Edinburgh flux shows with Steve Martland. Beautiful. It seemed to point to a whole new direction for the live show, that sadly didn't materialise[/quote]

'98 Flux show will remain embedded in the memory forever. From the atmospheric opening marching band drumming to the mind blowing Feel So Sad.

Eden Session '02 is probably my top gig. When the biosphere domes turned the cloudy sky green, the projections lit up the cliff walls behind me and the misty rain drizzled down for two hours, making the lazers seem even impressive, i sat gobsmacked on the hill taking the whole view in for two hours while the boys annihilated the place. I reckon i blinked no more than ten times the whole show and at the end blagged J's setlist.

of course nothing tops the first show , mines being glasgow barrowlands 8/3/98. hallucinating during The Indvidual and Cop Shoot Cop being personal highlights.

I think others have touched on the fact that your first show changes your perception of what music really is and can be.
Anything that streches the dimesnsions of your understanding, of anything in this world, will leave you changed forever.

I have to say that my first time was the most memorable just for the fact that I had never heard of Spz or S3 at the time and was there to see the Jesus and Mary Chain for the 4th time. This was, of course, what was the Rollercoaster tour as it rolled through Detroit's State Theatre and I was clueless. I vivdly remember seeing s/g Spiritualized on the marquee and thought -- cool name. When they came on, they made music unlike anything I had ever heard before. The stage, as I recall, was dark and you couldn't really see the band for most of the show. But there was this laser-beam-moonflower type lighting rig that was projected from the front of the stage and out over the heads of the audience and it was making 3-D shapes out of light. I was so taken by the incredible sounds of rock and roll, heart string plucking beauty, waves of euphoria, and unearthly light show, that I looked at my mates and kept saying "do you hear that?, do you HEAR that?" I've been a hopeless addict since

I think the recordings from 1995 are better, maybe due to the volume and equipment upgrades?

the royal albert hall gig for me - fantastic location, bloody great sound even if it was tinkered with for official release.

helterskelter wrote:the royal albert hall gig for me - fantastic location, bloody great sound even if it was tinkered with for official release.

Shame they didn't tinker enough to change Thighpaulsandra's near-Jools Holland, samey, plinky plonky piano which dominated the sound of so many songs

As others have written, the first time's always the best. Which is why, for me, when me and a mate went to see Spiritualized in June 1991 in Hanley was one of the best ever - the reality, I think, is that a few weeks back at Union Chapel I saw the best ever Spiritualized gig: Lord forgive me, I've been away travelling another path, but Jesus, now I'm back.

Here's my story.

Growing up as New Order fanatics who also 'liked' going to Anfield we weren't what some would describe as typical Spacemen 3 fans. Anyway, off to Reading we went in 1989 to see New Order at the tender age of 17. The line-up on that damp Friday, as Minnie Ripperton would swoon, was fantastic.

Not that we knew this at the time: My Bloody Valentine, Tackhead, The Swans, Gaye Bykers on Acid, The Sugarcubes, The House of Love, New Order (of course!) and Spacemen 3.

I only really knew three of the acts - the obvious ones - but something touched us like nothing before: like a flick from Dalglish to Rush; Hansen cleaning-up at the back then to Souness; the roar of the Kop during a midweek game, or just the buzz of the sway in the crowd.

When MBV came on I was a bit freaked out by their 'music'. When Spacemen 3 came on I FELT their music - the earth truly moved: the bass rumbled the Berkshire earth and we just stood there agog. We said nothing. There was nothing to say. But we just knew; we need to find out what the fuck just happened . . .

Having said that, we kind of forgot to do anything about it. Until the Recurring LP was released. We saw, we bought, we consumed . . . we fucking loved it. Off to the record shop; Sound of Confusion, Perfect Prescription, Playing With Fire. Great, great, great.

Before we knew it there was this single out by a band called Spiritualized - Anyway That You Want Me. The sticker on the sleeve, that I peeled off, said something like: from members of Spacemen 3 - I'm sure many of you can provide the correct wording. I don't care much for the exact text. Trainspotters are ordinary to Crewe.

I paid 50p for the 12". Nobody round our way knew / liked them. Or didn't think they did. Yet.

Before we knew it Spiritualized were touring. Off to Hanley (near Stoke-on-Trent) we went.

The DJ beforehand played lots of 60s tunes before the band came on. There were lads with long hair wearing shades a la Velvet Undergound. We laughed at them - just to each other, didn't want to be rude like.

About two minutes into the dirtiest most raucous set I've ever seen them play - and I've probably seen them upwards of 25 times now - I kind of knew why the shades were out. Strobes were on 11, nobody really reacted to the songs, people just stood there watching. Until the tracks finished. Everyone went, in a stoned / tranced-out way, wild. Like nothing I'd ever been to before. Or since. It was for us probably like seeing the Floyd in 1969 in London. Yet we weren't hippies. Still aren't. But fuck were they good that night.

Afterwards we were wrecked - had not drank or imbibed in drugs. We just stood there utterly gobsmacked.

Fuck it. Let's go backstage. As you do. Ended up chatting to Jason and the whole band for about an hour afterwards - don't ask me what about, our mate's got a much better memory than me.

Absolutely lovely people. All of them. Whatever happened between you all I don't care 'cause you were all sound that night and signed our tour record that we bought that night . . .
. . . though where you signed our other records I do not know.

Keep on keepin' on.

You'll never walk alone.

I love stories like this.

unabashed passion and articulate to boot!

right on!

Thats an amazing story! thanks for taking the time to post it up here. Sounds like a night that will stay with you forever!

eelnekwah wrote:For me - I think the first time I saw them was the one that sticks in my mind the most . It was when they headlined the Ashton Court Festival , Bristol sometime back in the late 90's (its been a few years now!! ) Had been looking forward to it for ages (always seemed to miss them somehow) and was really on one ( ).As they came on to the wall of noise I knew I was gonna see/hear something very special.The next hour or so touched me like no other gig - not ashamed to admit I had a few tears in my eyes - for all the right reasons - I must add - came away totally blown away.

The Brixton gig I also enjoyed - probably down to line-up for the evening - and also not having to pull on a coat and leave the venue at 11 pm !!

ashton court was the first time i saw spiritualized (i was only 10!!) and even then it completely blew me away! i remember them doing come together so vividly...they've been one of my favourite bands ever since!

Had been into Spacemen 3 for quite a while but never seen them live.then dance music came along and I kinda lost track of most guitar based music for a few years-even though I still bought all the early SPZ records - just never really listened that much.Then I heard they were gonna play at Ashton Court and decided that I'd give them a listen live -left my mates and lady up at the dance arena and staggered down the hill to catch them play.It would be true to say,I've never been touched by music like I was that day.And the live sound was even better than the studio releases.Since then I've been hooked and in my opinion by far the best band of recent times

Wow, some great stories and memories on here. My memory is a bit sluggish these days so all I can see is I saw Spiritualized play at the ULU just when Anyway That You Want Me Came out. I can't recall what was played but remember everyone sitting on the floor, spotting Bobby Gillespie afterwards dressed in leathers leaning up against a wall (must've been just before the Loaded era).
After that is was like, wow this is a great band, so saw them again at The Pink Toothbrush in Rayleigh, Essex. My local indie disco at the time. I got stage front, the stage being about bum high, so me and my friend Julie sat half on the edge with a perfect view. It was the tour where the free 7" was given out, stamped with the venue and date.
I envy people that can recall the finer details, set lists, what the band were wearing. My memory only seems to conjure up the vibe, snap shots of friends faces, swirling lights etc etc. Too many joints perhaps? Probably.
Then fast forward to the Union Chapel and a holy night out before Xmas. Incredible night that was. Really spellbinding.

PS: whatever happened to that SPacemen 3 fanzine thing, which I can't recall the name of. I signed up and paid for a subscription years back. They run about 3 or 4 copies and then that was that. Really cool publication that was, bought a signed copy of Taking Drugs To Make Music.... through that, amongs others things.

(In long overdue answer to starfish back on page 4 - yeah, and she got me FUI on vinyl for our latest wedding anniversary - gawd bless the heady combination of Glasto and Spiritualized)

Tonight.

Dublin.

Tripod.

If you weren't there, you've missed the greatest.

johnnyboy72 wrote:My memory is a bit sluggish these days so all I can see is I saw Spiritualized play at the ULU just when Anyway That You Want Me Came out.

I was at that gig. It was a turning point as previous gigs had been very quiet and you could chat in a normal voice and be heard. The ULU gig was all wah-wah and fuzz and marked a significant departure - the beginning of what I consider the greatest live period which ran til about 1994. The London gigs - from that ULU show to the one at Shepherds Bush Empire on the Pure Phase tour - were beyond belief and eclipse pretty much any other live band I've ever seen.

johnnyboy72 wrote: It was the tour where the free 7" was given out, stamped with the venue and date..

Given out? Sold I think! I bought about 30 over all the gigs I went to, starting at The Warehouse in Leeds where there was a gap of 45 minutes between 2 of the songs when the sound broke down and the engineer was drunk.

johnnyboy72 wrote: whatever happened to that SPacemen 3 fanzine thing, which I can't recall the name of. I signed up and paid for a subscription years back. They run about 3 or 4 copies and then that was that. Really cool publication that was, bought a signed copy of Taking Drugs To Make Music.... through that, amongs others things.

The Outer Limits. Only 2 issues were printed despite Charlie collecting money for 4. The money ran out even though issue 3 was finished bar the printing stage. When I ran Runcible Records Charlie asked me if I wanted to take over the 3rd issue - i.e. print it and mail it. I asked how much money there was left to do this and he said 'there isn't any'. So that was the end of that. Great magazine though - particularly issue 2. I suspect I have a couple somewhere that escaped last summer's flood (which destroyed all my old music mags).

Runcible, cheers for that insight into the Outer Limits mag! I loved the copies I did get, hence the disappointment of no more. My copies are long gone which is a shame. My mate still has a cut out of a 13th Floor Elevators drawing (B movie type thing if i remember right - "there is no 13th floor!") somewhere in his flat.
The free 7"s from the early tour were paid for, you're dead right. I didn't type that out too well.
And I agree about those early live days as well, cracking shows! Though I wish my brainbox could recall the finer details like yours I tthink at the ULU show people who were stood up near the front got shouted at by others to sit down, hehehehe. I saw Sonic around that era at the Subterranea when his debut came out and most people stood up (I was too stoned to do so, so stay slumped) which he thanked them for. See I can recall stuff, well done my brainbox. That was a great gig too. Love that album still.

It's probably easier to remember the worst spiritualized gig because I've been to far too many amazing ones. The first one that comes to mind was the Milton Keynes gig on the LGM tour (haven't seen that one omentioned here yet). Amazing projections throughout the gig and a great set list. My first spiritualized gig wasin 1991 at the Irish centre in Northampton (sadly missed? reckon so) where they opened with hypnotized. I don't remember a great deal about that gig. Nottingham rock city in 1998 was great as about 20 of us went to that one all dressed in suits. The best one, though? Not sure really. Too many to call!

The worst one for me was the roadmender in 1995 on the pure phase tour, and even that one was pretty good!

Helm

http://www.helmtherapy.co.uk

I think I bought some stuff from Runcible Records when I was a kid...

runcible wrote:

johnnyboy72 wrote:My memory is a bit sluggish these days so all I can see is I saw Spiritualized play at the ULU just when Anyway That You Want Me Came out.

I was at that gig. It was a turning point as previous gigs had been very quiet and you could chat in a normal voice and be heard. The ULU gig was all wah-wah and fuzz and marked a significant departure - the beginning of what I consider the greatest live period which ran til about 1994. The London gigs - from that ULU show to the one at Shepherds Bush Empire on the Pure Phase tour - were beyond belief and eclipse pretty much any other live band I've ever seen.

johnnyboy72 wrote: It was the tour where the free 7" was given out, stamped with the venue and date..

Given out? Sold I think! I bought about 30 over all the gigs I went to, starting at The Warehouse in Leeds where there was a gap of 45 minutes between 2 of the songs when the sound broke down and the engineer was drunk.

johnnyboy72 wrote: whatever happened to that SPacemen 3 fanzine thing, which I can't recall the name of. I signed up and paid for a subscription years back. They run about 3 or 4 copies and then that was that. Really cool publication that was, bought a signed copy of Taking Drugs To Make Music.... through that, amongs others things.

The Outer Limits. Only 2 issues were printed despite Charlie collecting money for 4. The money ran out even though issue 3 was finished bar the printing stage. When I ran Runcible Records Charlie asked me if I wanted to take over the 3rd issue - i.e. print it and mail it. I asked how much money there was left to do this and he said 'there isn't any'. So that was the end of that. Great magazine though - particularly issue 2. I suspect I have a couple somewhere that escaped last summer's flood (which destroyed all my old music mags).

I won the Sonic Boom competition from issue 1 of Outer Limits!

nickh wrote:I won the Sonic Boom competition from issue 1 of Outer Limits!

...and you used to buy stuff from Runcible Records (I remember you being older than a kid though)!

...and I had a quote printed in Outer Limits 2!

It's a shame issue 3 never appeared. I think it was on the 'droneon' news group that I put a huge explanation about what happened which Pete Bain sent me. Can't find it on the web anywhere. Quite how an up front subscription could have been charged and then the money absorbed is beyond me. Something weird happened at the printing place (called 'YP' I think?) - the place got robbed, insurance scam - but I can't remember what.

Thanks for pointing that out!!

I did get some pretty good stuff from you and Pete over the years though…

I seem to remember getting a postcard from Charlie saying he had sold the mailing list on to try and raise a few quid for Outer Limits issue 3. As you rightly point out though I am no spring chicken and the memory might not be quite what is used to!!

This is a difficult question to answer as each gig is different. Saw them for the first time in 1998 as part of John Peel's Meltdown series on the South Bank in London. Spiritualized, Sonic Youth and the Delgados at the Royal Festival Hall. Great gig! Wonderful version of 'I Think I'm in Love' with most of the people standing in the aisles dancing. By then, the ushers gave up trying to get people to sit down. The final encore consisted of all three bands on stage making interstellar noises that I do not think the RFH has ever heard the likes of before or since that gig.

Saw a shitty show at the Hammersmith Apollo shortly after September 11th. Strange gig.....terrible venue. Real downer. Then followed it up with quite possibly the best electric gig I have seen them play...Kentish Town Forum in 2003/4 (?). Wonderful, wonderful gig...it seemed to last well beyond curfew and we nearly missed our trains home. Jason was wearing all white, seated throughout much of it and it just flowed, and was truly majestic.

I also really enjoyed the Acoustic Mainlines gig at Shepherd's Bush last April. Again, not a great venue (Union Chapel would have been the perfect place), but the gig itself nearly brought tears to the eyes.

Very much looking forward to seeing them Stateside now!

Spiritualized + Radiohead SF Civic Center.

Laz69 wrote:Startfish, i saw the same tour at Glasgow QMU... my first Spiritualized gig... outside, Dave Baker from Mercury Rev said Hi and then heckled some guys about drinking Bud...

Had never heard either support before hand, but was impressed with Dr Phibes... was in total awe of Mercury Rev (a real eye-opener for my future musical journey) and then Spiritualized played an almost cosmic set... There was a bombscare late on that night and the venue was cleared out, but upon going back in, they played for about another hour. I could have died and been forever grateful of having been there that night. And so my musical journey began...

Oh Jeez,that really happened? lol. I thought it might have been part of my own special experience.

That night was, without doubt, the single best gig, anywhere, ever.

I don't really remember a lot of Dr Phibes to be honest, just settling down with a pint having taken a few acid on the way in to the venue. I just remember thinking it was a good start to the night.

Then Mercury Rev came on and totally warped my mind. F**k sake, they were amazing. About Halfway through their set, I was convinced the place was getting raided - I could hear the sirens and everything, so in my wisdom, decided it would be best to swallow the contents of the little plastic bag stuffed in my sock.......hahaha........Lets just say, by the time Spiritualized came on, I was well and truly melted into the furniture.

F**king fantastic.

1st time was Preston Avenham Park at the Heineken festival early 90's. Free entry, cheap beer, full on horn section, strobes, light show and a trip. Several times since around the north west but never as good as the first time