Spain Part 4/4 - Bilbao by neko: Once more just under 3 hours of sleep and i wake up with a rather bad hangover. My friend Katie is going back to London directly from Barcelona so I'm off to my morning flight to Bilbao on my own. The band are on the same flight and lurking around the airport as well, but I'm more concerned with trying to manage to eat a piece of bread (I dont) and not throwing up (I dont either). Fast forward to 9pm. After a quiet afternoon relaxing and a long stroll through the rather nice town Bilbao, I'm now at the Pabellon de la Casilla for the last of these 4 shows, still feeling slightly sick. The same support DJs are on again now. Glad they're quite decent, but by now i know most of their set by heart. Tonight they actually play a slightly rockier set than last couple of times and it works quite well. The venue tonight is some kind of gymnasium and a bit bigger than the night before, so not exactly living up to the whole vibe in Barcelona. I'm just getting used to seeig the band every night, but it's the last one now! At about 10pm then finally the Wake Up Call and the set rolls on as usual... Wake Up intro, then Wake Up Call, Their Law ... I'm still not feeling great, but Their Law gives me the necessary kick and for the first time today I feel slightly alive. Oh, the adrenaline. Warning is just getting better and better. One of the best parts of the whole gig is the final "I'm just a cunt" in Warning and the beats after that. Amazing. Again there are numerous new and different links in this show, but too many to keep track of after seeing 4 shows in a row. Definintely some new as well as old ones though and definitely different ones in different places every night. Looks like Liam really is experimenting again big time. Next on then Spitfire, Breathe and Girls / More Girls. Girls with new intro beats as last night... Then Medusa's Path, this really is one of the tracks that has grown on me a lot since seeing the band live. When I listen to the album version to this track now it's like a different thing to back in August when it first came out. I've always liked the album, but the tracks that have been played live have definitely stepped up a lot in my favourites list. The only exception to this is the next track, Hotride, I've always loved the studio version, but it's still a bit a difficult one live. Audience reaction is always the same when this one comes on. Initial reaction is great, people hear the intro, know it's a rocking track and get excited, but then the actual live version doesn't quite live up to the high expectations and everyone calms down quite quickly again. I'm not saying it's that bad, but I'm not quite sure why it doesn't work, as it's actually a really great track by itself. Now The Way It Is, I'm sooo getting used to the Michael Jackson samples in this one; overall still a bit too long though, would work better as an edit version. Mindfields then of course great stuff. Throughout the show Maxim actually walks into the audience straight into the seating area and people are loving it. Now the new, "back to school" track - good stuff! Once more at this show, the audience are into this track just as they're into old favourites, although probably none of them have ever heard it. Could there be any better sign for a track working live? Then Firestarter and the band are leaving the stage. When they get back, the updated version of Poison gets played with Maxim on his own on stage. The set then finishes with Smack My Bitch Up. Halfway through the track Keith joins Maxim on stage as a final round up of the show. Then the band leave and Liam stays on stage to play some long extended beats with Kieron drumming along and it doesn't stop for ages, almost as if he didn't want to end the tour. Nice! I'll still stick with Barcelona as my overall favourite and Madrid a close 2nd on this Spain tour, but lots of this was probably also down to personal experience. From a different view, looking solely on the music and the variety of tracks and fills, Bilbao probably has to be up there with the best ones. So that was it, four shows in four days, definitely one of the most intense trips I've done. Being there all on my own in Bilbao I get to have a drink of champagne with the band (they seem to live on that stuff, especially Liam), which is of course very nice once again. While discussing the show, Liam opens his laptop and casually plays a couple of new demos he's just written ... an impressive moment for any fan like me and a good sign of great stuff yet to come. the end. back to prodigy live [go home] (If you copy this, please link back to this URL) www.nekosite.co.uk - copyright © 1998-2004 by neko - all rights reserved |
