Saw THE ORB last night

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seedy
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Saw THE ORB last night

Post by seedy »

whelp....where do i begin?
for starters this was somewhat like a rite of passage or something. just absolute years and years of building love for this act and i still have to this day tix for 2 different orb shows that were cancelled on me. the orb have just always been WAYYYY up there in my heart. on any given day i could declare orb my favorite electronic act and not feel bad about it. hehe on other days it's fsol too. prolly another contender or 4 in there if i really contemplate but i digress......

so here i was heading to the show.....could it really be this time? on my 3rd attempt....will it really happen?
we stopped at a friend's house on the way to the gig which ended up a bad idea because the plan to get to the venue 30 min BEFORE orb's set ended up being 10 min LATE :(
was absolutely losing my krap in new york city traffic trying to get to the venue. massive, massive anxiety.

SO....we finally park.....here's the venue....i walked IN....i walked IN A VENUE THAT IS CLAIMING TO CONTAIN THE ORB!!!
walk up the stairs and there it was.....slow steady bass beat is pounding.....my boys right there on stage.
BOOM.... INSTANT TEARS. this was real...it was happening.
fear not friends for i saw this moment coming and brought sunglasses to hide my tears whenever they showed up. even the days leading up to the show i would think about this night and get choked up. well sometimes i get myself worked up and my emotional reactions aren't as "bad" as i feared they would be. in this case however.....every emotion i expected was there TIMES TEN.

i had planned on taking something extra spacey for the evening but in my procrastination missed the chance to secure such so booze was very much my friend this night. i instantly head to the bar and get my first 2 gin and tonics. as i'm waiting for the bartender my head is just racing. IT is f'n happening....GET ME MY DRINKS....I NEED TO BE DANCING NOWWWWW! so as soon as i had drinks in hand the women went to the bathroom and i was left waiting in the back. NOW my night was to begin....drinks in hand....nothing left to focus on but the show at hand. and f'n instantly the wave rushed over me. BOOM. was nearly jumping to every bass beat...the tears again started flowing. and that was that. pounded 5 drinks as quickly as i could knowing the show wouldn't be a long one and i wanted a quick early buzz. didn't take long at all to be in the middle of the floor and a song or two later we were just right up in the front.

folks...i know you are all true and great music fans but i really hope you have or will one day have the ability and chance to experience what i felt this night. i've felt it before for sure.......when phish played a zappa tune that i had never seen after seeing them roughly 175 times......i lost my krap. waterfall of tears from start to finish. and goddang if these aren't tears of utmost joy. what i'm getting at here is just a sublime connection to music. to say i was "locked in" that night was an understatement. i felt like i was floating high above the crowd and on a completely different level. massive direct communication shooting right into my ears and straight to my heart and soul. i danced like i haven't danced since my early 20s (with the exception of infected mushroom gigs hehe). f'n sweat pouring....everyone giving me proper room, jumping so much, fist pumping, screaming OH YEAHHHH! with the occasional muttering to myself of "OH GOD" because i couldn't believe how overwhelmed i was. they played all the f'n classics and ofcourse every tune was modernized for today with fresh samples and twists and turns.


......and just imagine if i took the spacey treat i had intended to in the first place =()
the booze didn't even affect me much. one might have looked at me and thought i was trashed but if you spoke to me you would realize a light buzz at most. it was the music that made me the maniac i was that night. :)



ok.....that about sums it up and i wanted to share it here because in my real world life i have literally not a single friend that shares my passion for the orb or really most of the music i listen to for that matter. this is fsol and all but i know there is orb love here and also real deal spiritually connected music love here as well.
hope you enjoyed the read and knowing a bit more about me as a person. while most of my friends cannot relate to all i described here they surely recognize that as being a trait of mine lol.....and now you do too :)

"Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love. Love is not music. Music is THE BEST"

that's not exactly the words i live by and feel deep down....but they do a decent job of explaining it....and they came from someone that really speaks to my soul :)
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seedy
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Re: Saw THE ORB last night

Post by seedy »

oh and to be clear....i never shook the tears pretty much all night

there were a few moments i noticed i was DRY....and that was quite the rarity.

just a shite eating smile on my face....and tears streaming out the side of the sunglasses

epic epic epic
TRULY one of THE best music experiences of my life
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Pandemonium
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Re: Saw THE ORB last night

Post by Pandemonium »

You had a beautiful experience my man... :)

I haven't seen Orb Live... maybe some day...

I like Orb very much, and absolutely love the 89-97 stuff from them and know them almost as FSOL.
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beetles
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Re: Saw THE ORB last night

Post by beetles »

I seen them at Reading Festival in 96 or 97 when they were playing stuff from Toxygene.It was quite a special night so I can imagine how your night was.
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darktrain
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Re: Saw THE ORB last night

Post by darktrain »

Really glad you enjoyed them,sounds like you had a great night!.I saw them back in 92 at manchester uni .it was alex and thrash at the time they were both dressed in white overalls/white hats in fact white everything with giant beachballs either side of the decks and fx.A class act back then..kinda lost it for me when thrash left.
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seedy
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Re: Saw THE ORB last night

Post by seedy »

i can't even imagine having the ability to see them so much over the years
though earliest 90s i was still very much banging my head and not thinking about electronic music ;)

god i got tears typing that post.....again driving home from work today thinking about it.
a moment in time i'll never, ever forget.

just nearly every damn song was like here it IS!!!!! this is IT!!!! OH MY GOD IT'S A HUGE EVER GROWING PULSATING......OMG IT'S STAR 6 7 8 9

it's like i knew to expect most of these...but when it was actually happening
i was just so completely owned by the experience

i almost wonder whether that was my personal pinnacle :|
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Dennis
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Re: Saw THE ORB last night

Post by Dennis »

Ah Mr. Seedy, you see me here not completely without any envy :)

Please tell more, what was their set like? They are touring their latest best of album I guess? So was it all only the early stuff or from all albums in new versions or more 'original' versions? Any unheard stuff?

Damn, I think I missed them, they must have played in Berlin too. If I only had the time...
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epitome
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Re: Saw THE ORB last night

Post by epitome »

I'm a recent convert to all this electronica music, or whatever we call it - I'm in my 30s now, and used to listen mostly to various kinds of rock music (which I still listen to). It was FSOL about a year ago that made me realise there was electronica out there that wasn't like the dumb chart stuff I'd heard on the radio.

Anyway, I've got into a few different acts - FSOL are absolutely my favourite, but The Orb is another one I enjoy. I've bought most of their stuff, but have only listened to maybe 3 albums so far.

Anyway, that was a great story of your night seeing The Orb live - I'm glad you enjoyed it and were so moved by it :)
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seedy
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Re: Saw THE ORB last night

Post by seedy »

this was their 25th anniversary tour so they really played all of the classics and sadly that's all they had time for
like all of the old big orb hits you can think of - that's what they played.
everything sounded fresh as ever though....the show was very much "live" and filled with crazy samples and excursions. alex was busting out some crazy vinyls :)



epitome.....again you are a man of my mold it seems!
i was all heavy metal, rock, thrash, hardcore......and then when i got to college my world opened up.
i started listening to a lot of pink floyd and finding psychedelia. a big game changer for me was ozric tentacles who perfectally combined it all. has all of the rock and metal elements.....and then all of the electronic mixed into it.
from there it was eat static.....and after a few years of digesting all of that i really started branching out.


the orb is just.....well as i mentioned earlier....on some days they are just THE best electronic act i've ever known. then i'll hear a stellar fsol tune and then have to change my mind.....only to hear an orb tune and be swayed yet again lol

i would think one of the best albums a fsol fan would readily appreciate is orbus terrarum. so if that's one you haven't listened to yet you should get right on it! :)
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epitome
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Re: Saw THE ORB last night

Post by epitome »

Yeah, I was (and still am) into a lot of metal and punk and really all kinds of rock music. In the early 2000s I got into Porcupine Tree, who are a more experimental rock band. And then in around 2008 I got into Isis, who I think were quite influential in my then getting into electronica a few years later.

I have heard bits of Ozric Tentacles, but I thought stuff I heard from different albums all sounded a bit "samey" - and they have tons of albums, so I kinda felt like "do I want to buy all their albums if they all sound the same?" - so I didn't buy any. Maybe I misjudged them though, I only listened to a few different tracks and samples, to be fair.

So far by The Orb I've listened to Metallic Spheres, Pomme Fritz and U.F.Orb. I have 6 or 7 more albums by them, so I'm going to go back to The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld next and work through them in order from there :)
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Pandemonium
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Re: Saw THE ORB last night

Post by Pandemonium »

Epitome, just curious, where are you from ? :)
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seedy
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Re: Saw THE ORB last night

Post by seedy »

haha awesome...i envy your ride :)

ozric....i mean no doubt there is a slight level of "sameness" but i would actually just call that their signature sound/brand of psychedelia. it's like heavy arabesque pysch or something ;)

also....i think if you give them a more in depth chance you'll find that the albums actually aren't all that similar and you'll notice a fluid change in their sound over the years. the earliest stuff is raw, true space rock pioneering stuff. then they got into serious instrumental compositions. then they started to sound more electronic than "instrumental". nowadays they are a shadow of their former self. after "the hidden step" the band fell apart and became pretty much a solo project. these last few albums are still great but it's not the same...it's more electronic, "samey" as you say, and you can easily identify how little of a "band effort" the music is.

ozric to me is just completely f'n epic. their albums from the beginning through hidden step are tattoed to my soul!


porcupine tree.....man i've tried to like them so many times over the years...just don't really like the vocals and compositions. i will say though that their album METANOIA is all instrumental and i'm quite fond of that one :) i think it's maybe rare or unreleased idk because whenever i mention it to PT fans they have no idea what i'm talking about. seek it out if you don't have it!


final note along the lines of ozric......DUDE!
NODENS ICTUS - SPACELINES

this is the main ozric dude and the old drummer (who is now eat static).
this is album is ambient, lush, organic, tribal........just absolutely beautiful music. (no guitars or any heavy stuff....)

i've been stressing this album to this forum ever since i been here...so you buddy are no different :mrgreen:
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RazorJack
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Re: Saw THE ORB last night

Post by RazorJack »

Nice one, seedy!
Always sucks to be late to a concert man, I know how that feels! Part of what always makes the live experience so great is the building tension when waiting for the band to walk up the stage after the soundcheck :) Hope you will get to see them again soon!
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Dennis
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Re: Saw THE ORB last night

Post by Dennis »

Yeah, Ozrics are mental. Fell in love from first listen at a friends band rehearsing room (not much rehearsing going on there more like smoking weed and drinking wine :) ), and found that I had to get all their albums (But I'm sort of a 'completist' guy anyway, if I like a band or artist, I'm forced to get all albums, even the ones not so good ;) )
But Ozrics are maybe some sort of a love or hate thing, if you got hooked on their sound, all records from "Pungent..." up to "Hidden step" are def recommandations, they only differ slightly in terms of production and sound.

@epitome: you def have to get "Orbus Terrarum" & "Orblivion", this was Orb at their best imo.
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epitome
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Re: Saw THE ORB last night

Post by epitome »

Pandemonium wrote:Epitome, just curious, where are you from ? :)
England :)
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