May 9th 2000 – Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Supported by: Soulwax and Muse
Try getting a ticket to see this lot for 13 quid these days (ok, I paid a tad more than that as we will come onto later!). You will hear me talk about Top Ten concerts, of which, I think there are around 47 in the Top Ten…….well this is Top 5 – no question! Number 1?……as of May 9th 2000, by far!
This was exciting and pretty much done on a whim. I’d seen this gig in the NME some months before, but had tried to encourage others to come along, but no one was interested. Well, it was a Tuesday night in London.
MTV was relatively new to the UK, the American music channel surfaced in around 1997, but it was huge and was shaping the way people consumed music and led the way promoting new and old bands alike.
Anyway, as my day at work progressed, I kept thinking about this gig, sure it was being filmed and would be on TV later, but there is no substitute for the real thing. Bush are originally from Shepherds Bush, so it was also a homecoming gig. They had produced three superb albums, “Sixteen Stone”, “Razorblade Suitcase” and “The Science of Things” and I was really keen to see them. We had seen them at Rock City earlier in the year, so I knew I would enjoy seeing them on their own patch.
Anyway, I had a reasonable ok day in the office and had nothing much left to do come 4 o’clock, so I asked my boss if I could leave early. While walking home (which was only 15 minutes from the offices) I suddenly decided I couldn’t let this opportunity go, so, got changed and drove down to London…..I had a minor issue, in that I didn’t have a ticket and it was a sell out.
I hoped the box office may have some returns, but if not it’ll have to be a tout! I’d never bought a ticket from a tout either, so this was going to be an all round education……and there may not even be any tickets, so it could be a waste of time (Note – there are always touts at gigs, like it or not!)!!!
The year 2000 was fine for driving, not too much traffic down the M1 and Shepherds Bush (although I didn’t know it while driving down) had ample street parking for free near the venue. I had no idea what the area was like, but it was fine.
It was a bit rainy drizzly. I got to London at about 5:30pm which was a great time as it turned out to grab a parking space down a side street not far from the venue, no parking charges to pay, no parking time limits!!. So I only had to walk up the street, turn left walk for a bit, turn right and there was the famous Shepherds Bush Empire!
So, next stop the box office……only, it didn’t open up until 6pm!! Bugger. When it opened, they had no returns, so there was only one thing left to avoid a wasted trip. There were a few touts around offering tickets, so I went to check what the price was for what was a face value of £13…….I asked three different ones and all wanted £30……blimey, that would have been the most expensive concert ticket outside of a festival ticket, I’d bought!!! So, off to the local pub for a beer and something to eat (only 2 beers all night as will be driving home, but I’d have less now I’m older ;-)).
In the pub I got talking to quite a few people going to the gig, so was asking around if anyone had spares. Everyone was really helpful keeping a look out but no spares materialised, although it was a great beer and pie!!!
Back to the touts. We were now at around 7pm when the doors were due to open and there seemed to be plenty of touts with tickets still, so I chance my luck on offering £20…..short shrift, eventually one tout offered to sell at £25 so with a gulp and and an acceptance my T-shirt budget would disappear, a deal was done! One ticket for downstairs.
There was still the worry I’d just bought a fake ticket, but once through the front door, we were ready to party…..I was told it was a venue you would often see famous people in, well I didn’t hahaha.
Soulwax
You mean, they like, have bands that come from Belgium! 🙂 Admit it, no one has delved far into music from Belgium? I guess I knew of Jacques Brel, through David Bowie’s haunting cover of “Amsterdam” and Brian Molko, lead singer of Placebo was born in Belgium, but was really though of as American/English, but other than that, Belgium was where the best chocolate came from…….sorry, I try to avoid stereotypes, but some are easy pickings!
I didn’t know Soulwax and I also didn’t realise they were also “2 Many DJs, who had been on TFI Friday some while before. In music terms, Soulwax is the band and 2 Many DJs is more of an electro DJ set (probably why that passed me by!)
Soulwax were formed by brothers David Dewaele (Guitar) and Stephen Dewaele (Vocals) with Stefaan Van Leuven (Bass) and is, I guess, electro rock (horrible term!). What blew me away was the merging of keyboard sounds with riffy guitar and vocals…a really strong sound.
They came on stage quietly, quickly waved at the crowd and started making twiddly noises with the keyboards and a thumping bass line kicked off, followed by extra instruments being added, this was really good! The crowd was pretty full already too, so I guess the mix of being filmed for MTV and many must know this band, it felt like it would be special.
I loved all the grey and white onstage, with flashing and strobes, reminding me of my early days watching and listening to Ultravox and New Romantics stuff. This sound was a stronger electronic sound and bordering on going into a Chemical Brothers sound…..but then the guitars kicked in, like proper guitar playing by Stephen, so was this an electro band or a rock band? Then David’s vocals kick in on top of the electro beats and drums ….WOW! This was mesmerising!
To me, this was where rock should go, it was electro, rock, punchy, bit of Stones in there, definitely Kraftwerk influences, and plenty of rhythm and maybe a bit of heavy country and western in there (I know, weird eh?!). Surely this was really a guitar band!
Pop Life was then quite different and plenty of electro sounds and I love a band that involves the audience, this got us all dancing. Now it was more like the DJ sound of 2 Many DJs.
A brilliant version of T Rex’s, Children of the Revolution, a real synth beat and sampling along with the light show was superb. I’m sure they played 2 more songs, but can’t trace what they were. It is highly likely it was the single they were just about to release, “Much Against Everyone’s Advice” and I feel like “Saturday” was the other one, my memory fades and Google let me down ;-)?
Any which way, this was a brilliant start to the evening and I had a new band and music style to follow.
Set List
- Cut Some Slack
- Poplife
- Children of the Revolution (T Rex Cover)
- Much Against Everyone’s Advice (I feel sure this was played as the current single, but no proof yet)
I also feel sure they played 5 songs but can’t find out what else was played…“Saturday” (possibly??)
Muse
Muse were good!! The “Showbiz” album, their first, came out around the same time as Bush released “The Science of Things” and I’d heard it and really liked it, but can’t say I had thought it would hold up live……Matt was about to prove me a fool!!!…although the crown was electric, so I reckon they were more clued up than me at that time.
A bit like Soulwax, who knew bands came from Teignmouth in Devon!, They’d been around since in 1994 but were only just breaking through.
Muse consisted of Matt Bellamy (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Chris Wolstenholme (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Dominic Howard (drums).
The walked on to a dark stage, I thought looking small and nervous, Matt started to tune up his guitar and seemed to be taking his tuning from the bass player (Chris Wolstenholme) after a bit of to and fro, Matt started to play a lead in to `Sunburn` (which you can see in the fantastic MTV video).
This song sounded great on record, but being pessimistic, it had felt over produced on record and I wasn’t sure how it would play out live. Well, if I could’ve stood back without treading on someone, I probably would. It was a wall of sound and showed what I thought was production, was actually Matt’s genius guitar and vocal work.
The shy guy (so I thought) who walked on stage was suddenly the most confident, politely arrogant guy in one with his guitar, making it sing and dancing around the stage, if Soulwax had been mesmerising, Muse were hypnotising.
The video does more to show how brilliant they were than I can say, so give it a watch. I remember the energy as if it was yesterday, the place was rocking and loving it, the guys on stage were so high on music and I expect that backstage, Bush were going “shhhhhiiiittttteee……how do we follow that!!”. So they should, this wasn’t a support act we were watching, it was a band about to take on the world in their own way.
Matt’s voice was phenomenal, Chris was playing soaring bass lines and Dominic, such hard drumming…..hang on, I only just spotted on the evening, that Muse are only a three-piece band. What an amazing sound they were producing!
Sunburn had been a great start and the rest flowed so well, but when Matt started the soaring riff that was “Plug In Baby” Muse. It was so enthralling, with spiralling sounds, anthemic songs, dangerous guitar playing, melodies, almost operatic singing and so catchy….reckon these boys will go far.
Oh – and the drum kit got wrecked at the end, which pretty much showed they were happy they had made their BIG statement to the MTV rock and roll world…..we are NOT a support band! 😉
That was a full on play on our emotions, one of the best sets I will ever see!
So, Bush, how on earth do you follow those two bands? 😉 The good news for them was they had a crowd that was going happy whatever happened next and there was so much love for a homecoming band.
Set List
- Sunburn
- Muscle Museum
- Agitated
- Cave
- Minimum
- Plug In Baby
- Showbiz
Bush
Well, the long drive to London had been all about seeing Bush, but it had already been worthwhile ticket over payment already!
There wasn’t anything Gavin Rossdale could really do to compete with what had just happened and I reckon he knew it!! Bush played an immaculate set……it was just unfortunate they had Muse in front of them…..but what a great night.
The crowd were still on a high and loved it. I think Gavin felt he had to add in “Glycerine” which was no bad thing.
ttt
This was a really good set, Gavin was on form, involving the crowd, getting into the crowd and adding in extra guitar riffs to keep the mood high. A stunning performance and better than our recent trip to Rock City.
A powerful set followed with “Everything Zen”, “Swallowed” and “Machinehead” with the band playing brilliantly in full flow.
This had been an all round fantastic experience. I didn’t often make impromptu decisions to drive from Leicester to London, so really happy this one worked out…..just the long drive back! Well, its an hour and 20 minutes, so back in bad for 1am.
Best bands on the night? Equal first
- Soulwax – A really refreshing new sound for me
- Muse – Such an honour to see a precocious new talent blossom into their new dawning
- Bush – Superb show at their home venue under extreme circumstances having to follow the earlier performances
You are pushing me for a split? Bush, Soulwax, Muse……..you can listen and make your own minds up which way round that should read 😉
Set List
- Glycerine
- The Chemicals Between Us
- Warm Machine
- Letting the Cables Sleep
- Everything Zen
- Swallowed
- Machinehead
- The Disease of the Dancing Cats
- Break On Through (to the Other Side) – (The Doors Cover)
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