Orbital

Atlanta, October 5, 2001

Almost two tours ago I saw Orbital at a festival with James and Stereolab. My seat was so far from the stage they looked like little ants with lights on their heads bobbing around to the beats. Being so far away from the action, the people around me grabbed more of my attention than the duo on stage. Finally I was about to have the chance to see Orbital in a more intimate space.

Starting off at 10:15 pm the fun began. Playing mostly older stuff the brothers kept the youngsters very happy. The amount of energy demonstrated by the two made me laugh at times. Both Phil and Paul jumped around with raised fists in the air as if they'd conquered the world or something. Perhaps they'd conquered the audience for they responded well to the bursts of adrenaline displayed by both performers.

Starting out with 'The Girl with the Sun in Her Head' from the '96 release 'In Sides', people struggled to get to the stage. As they played on the area in front got more and more packed. I opted to move to a seat about five songs into the show. The lights projected all over the stage were beautiful. A video of textured images and colour streamed in back as the boys continued the mix.

Personally, I'm glad they played more of the older tracks. I haven't heard that much of the new album, but, neither had most of the others it seemed as when they played newer stuff as the crowd didn't respond as much. The biggest reaction however was from a rare metal mix of 'Satan'. Others that joined the list were 'Chime', 'The Box' and my favourite 'Belfast'.

One of the best shows I've seen this year. Probably.

Connie Hartmann