Orbital - Live

Orbital were on the other stage at Glastonbury at 11pm Saturday night. I could have watched Stereophonic on the pyramid stage, or Manu chao on the jazz stage. I could have watched Mis-teeq in the dance tent, or DJ TBC on the new stage Ozrics on the Avalon stage, Dread zone in the Glade. Seen kiss my axe in the theatre tent Phillip Kay in cabaret. But I wanted to see Orbital we had just seen. The beta band and it was much easier than traipsing to another stage. Orbital named after the M25 orbital road around London.Two brothers who started recording in 1989. I have seen Orbital at Glastonbury before. I knew I wanted to see them again. ...  Read the complete review

I remember the first time I saw Orbital live, it was at the end of 1993 and live electronic dance music was beginning to to take off, and I do not mean blokes in rave gear, dancing like escaped monkeys to a DAT machine while screaming "are you ready!!" One of the best showcases for these bands was the Megadog nights at the Rocket and Brixton Academy. Other acts included the likes of Transglobal Underground, Banco De Gaia and old prog-rockers Ozric Tentacles out of who another group emerged, the awesome Eatstatic. New Years Eve 1993 and Brixton Academy were hosts to Megadog, the headlining act? Orbital. Before this I only new them through ...  Read the complete review

I have now seen Orbital live twice, both at the excellent V festival in Chelmsford. The first time was on the second stage just as dusk was setting in front of 35000 people and the other was in a giant marquee with a crowd of 7000. Each show is garnished by a tremendous light and laser display matched by the music produced by the brothers Hartnoll. Classics such as Belfast, Halycon, Satan, Chime and Impact are inter-woven into other tracks such as the Box to produce what could be described as a classical piece of music. Typically, there are three tranches to the show, each at around 25 minutes long, with an encore that leaves the listener gasping for more. ...  Read the complete review