Reviews

The Academy was packed, and everyone seemed to be there to see Live, and not just to see who was playing! Catherine Wheel opened for about an hour, they were quite good, but no Live. Live opened with a very loud 'Rattlesnake', the mosh pit at the front started and continued with fury until the very end, gradually working back, i was about 10 rows from the front, if you can have rows without any seats. 'Lakini's Juice' was a long intro with loads of bass and energy. They played most of Secret Samadhi, 'Selling the Drama', 'I Alone', and an amazing encore with 'White, Discussion'. They also played my favourite, 'Lightning Crashes', fantastic live performance. They also played some from Mental Jewelry.
ANDI WILLSHER

Amazing. The show sold out in about 45 minutes. I only just scraped in with seats in the second back row, but it was still worth the $52. The support act, Horsehead, were pretty good, but the crowd just didn't get into it because they didn't know the stuff they played....but it was great anyway. When the guys finally came on stage, it was better than I could ever have expected. Blasting into 'Rattlesnake', the vibe given out was enormous. Playing through most of their songs, everything from 'Lakini's Juice' to 'Shit Towne' and even 'Supernatural' (I think written by a guy called Vic Chestnutt..?). The show contained two amusing sights - firstly, Ed forgot the words to the 3rd verse of 'Supernatural', and then an apparent wrestling match between the guys at the end of the show. Other than that one thing, the show was flawless. I recently heard a few songs from the concert on the previous night, and the crowd just weren't into it. But, on the 9th, the crowd just about blasted the guys off stage while singing/screaming every word of 'Lightning Crashes'. In all, the band played for a mammoth 2 and a 1/4 hours, the longest concert in the history of Live/ Public Affection.
LEIGH DWYER

I just had one of the most memorable nights of my life. Saturday the 10th of May is going to live in my memory for a very long-time. We lined up from 4, and it was soooo worth it cos we got special wristbands which meant that we could get into the front mosh-pit. (There are two areas, the front one held about 100 people and the rest of the Gen Adm (about 2000) were another barricade). After we filed in,I was one person from the front barrier and right in front of Ed. You couldn't get a better position for a *lot* of money. The support band were passable, I've certainly heard a lot worse, but of course everyone just wanted them off anyway :) Live came on about 9:15 and then it started. I don't remember the set-list exactly, I'm pretty sure I can remember all the songs, but not the order. The reason why the order is a little screwed up is cos I was a little...otherwise occupied..shall we say? All in the name of having a great night. Anyway here goes: 'Rattlesnake','Selling the Drama','Graze', 'Century', and from here is where the order gets a bit dodgy.....'All Over You', 'Freaks', 'Turn My Head', thankfully no-one moshed to this! 'Unsheathed', 'Ghost', 'Iris' and 'Operation Spirit'; both of theses songs were awesome versions, I loved them before, now even more. 'Lightning Crashes', 'Lakini's Juice' - Do you reckon the crowd liked this?!? MUCH!! Encore 1: 'Merica', slow version with just Pat on guitar and Ed. 'I Alone', this was unbelievable. Encore 2: 'White, Discussion'. Need I say more? This song WENT OFF!! And I managed to get one of Gracey's drumsticks after the first encore, I had to fight damn hard to get it though! :) By the time they left the stage for the last time, my shirt was literally dripping wet and I was exhausted, and dehydrated... I drank about three bottles of water straight. The others hadn't been able to hack being at the front and had left after about 20 minutes, but I'm glad that I endured the punishment..and I've got the bruises to show for it. The crowd was fantastic, respected the slow songs and went sick during the right places. There weren't too many crowd surfers, except for one girl who I saw go over four times and kicked me in the head twice. About the only disappointment was that they didn't play 'Pillar of Davidson' or 'Insomnia...', but apart from that, it was awesome.
JONNY DAY

Rock Am Ring festival at Nurburgring in Germany took place on Sunday the 18th of May. Live played on the Sunday which was the last day of the three day festival. They were scheduled for 6pm but Neneh Cherry was kind of overdue. So the highlight of this years festival began at about 7pm. Kiss and Die Arzte, ( a very popular band here in Germany), were still to come after Live, and I guess that most of the almost 100,000people who stood in front of the stage waited for these bands and didn't know Live before that day. The weather this year was relatively good compared to last years, where it rained during all three days without a break. There was a thunderstorm on Friday when Chris Rea was playing, but sunshine on the Saturday and almost all of Sunday. But when Live came out on stage it began to drizzle a little bit, which lasted for their whole show. But the crowd didn't seem to be bothered by it. I had the impression that Live was very much liked by the people, even though most of them hadn't heard of them before. At least none of my friends knew them before that show, and after hearing Ed after a few words of 'Rattlesnake', one of my friends said :"Wow, what a beautiful voice!" I think that is what most of the people thought. I don't know how often Live had played in front of so many people before, but they did an absolute GREAT show. They played for about fifty minutes. As I said the first song was 'Rattlesnake', and the last one was an 'over 10 minutes' long version of 'White, Discussion'. I can't remember the exact setlist but here are some of the songs that they played: 'I Alone', 'Lakini's Juice', 'Selling the Drama', 'Lightning Crashes', 'HeroPsychoDreamer'.... So here is my critical review: For me the concert was a great experience because it was the first time I saw them live, but although the atmosphere was quite good for an open air concert, I presume you can't compare it with the atmosphere at a real Live concert where everybody is there because of Live and everyone knows the songs and the lyrics. But anyway, I enjoyed it and I can't wait to se them on September 12 in Vancouver.
CHRISTOPH HILMES