par God is laughing » 30 Oct 2005, 01:04
Vu sur le site EW3, revue d'un des fan chanceux ( windscreen) qui a pu assister au concert de Manathan.
Intro was a confusing one. There were actually almost 3 intros. House lights went down and electronic beats kicked in. 20 seconds, 30, 40...intro fades into *another* set of electronic beats. About 15-20 seconds of this and then it fades out. Stage crew was standing there looking (to me, at least) like, "where the hell are they?' THIRD set of electronic beats kick in. None of them were Introspectre. And I was confused enough not to know exactly what it was since there seemed to either be a glitch and they came on late, or perhaps the house lights went down too soon? I guess we'll know more after Ft. Laud (assuming it happens - haven't checked to see what's up with that one today). It wasn't immediately familiar to me, whatever it was. Sounded more like Mart's hand-picked (I can only assume) minimal electronic tunes that were mixed and playing for the nearly 2 hours before they took the stage.
Christian and Peter take the stage, then out walk Fletch, Martin and then finally Dave. I think there's a pic in this thread of the rooster/mohawky black wig Mart was wearing. No idea if this was Halloween-related, or if it'll be the new feather boa of Touring The Angel. Either way, it's funny and shows a sense of humor that doesn't often come out with Mart on stage, IMO. At least at this show, Martin was to the left of Dave (is that stage right? I think so...) and Fletch was to Dave's right (again, I think that's stage left?).
A Pain That I'm Used To opens. Great, as anticipated, live. The crowd goes WILD. And much to my surprise, the crowd KNOWS the song well. I was a little concerned about the knowledge of the album by the folks in attendence, but at least where I was standing - appx 3rd person back dead center, the front of the house knew their shit. This version didn't deviate from the album track greatly. I was a little caught up juggling phone/camera/blackberry, so there may have been a short piece before the wailing sirens. Perhaps someone else can confirm/deny.
Behind The Wheel, I was standing in front of winners from Belgium, Montreal and Detroit, and there was a KROQ winner in front of me. Cool, but just goes to show you what a lame ass job Reprise did of promoting the *New York* warmup gig in *New York*. Argh.
John the Revelator simply kicked ass. It was a total call-and-response performance, and for once, I'm not annoyed at Dave asking us to sing through the whole song. The crowd gave it right back to him, just like the faithful congregation we were. The version appeared a bit slower and the pitch a hair lower than the album, but otherwise, not different than the album version.
Hints of A Question Of Time with the percussion kicking in for the first 10 seconds or so. Slowly hear the crowd around you catch on with every new audio clue of what it was. And the crowd goes wild. Dave looks thrilled. The version is great. Definitely amped up, but not as "rock" as Paper Monsters, by any means.
Policy of Truth - similarly, the beats kick in and the fanatics know immediately what they're in for...then the casual fans (read: the ones that have a life outside of DM fan sites, poussin) pick up on it as the syths kick in. Although I'm not a massive fan of this track generally, I will say that it was a nice surprise.
Nice intro to Precious. Could have been where I was standing since I was hearing a lot of it through the monitors, not the full PA, but definitely a different intro than on the album. Other than that, not vastly different from the single track. Martin's guitar chops really shine on this one. Surprisingly, similar to the reaction in the poll here on EW3 on favorite Playing The Angel tracks and the Precious response, the crowd doesn't go nearly as wild as I'd expected with this one...
Dave loves his Walking In My Shoes, and it showed. Crowd loved it. Christian shines on this again.
Suffer Well again wasn't vastly different from the album, but Dave clearly relishes his tracks. He loved it. Seemed to be having the time of his life seeing the crowd go wild with this track! He really delivers the chorus hard, which I hope won't be too difficult on his vocal chords. Not that the delivery was jarring. He did a great job.
Dave thanks the crowd and leaves the stage for Mart to take over. Damaged People. Mart's playing with his Ace Frehley-esque starshaped guitar. My fears of there being overwhelming vibrato live as well were definitely assuaged. He did a bang up job with Damaged People. I wasn't thrilled to see this, but it was great. Just goes to show you that he's a great performer whatever the material.
The first half of Home live was more similar to the Air Around the Golf mix before catching back up with the track as we know it from the album. Mart switched to the more standard guitar. (See pics on other pages) Crowd response was great.
Dave comes back out to begin I Want it All. Again, Dave clearly loves his tracks. This one got the least amount of crowd response, IMO. And Dave was making odd contortions on his face during it. Not really sure what this was about. More of a chance for the musicians to show their stuff on this one, though. Mart's harmony on this was great.
Perhaps the biggest highlight for me of the show was actually The Sinner in Me. The track is great live and Martin and Dave both seem to have a blast with it. The point in the song where the song fades into static and then the guitar kicks in blew my mind more than hearing it on the album does (and it does). Martin, again with the starshaped guitar, WAILS on the guitar. He just goes MENTAL. Any critics who continue to dismiss them as 'just' a synth band should be put in their place by this one alone!
Familiar tick tock intro of I Feel You. Gotta say I was a little disappointed to see this make the list, but Dave clearly loves it live. And he's good at it. Not significantly different than in other tours.
Some in the crowd seemed not to have picked up that Behind the Wheel was next until the familiar synth line washed in over the bass sounds. I think because it was relatively unexpected. It was great to hear this live again. Just good solid stuff. A very slight rock edge to it live this time. (Don't take that too strongly - just a factor of the musicians and instruments they have playing on it.)
World In My Eyes - Sounded really good. Always great to hear the crowd go apeshit for Violator hits. Dave gyrations aplenty for the ladies.
Personal Jesus rounded out the set with a version not entirely different from other tours. (Gotta be honest - I don't study the variances between tour performances so someone else will have to do that here or after Ft. Laud). Crowd of course went wild.
After a short break, the band come back on to start Enjoy the Silence. Wasn't vastly different than on Exciter, as I recall. Dave, please let us sing a chorus or two - not all of them. I was a little surprised at how similar this was to other tours given the hints out there about a vastly different arrangement. Luckily, it was not Shinoda-ized! But hey, it's always good to hear this live and last night was no exception.
Following the song, Mart, Fletch, Peter and Christian all joined Dave at the front of the stage for a group bow. Genuinely happy with the performance, as well they should be.
I'm curious to see how any of these performances might be shaken up, if at all, though I am sure as history has proven, not greatly. Will be amazing to see them with full lights and stage sets! Can't wait!!!
Edited By "God is laughing" on 1130658612
22/06/23 LILLE - 24/06/23 PARIS - 04/07/23 BORDEAUX - 03/03/24 PARIS - 05/03/24 PARIS- 08/04/24 COLOGNE