Thursday 13th March 2008.
Aceness, Product Placement tour was fantastic and this one sounds cool too.
DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist come to the Roundhouse to perform an expanded version of the Hard Sell show.
Following in the footsteps of their now-legendary "Brainfreeze" (1999) and "Product Placement" (2001) sets, DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist have outdone themselves.
Their new, all-45 show, entitled "The Hard Sell," incorporates eight turntables and two guitar loop pedals, allowing tricks and complexity rarely attempted by a DJ duo. As with the two previous sets, the pair eschew their own material in favor of an amalgam of music from all eras and styles, providing for amusing and provocative mash-ups; rap mixes with fiddle music, doo-wop with new wave, and everything in between...all while avoiding the obvious, "been there, heard that" stuff you get from most DJs.
The last time "The Hard Sell" was performed in the United States was in front of 15,000 people at the world famous Hollywood Bowl...so you know it's going to be special. In the words of Shadow himself, "we want to play something to make everyone smile...and then send them running for the exits!" Don't miss this rare appearance by two of California's most cutting-edge DJs.
my housemate wants to go to this....
Not sure If I can afford it though. Hmm.
Thanks for the reminder
I've been meaning to get tickets for this for ages. Should be ace.
He didn't sell it to me.
I went to see this show in Camden at the roundhouse last night.
I have been a Shadow fan as long as I can remember, whatever he did in the past used to be the forefront of what was cool, a bit like Fatboy slim used to with the more popular music listeners back in the day.
I left the show last night complaining about how awful it was with all of my friends and all the people around us.
My honest, first afterthought I turned and said to my brother was "It feels like the Emperors new clothes story, like we’re supposed to think this is cool but really, its just badly thought out rubbish and if you pretend not to like it, others around you might not think YOU were cool" This was always kind of like it was at his earlier shows but, generally the stuff he was doing back then WAS ground-breaking and something a bit special. It’s not cutting edge stuff anymore, I find it all a bit old and stale.
The Sheep on the ground floor didn’t need the wool pulling any further over their eyes as they were cheering everything he did and said for no apparent reason.
The visuals were also the other thing that let me down on the night, I’ve always been amazed by the visuals he has produced in the past, I don’t know if he’s fallen out with his art department or something but the stuff on the screens last night was RUBBISH, I could have done better animations myself in Photoshop.
Back to the music...
Every time we got a glimmer of a track we recognised we all went mad for it as it gave us something to cling onto AND HOPEFULLY HAVE A LITTLE DANCE TO!!!! and then as soon as you get into it (I’m talking 10 seconds maximum), the song was changed and we're left stunned and not enjoying ourselves again.
My friends suggested it was like watching a B-BOY / Scratch competition that wasn't very good. If we had wanted that we would have gone to the B-Boy championships at Brixton, we didn't want that, we wanted a little dance and to listen to some amazing tracks, the usual DJ Shadow experience but sadly, I’m afraid I’ll never go see him again. He is a proper sell out and this tour REALLY lives up to its name. Think of British gas coming in and Hard Selling central heating to your 90 year old Nan like on Rogue Traders, then put yourself in your nans shoes and you’ll know kind of how I felt last night.
If you go to the next show and you feel the same as me, make sure you let him know with a chorus of Boo's
I hope this ends up happening during the tour so that Shadow gets to know he's not fooling anyone.
Extract from The Emperors new clothes:
"During the course of the procession, a small child cries out, "But he has nothing on!" The crowd realises the child is telling the truth and begins laughing. The Emperor, however, holds his head high and continues the procession."
Rich (P*ssed off in Mitcham)
Thanks Rich...
if it's any consolation, you're making me feel a lot happier - I had tickets, but couldn't go.
Sorry you didn't like it, but at least you've made me feel a little less bad.
- Andrew
Agreed
It was fookin shite.
Nevertheless, Kid Koala was not.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ScwI7c5iiRo
Some of the
official bootlegs from the American tour are awesome, shame.