Great Band, terrible venue
by pinworm on 11/1/104th and B - San DiegoThe night was nearly spoiled by a disorganized club. Two artists were set to perform before Underworld and I personally think a 2 hour opening set by the FIRST artist alone is too much. This guy simply would not get off the stage. This was followed by a short set by Blaque Audio, a bizzare mix of depeche mode, peter murphy, skinny puppy and early 80' ministry ( think the "Revenge" album) who brought the highschoolers in. Then, to our horror the first DJ was brought back out..but kept out of sight from the booing. There was obviously a problem with Underworld who came out late and began the set with a muffled audio problem that was not resolved until the third song, at which point the sound kicked butt and got to where it needed to be. Karl was sick, throat problems and it seemed like he was struggling and having trouble finding the energy. That aside, the show was awesome and the arrangements much much stronger than last years US visit. The highpoint for me was the "Rez/Cowgirl" section with the bombastic 5 minute percussion intro. "Diamond Jigsaw", a song which sounds like a flashback to Underworld circa 1988, was significantly de-rocked and up-techno'd and came out great, and as usual, you cannot beat "Moaner" for a final encore. Hey, rough show or not, I am just glad they were here. Just once, I want to see "Juanita" performed live!!