This is Orbital, otherwise known as Phil and Paul Hartnoll. I
first got interested in the band when I heard a snippit of one of
their songs that MTV used to use when it was going through all
the different genres of music using the alphabet. That first
piece of music I heard was Belfast ( A sample of which can be
found on the wav page ), incidentally they also used a sample of
Chime in there as well, and since I heard those two short pieces
of music, I have been hooked ever since . The first time I saw
Orbital was on May 15th 1996 at the Manchester Apollo, it was a
great concert and made me hungry for more, just to see peoples
reactions and what kind of a buzz they got from hearing the bands
music really made it a special night. The next gig was at Tribal
Gathering "97" at the Luton Hoo Estate on May 23rd
1997, Phil and Paul were playing in the Planet Earth tent at
midnight, we were all crammed into this tent like sardines in a
tin, the crowd went crazy when the lads hit the stage and went
into the opening bars of "Out There Somewhere" parts 1
& 2, they really brought the house down and everybody agreed
that it was the highlight of the weekends concerts, even beating
Kraftwerk's first concert in the UK for 10 years. On March 20th
1999, I went back to the Apollo to see Orbital on the 6th date of
their current UK tour, this was the gig I was really looking
forward to as it was to be the showcase for the new material
taken from the new album called "The Middle Of
Nowhere", which is scheduled for release on April 5th 1999,
and I have to say that I wasn't disappointed at all, it took the
crowd a couple of numbers to get into it, but as soon as they
launched into Impact, everybody rose to their feet, and that is
where they stayed for the duration of the 2 hour, 5 minute
marathon. The new tracks were all well received by a really
enthusiastic crowd, as well as all the old favourites such as Halcyon, The Box and of course Satan which had to be the loudest
song of the night, they even managed to put Kirk Hammett's guitar
riffs in there as well !!, We were even treated to a re-work of
the old Doctor Who theme, that the lads had worked their magic on
and had brought it bang up to date. I managed to meet Phil outside
after the gig, and he told me he was very pleased with the way
the tour was going, he signed my copy of "Style", the
new single, and even took it back to the dressing room for Paul
to sign. I also mentioned to Phil that I would be at the
Southampton gig on March 24th with a very good friend of mine,
who is being treated to the "Orbital Experience" for
the first time. He asked me if I had tickets, When I replied
"Yes", he said "Shit , I could have put you on the
guest list!! ", I wish I'd have taken him up on his offer
anyway, a really nice guy who took time out to talk to one of
their fans :-).
Orbital's new single called "Style", signed by Phil
& Paul - Manchester 20.03.99.
Southampton Guildhall - March 24th 1999.
We arrived at the Guildhall at about 7.50pm,
where there were plenty of people hanging around outside, the
atmosphere was electric as everyone was talking about Orbital's
first UK tour for 3 years. What struck me most about the place was
how small it was, the stage seemed miniscule compared to
Manchester the previous weekend, even the two outer projection
screens had to be turned in slightly so that they would fit onto
the stage . As ever Plaid's set was well received, and what made
it better, was that they were given more use of Orbital's on
stage lighting, which made the set look all the more impressive.
9pm came and two quick flashes of a torch from the stage door to
the mixing desk, signaled it was time to get the show on the
road, that I had travelled 200 miles to see. Phil and Paul
emerged from the right of the stage wearing their now famous
light glasses to rapturous applause, even though the balcony was
half empty ( where I was ), it still sounded great. The opening
two bars of " Way Out" started, with a stray drum
machine in there!!, everything halted and the crowd roared as
Phil raised his hand in acknowledgement of a mistake, but the
lads composed themselves and this time they were ready to deliver
the goods, and deliver they did, from the start of "Way Out
", into "Spare Parts Express", and my favourite
track of the new material called "Know Where To Run".
Everything was so well put together and each track flowed into
each other superbly. The crowd were up for this, even though
everyone upstairs in the balcony never flinched a muscle all
night ( except for me and my friend, who thoroughly enjoyed the
gig by the way). I can't understand people that come to a gig,
and don't react to the music that is being played, they have paid
to see Orbital perform, so why not enjoy it??. Anyway, I can't
believe how well "Dr.Who" is being received at the
gigs, and "Satan" was the loudest song again by far, I
particularly enjoyed the intro to the song because 1999 was being
projected onto the screens, then suddenly it inverted to read 666!, very effective indeed. Tonight was the fourth time that I had
seen Orbital in concert, and I don't think I have ever seen Phil
dance about so much, he really let his hair down!!. I personally
thought that this gig was better than Manchester, due to the fact
that it was a smaller venue, and the sound quality was superb as
well as the lighting, it all went down very well with all the
fans that had travelled to see the band. The old adage goes
"Things get better with time", and this is certainly
true of Orbitals live sets.
Set List
(Intro - From Clockwork Orange), Way Out, Spare
Parts Express, Impact (The Earth Is Burning), Know Where To Run,
An Fhomhair( Translation - Autumn), Halcyon (with Belinda & Bon Jovi
samples), I Don't Know You People, The Box,
Nothing Left Parts 1 & 2, Style, Bigpipe Style, Satan, Open
Mind, Doctor Who & Chime.
Albums
Orbital have released 8 albums, check out
the covers below and click the button for the full track listing
from each one.
The "Green" Album released in 1991.
The "Brown Album" released in 1993.
"Snivilisation" released in 1994.
"In Sides" released in 1996.
"The Middle Of Nowhere" released in 1999.
"The Altogether" released in 2001.
"Work" released in 2002.
The Blue Album released in 2004.
The Altogether Tour 2001.
The time had come for me to go and see the boys in concert
again, time has flown so quickly since the last time in London on April 24th
1999. Due to my wife's working commitments I was only going to be able to
do 2 gigs instead of the 3 that I would have like to have done. I decided
to do Derby and my local gig in Manchester at the Apollo which is a brilliant
venue. Tuesday May 8th arrived and I was so psyched up for it and still
couldn't persuade anyone from work to come with me. I set off from home and
arrived in Derby 1 1/2 hours later after driving through what seemed like a
typhoon, having never driven in rain like that before!. I had to ask directions
to the Assembly Rooms at least 4 times before parking up in the car park, who
ever designed the one way system in Derby wants rogering with the rough end of a
pineapple. I went inside and after having a well deserved pint of the golden
fluid took my seat upstairs with a pretty good view of the stage. The Plump DJ's
were performing their set which was fantastic, he got the crowd into a frenzy with
some top tunes. 9pm came and the dry ice started to fill the stage and
some new intro music started to play instead of the normal Clockwork Orange
intro that the lads use, but I didn't have a clue what it was. The now
famous light glasses emerged from the thick smoke to rapturous applause and
cheers from the crowd. The opening of Tension started and everyone downstairs
started to jump around which was great. The only thing that put me off
about the gig was these what I can only describe as ostrich egg boxes that
rotated on the stage, I couldn't get used to seeing these, but the projectors
for the visual show were mounted above the boys, which I thought looked
good. I will probably put the set list up in a couple of weeks as I don't want
to give anything away, but let's just say that there are a couple of classics in
the set that everyone will love, 11 o'clock came round too quickly and it was
all over.
4 days later and it was time for my home gig at the
Apollo. What was to make it special was the fact that it was my son Jacks
first ever gig and my friend Jazz's first Orbital experience plus the fact that
Liverpool had beaten Arsenal 2-1 in the FA cup final the same afternoon!!.
I had
a feeling it was going to be a good weekend. We arrived in
Manchester at 6.45pm, with loads of fans sat in the glorious sunshine drinking
beer and chatting about the night ahead. Jazz turned up at 7.20 and he was
really looking forward to seeing the band for the first time. I had one spare
ticket after a mate let me down and couldn't get rid so I sold it to a tout for
£5 which peeved me off a little. Jack was wearing his Manchester United
shirt and got a bit of a ribbing from one of the security guards who said
"Good Evening Mr Beckham" as we made our way inside to the Circle Bar
which was well funny. We made our way to our seats in the front row of the
circle, where all the equipment could almost be touched. I looked at Jack and he just said "wowwwwwww"
and just started to grin. The support act
wasn't as good as the Derby gig, but I'll tell you about that later. I
even managed to meet a mate called Vinse who I've talked to loads before but
never met in person, he took mine and Jacks picture with his mums digicam once
he had mastered how to work it!. 9pm arrived and the lights went out as
the mystery intro music started to play again. The boys hit the stage to a
thunderous welcome, it was a phenomenal noise. The sound in the Apollo is
fantastic but has to be heard to appreciate how good it is. The bass was
so loud and made everything in the building vibrate, especially when Satan was
played, that was the loudest song by far. After the gig we shot round to the
stage door to see if we could meet the band and bumped into some fans who had
travelled down to Manchester after the bands Glasgow Barrowlands gig the night before, we
chatted to them for a while. Phil came out first and said Hi to
us, I told him it was Jacks first gig and Phil shook his hand and said "Ahhh
Little Man", which was great, we then got autographs and pics for the three
of us and then we had a chat about the tour and how well it was going. Phil
disappeared and we then got talking to Mickey Mann who is the bands sound
engineer and producer of the last 2 albums as he was helping load the wagons
before they set off for the next gig in Bristol. He said the gig at
Manchester was a stormer and he told us about the ostrich egg boxes are to aid
projection on stage when Giles does his visual stuff. More handshakes, pictures
and conversation followed about first gigs and Mickey told us that his first gig
was in 1973 with Wings and the Venus & Mars tour. We waited almost a further
hour before Paul emerged clutching his obligatory pint of lager, he shook our
hands, signed the giveaway flyer masks and let us take us some pics. I got talking to Paul about
his first gig, which he told us was by Split Enz, they were a one hit wonder
band who did a single called "I got you", "That was it"
shouted Paul, that was the name of the single as I shouted the title out!!. I
asked Paul about the support act and why was it different DJ to the one
that I had seen in Derby?, he explained that he was hung over and had missed his
train!!.A
brilliant night was had by all, just a shame that we can't do this sort of thing
every month.
Click pics to view full size image.
NEWS.
After 15 years together the Brothers Hartnoll have decided to
call it a day, I was gobsmacked when I first heard of their decision to split as
I never thought it would happen. They will play Brixton Academy on June
24th & June 25th, before bowing out in style at Glastonbury on June
27th. I will be at the Brixton concert on the 25th which I am really
looking forward to as it will be my eighth Orbital gig, so I will post a review
once I am back. I have been lucky enough to get a pre release of their new
and final CD "The Blue Album", which I think is brilliant, but I would
say that wouldn't I!.....
THE END IS NIGH.
Brixton Academy - June 25th 2004.
I woke up on the morning of my eighth concert filled with
excitement and sadness. I was going to see my favourite band for the last
time ever at the Brixton Academy in London tonight. On the drive down my
mind was filled with allsorts of questions, will it be filmed for a DVD
release?, will they do any material from the new album? etc... I arrived
in London mid afternoon at my cousins flat, as he was coming to his first
Orbital gig with me. We left Jason's after a lovely meal cooked by his
wife Joanna, and got the bus to the tube station which would take us to Brixton.
We saw some of the other regulars from past Orbital concerts in the Prince of
Wales pub including Steve Price who was as busy as ever, taking pictures of
three busty girls in yellow Orbital shirts!. We had a couple of pints and made
our way to the Academy. There were quite a lot of people outside the
venue, talking about what would happen after the lads split etc.... Jason
made his way down to the stage door and produced two guest passes for us to get
in to the concert!! (Big thanks to Jason's mate Stuart who is the publisher for
Q & Kerrang magazines who organised this for
us). We then managed to get rid of the tickets that I had bought for the
gig for £50 to two lads who had lost theirs earlier. We then made our past the
gorillas at the stage door, put on our guest list stickers and went up into the
VIP Bar where we could see Bent performing on stage through the Plexiglas in
front of us. I purchased two small bottles of Grolsch for a whopping
£6.60 and sat down. Phil came in with his wife Rachel and sat down behind
us, and I thought to myself, Do I bother him and and ask him some questions or
will he think I am some kind of obsessive stalker?, needless to say I did
nothing!. We then made our way down to the gig and stood next to Mickey Mann and
his mixing desk. Bent finished their set to rapturous applause and left
the stage. The academy looked like it had come straight of the set of Eldorado
(see pic below).
The place began to fill up pretty quickly, and it soon started
to bounce as the DJ started with Cowgirl by Underworld which was
fantastic. I know I'm 40 this year, but it was like being 20 years younger
again for a night with everyone else dancing away to the music!. After
about 45 minutes the music stopped, the lights dimmed and the cheers
started. The brothers appeared from the right of the stage with their
light glasses on and the place went mental. Phil said a massive thanks to
everyone who had supported them over the years which was great, and then the
serious stuff started.....
Set List
Remind, The Girl With The Sun In Her Head, Belfast, You Lot, The
Box, Satan, Halcyon (with Belinda & Bon Jovi samples and a bit of The Darkness
thrown in for good measure!), One Perfect Sunrise, Impact, Dr Who( with a
new intro which mentioned no tears or sadness which was quite apt!), Chime.
Once the last samples of Chime had ended, the brothers said
their farewell to the audience over the mic, then they turned and hugged each
other which made me think "I wonder if they are having second
thoughts". The only thing that I didn't like about the gig was the
projections as they weren't on the normal three screens but on one giant screen
which was covered by those annoying ostrich egg boxes again.
I'd just like to say a personal Thank You to Phil & Paul for
some of the best music that I have have listened to over the last 15 years, and
they will be sorely missed not just by me but by thousands of music lovers.
Big shout out to the BBC for completely ruining Orbitals set
from Glastonbury on Sunday June 27th. They decided to cut straight from
the start of Chime straight to a set by Muse, it completely cocked it up
for me with loads of out of focus shots along with endless repeated video captures.
I only hope that they decide to release it on DVD.
Loopz
(The Orbital Zine) - This is Orbitals official site run
by Steve Price ( aka Loopz), it includes a full discography of the band, current news of what the boys are
up to, audio and video
samples (including some from the legendary Glastonbury
"94" set), as well as other stuff, this is my first
stop when I need any information on the band. - Keep up the
great work Steve.
This is Orbital, otherwise known as Phil and Paul Hartnoll. I
first got interested in the band when I heard a snippit of one of
their songs that MTV used to use when it was going through all
the different genres of music using the alphabet. That first
piece of music I heard was Belfast ( A sample of which can be
found on the wav page ), incidentally they also used a sample of
Chime in there as well, and since I heard those two short pieces
of music, I have been hooked ever since . The first time I saw
Orbital was on May 15th 1996 at the Manchester Apollo, it was a
great concert and made me hungry for more, just to see peoples
reactions and what kind of a buzz they got from hearing the bands
music really made it a special night. The next gig was at Tribal
Gathering "97" at the Luton Hoo Estate on May 23rd
1997, Phil and Paul were playing in the Planet Earth tent at
midnight, we were all crammed into this tent like sardines in a
tin, the crowd went crazy when the lads hit the stage and went
into the opening bars of "Out There Somewhere" parts 1
& 2, they really brought the house down and everybody agreed
that it was the highlight of the weekends concerts, even beating
Kraftwerk's first concert in the UK for 10 years. On March 20th
1999, I went back to the Apollo to see Orbital on the 6th date of
their current UK tour, this was the gig I was really looking
forward to as it was to be the showcase for the new material
taken from the new album called "The Middle Of
Nowhere", which is scheduled for release on April 5th 1999,
and I have to say that I wasn't disappointed at all, it took the
crowd a couple of numbers to get into it, but as soon as they
launched into Impact, everybody rose to their feet, and that is
where they stayed for the duration of the 2 hour, 5 minute
marathon. The new tracks were all well received by a really
enthusiastic crowd, as well as all the old favourites such as Halcyon, The Box and of course Satan which had to be the loudest
song of the night, they even managed to put Kirk Hammett's guitar
riffs in there as well !!, We were even treated to a re-work of
the old Doctor Who theme, that the lads had worked their magic on
and had brought it bang up to date. I managed to meet Phil outside
after the gig, and he told me he was very pleased with the way
the tour was going, he signed my copy of "Style", the
new single, and even took it back to the dressing room for Paul
to sign. I also mentioned to Phil that I would be at the
Southampton gig on March 24th with a very good friend of mine,
who is being treated to the "Orbital Experience" for
the first time. He asked me if I had tickets, When I replied
"Yes", he said "Shit , I could have put you on the
guest list!! ", I wish I'd have taken him up on his offer
anyway, a really nice guy who took time out to talk to one of
their fans :-).
The "Brown Album" released in 1993.
"Snivilisation" released in 1994.
"In Sides" released in 1996.
"The Middle Of Nowhere" released in 1999.
"The Altogether" released in 2001.
"Work" released in 2002.
The Blue Album released in 2004. 
