When he's offered, just says yes

Without getting too emo about it, 'Ladies & Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space' is an album that evokes a lot of very specific memories, not all of them good either (hello, 'Broken Heart'). It came out in the summer of 1997, and I think at one point, I was listening to it every day. The scorched feedback and free jazz of 'The Individual' and 'No God, Only Religion' are probably responsible for me deciding to listen to jazz. I have cried a bunch of times at 'Broken Heart' and 'Home Of The Brave'. I still can't put my finger on why 'I Think I'm In Love' sounds like nothing else. Not matter how many memories the album brings back, it still remains itself. I've never thought, 'I can't listen to this cause it reminds me of..' because 'Ladies & Gentlemen…' is monolithic. A masterpiece. I thought so at the time, and it's even more apparent now.

So, this is probably the Don't Look Back show I've been looking forward to the most. Spiritualized performing 'Ladies & Gentlemen…' live in it's entirety. It was like someone emptying Christmas into my ears. Quite by accident, myself and fellow enthusiast Keira had managed to get front row seats (that doesn't really have anything to do with the review, just bragging really), and I'm really not sure what to say other than it was the album played live in as fantastic a manner as I could have imagined. There was absolutely no scaling down of the record in any way (save for Dr John's piano skills on 'Cop Shoot Cop') - string section, brass section, gospel choir, all present. I did begin to well up a bit during the title track's impossibly romantic waltz, and then 'Come Together' was so loud and forceful it was like God shouting at you (as well as this, there was some heavy strobe usage that made me feel as if someone had been rubbing my face for an hour). 'I Think I'm In Love' was back to it's gospel/krautrock/r'n'b/whatever structure after it morphed into a country hybrid on their previous live efforts. PERFECT. The mid section of 'Electricity', 'Home Of the Brave' and 'The Individual' was just incredible, super huge noise swathes from the brass section and spiralling feedback. 'Broken Heart' sounded as, uh, heartbreaking as it always does, 'No God Only Religion' was a stomping free jazz noisefest, 'Cool Waves' calmed me down a bit, and then 'Cop Shoot Cop' was a trance that became an absolute levelling of dynamic screaming drone. They encored with 'Out Of Sight' a song I'd previously liked, but this performance just floored me. Everything felt urgent.

In conclusion, I'm sorry you weren't there. It was as good as hearing the album for the first time.