Here's your favourite band playing an in-studio set for Europe2 in France, on the 1st November 2007. The band seem genuinely relaxed when they're playing in a slightly smaller space than usual. It's a stark contrast to the way we normally see them live, bouncing around the stage and making a (wonderful) noise. Note Tom wearing his scarf to protect the pipes, something that happened regularly on the AEHAS tour. In contrast, you should also remember that this was the time when the band began to have a full piano on the stage with them. So you had a singer that was clearly respecting his vocal chords, and doing what he could to keep them functional. Very sensible and definitely best practice. Unfortunately this touring cycle was also the beginning of Tom as a budding piano-climber (usually during Racing Rats and Nothing), an activity that would ultimately result in a barely avoided catastrophe 10 years later. "Safe and sane" vs "loose and reckless". It's all about balance (or loss of).
This session for Europe2 is also a rarity because of something that happens during Spiders. Towards the end of the song, Tom does something that he often did when the song was played live on the AEHAS campaign; he added a refrain of "Red Rain is Coming Down" which refers to the Peter Gabriel song of the same name. While we've heard it on bootlegs a lot, this is a chance to actually see him do it as well.
Having just watched this footage again before uploading it, I have to say that I really miss When Anger Shows being in the setlist. Chris and Ed's intro is still one of my favourite live tweaks that the band often do to their music when they play. The was it turns into this burst of notes all playing together that in turn creates a melodic wave that Tom rides with a few, simple chords on the piano...it's so effective. Even though I can see how it's being done, it does nothing at all to diminish the magic. Enjoy the music ;)
Video - stream it here
MP3s
1. Bones - download here
2. AEHAS - download here
3. WOTW - download here
4. Escape the Nest - download here
5. Blood - download here
6. Bullets - download here
7. When Anger Shows - download here
8. Spiders - download here
9. Racing Rats - download here
10. Munich - download here
11. Smokers - download here
12. Fingers - download here
All in a Zip
download here or download here
Pictures from the session - download here
brought to you with lots and lots of lemming-love :) x
