Friday, 18 June 2021

XFM Sessions - Monto Water Rats January 27th 2010 (Highlights)

 
Disclaimer up front:
 
The videos I have are sourced mostly from the old XFM website in 2010. You'll notice the quality is a little bit "variable", but that's literally how they were when I ripped them at the time. Also, due to some serious glitching there are 4 clips missing from the set, but thankfully I was able to snag audio from alternative sources for three of those songs and they're available as MP3s. Unfortunately, Smokers is M.I.A. and that's why this is labelled as a "highlights" post above all else. Sorry about that, folks.
 
On the 21st September 2015, XFM was formally rebranded as Radio X. New name for a new station and, most crucially, a new website. Why does this matter to you as an Editors fan, you might be asking? Well, unfortunately the corporate rebirth that accompanied the relaunch resulted in some content relating to the band hurtling into extinction. It's regrettable, but it happens. In a changing tech landscape, digital hosts come and go and their libraries will often be streamlined or just vanish, never to be seen or heard again.

Unless...

What I'm sharing here for the first time in a long time are some videos from a very special night in January 2010, where Editors played a tiny club show for XFM (as it was then) at Monto Water Rats. If you found the band at any point just before or after The Weight of Your Love,  then this is a perfect example of the kinds of gigs they used to regularly undertake while they were still paying their dues back in the day. The audience capacity for this gig was a cosy 200 people, and the stage was small enough to make Editors more recent extravagances like flamethrowers, confetti cannons and sudden movements to the left or right extremely hazardous to all involved. Falling off the stage here would likely see you drop a full terrifying 10 inches or so, before a kindly member of the crowd would gently nudge you back on again. Oh the indignity!

There's lots of little gestures and  tweaks going on throughout the show. Some are blatant, some you only notice through repeated watching. In no particular order, here's a few of my own favourites:-
  • Little breaths during ITLAOTE
  • Occasionaly ragged and raspy vocals 
  • Tom and Chris playing keyboards together during Bricks and Mortar
  • A tentative attempt at the first falsetto moment during You Don't Know Love, but much more confidence on the second
  • All 3 of the original forum moderators dancing in the crowd
  • Chris counting himself and Tom back after the instrumental breakdown during Munich
  • The rebellion against the "no tattoos in this band" phenomenon
  • Counting the whiskers in Tom's beard thanks to some of the concert being shot using a portable Hubble telescope (are you ready for your close-up?)
Enjoy the music ;)

Video Highlights
1. In This Light and on This Evening - stream it here
2. Lights (missing)
3. An End Has a Start - stream it here
4. You Don't Know Love - stream it here
5. Bones (missing)
6. Racing Rats - stream it here
7. Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool - stream it here
8. The Big Exit - stream it here
9. Bullets (missing)
10. Munich - stream it here
11. Smokers (unaired)
12. Bricks and Mortar - stream it here
13. Papillon - stream it here
 
 
MP3s
1. In This Light and on This Evening - download here
2. Lights - download here
3. An End Has a Start - download here
4. You Don't Know Love - download here
5. Bones - download here
6. Racing Rats - download here
7. Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool - download here
8. The Big Exit - download here
9. Bullets - download here
10. Munich - download here
11. Smokers (unaired)
12. Bricks and Mortar - download here
13. Papillon - download here
 
All MP3s in a Zip - download here
 
Photo Collection from the XFM Website
Bonus Material - Interview with Tom and Ed
 
brought to you with lots and lots of lemming-love :) x
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