"Tonight we played one of the most memorable shows of our career, 1004 people singing their hearts out, 1004 people who hope for peace and resolve wherever the troubles may be, be it on the door step or the other side of the world. Thank you for tonight Tel Aviv, we hope to see you again soon."
Tom Smith June 9th 2010
This post was always going to be a tricky one.
Whatever your political views on the situation that surrounds this concert, I'm not here to change your mind. I have neither the required experience, breadth of knowledge or the verbal finesse to effectively articulate a position one way or the other. It's not my intention to raise old arguments and reintroduce controversy. This is purely about taking what was a very rare and important occasion for those involved, and bringing it to a wider audience. Nothing more, and with nothing more than love as its motivation. I hope you understand.
When the band's online forum was still around, this was one of the more popular posts I did. The title was "One night in Tel Aviv" and it centred around a one-off show the band did on the 9th of June 2010. This was well into the In This Light and on This Evening Editors campaign, and you can't help but feel that there was some astral alignment in play on the night. Years of overdoing it and perhaps staying out on the road a little bit too long during the Back Room and AEHAS tours had prepared them for this. There's a confidence and a slickness to everything suggested they were able to lock into the moment far more than if they were playing somewhere in 2004, for example, where proficiency may have been more of a motivating factor than pure social engagement. Here, they were able to take part in that fantastic game of virtual catch and release with a crowd who are literally in their faces for the whole show.
What is obvious here from the footage is that the crowd are reacting like a room full of people who have been absolutely dying to see this band play. I think there's something to be said of the way anticipation builds with prolonged denial (south America, I'm looking in your direction). As I type this, we're all in a strange corona-virus-arranged limbo state and it does feel like once life eventually gets back to normal, things like gigs are going to be extra heightened in their intensity due to the waiting. That's the impression I get from watching this footage a full 10 years later; the audience were ready for an outpouring and all they needed was a trigger. Luckily for them, the band and for us as latent voyeurs, they got one.
What I'm sharing with you all is the absolute best quality version of this show and as a single file for the first time since it was recorded. In 2010 I was in contact with a handful of the people that were there that night, and they were incredibly generous in giving me photographs and video footage. Shot from a position at the front of the stage by evilwillow86, just beside where Russell was playing, this may be the best audience filmed bootlegs I have here at the Archive. The only negatives I would point to here are that we can't see Chris,
although he is there, and the sound is a little bit bass-heavy.
Understandable given the position of the recorder.
What I've made available here is the show in full from the original raw files taken from the camera that filmed them. The only adjustment made was the joining of the videos, no other tampering has been done. To the 1004 that were there, I hope this brings back some memories and
that, even in this most unusual of circumstances, we can all appreciate the
joy, passion and energy generated by these two groups of people from
different countries coming together for one night. To quote a certain frontman:-
"This concert has nothing to do with what goes on outside these walls...it's about what's going on inside this room." - Tom just before Fingers in the Factories
photo by Liron Erel
The Setlist
In This Light and on This Evening
Lights
An End Has a Start
Bones
You Don't Know Love
All Sparks
Bullets
A Life as a Ghost
Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool
Last Day
Blood
Munich
The Racing Rats
The Big Exit
Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors
No Sound but the Wind
Bricks and Mortar
Papillon
Fingers in the Factories
brought to you with lots and lots of lemming-love :) x
