PRESS PLAY ON TAPE AT GAMECITY

27th October 2007,

Muse nightclub, Nottingham, England

Report by Andrew Fisher

So, thanks to Remix64 I found out about the ticket-only concert that Press Play on Tape were playing in Nottingham. With a ticket secured, I booked some other events that were happening as part of the GameCity event, got a hotel room and set out by train to be there. It was two years since I had last seen them live in Copenhagen, so I did not want to miss out when they were so close to home. It was also my sixth PPOT gig, so it would be interesting to see what had changed.


I met up with the band on Saturday afternoon at the Broadway Cinema & Media Centre as they were dropping off their gear. After a quick complimentary glass of wine from the organisers and a chat in the neighbouring restaurant, I went off to check in while the band sound-checked.


The actual gig was across the road from the Broadway in the upstairs room of the MUSE club/bar. The band were at the far end of the room on the raised stage, with the projector beaming pictures onto the right hand wall of the venue (which was a little awkward, but the best arrangement in the circumstances). It did mean everyone could see the band, although Andre, Søren and Theo were stuck at the back with the guitarists moving around the front of the stage, and occasionally down the stairs at the side of the stage.


The set started off with a montage of 1980s slides, accompanied by "The Capulets" from Romeo & Juliet (familiar to C64 fans as the title tune from "Sanxion"), with the band standing to attention. Then it was straight into Commando, accompanied on the screen by a video of the game. As well as the game footage and the boyband video for Comic Bakery, the projector showed a couple of classic Commodore commercials that made the crowd laugh.


Jesper got the crowd going by telling them to move forward and boo like a sports crowd for Hypa Ball vs. Mission AD, and the familiar Out Run (Magical Sound Shower) was prefaced by a joke. "They changed the hair colour to black on the C64 version, an early form of artificial intelligence."


Among the new additions to the set I had not previously seen were the Beard Burger theme from Parappa the Rapper 2 on PS2, and "The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny" with its accompanying Flash animation – www.ultimateshowdown.org - shown on the projector. The PS2 controller also made an appearance for "I’m a Pumpkin Man", with Uffe triggering the speech samples.


After the music had finished, there was a brief gap while the stage equipment was dismantled, and then everyone was let back in to enjoy the live DJ and the FREE BAR. Chatting to the band, they were happy with how it had gone despite some technical hitches (Theo found it hard to hear the sound from the monitors, and Søren kept losing drumsticks – as well as the small delay while a drum was returned to the upright position.)


The new songs were an excellent addition to the set list and helped to keep the audience interested during the less familiar tunes. From my point of view, the band definitely looked and sounded great. The performance felt a lot "freer" and less constrained than their early gigs, and there was quite a bit happening on stage, like the salutes before Rambo and the simultaneous finger pointing. I also liked the way the guitar players mimed during the keyboard section of Bubble Bobble, hinting they were about to start thrashing away. A nice touch was the 8-bit "pixel" ties, specially purchased for this performance. There definitely seemed to be a number of new fans in the audience, among the many who did not know the band before the performance.


As luck would have it, back at the Broadway the next morning I met up with the band as they came to collect their instruments and head off to the airport. So I was able to say goodbye and thanks again for an excellent gig, and a really nice addition to the events of GameCity.


Set list:

  • Commando
  • Tiger Mission
  • Phantom of the Asteroid
  • Ghosts 'n Goblins
  • Arkanoid
  • Comic Bakery
  • Sacred Armour of Antiriad
  • Pacman
  • Out Run
  • Hypaball/Mission AD
  • Rambo
  • I’m a Pumpkin Man (Cauldron II)
  • Human Race
  • One Man and his Droid
  • Das Gamer (Kraftwerk)
  • Bubble Bobble
  • Parappa The Rapper 2: Beard Burger Song
  • The Ultimate Showdown
  • Monkey Island

 

Encore:

  • Monty on the Run

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