Rock Regeneration

The Eden Project, Cornwall

You’re probably thinking, why the hell do I need to know about some gig in Cornwall? Well, the people of The Eden Project have announced a string of dates with pretty huge bands playing on site. The layout is simple; you arrive, you buy drinks tokens (yes it seems odd at first), then you walk out and see an amazing setting. I wouldn’t class the Eden sessions as gigs, as from 2.30pm the place is flooded with bands playing across two smaller stages around the place, so there is a festival atmosphere brewing throughout the day.

Pendulum were the headliners for today and after seeing them in Bournemouth a year and a half ago, I was dying to see their new songs and how their live show has developed.

The only act on the main stage other than Pendulum is American DJ, Pretty Lights. He walks on to a healthy applause and gets the crowd going instantly as they are greeted with pulses of heavy synth in opener ‘I Know The Truth’. The track builds up with an inevitable drop coming as the bass overflows across the crowd. The drop unexpectedly doesn’t come when most do, but this is all part of the song as suddenly, the words ‘No Mercy’ unleash a beefy hook that hits me like a charging bull. The crowd near middle of the stage erupt with their hands in the air, a token mosh pit breaking out and even one person being upside down as I could only see his legs bouncing up and down. Pretty Lights continues to belt out track after track with the bass flowing and the hooks hitting me harder each time. I have to admit, I did checkout his facebook page before the show and he is well into the six figure mark in terms of fans and I can see why. If he doesn’t have a bucket more fans after a set as strong as that, I will be amazed. Make sure you download his songs; he has several albums available for free download from the link below.

The wait for Pendulum after Pretty Lights was unbearable. The crowd was getting agitated and even saw a large bottle fight break out, with the occasional celebration when someone was nailed on the head. Eventually, the big screen lights up and the band walk on to deafening screams and applause as they break into ‘Salt In The Wounds’. The bands MC, Ben Mount leaps into action and orchestrates the crowd into chaos as even the twelve year olds with their mums get involved. Ben recorded his vocals for Pendulum’s latest studio album for the first time in second track ‘The Vulture’, and as soon as the emphatic front man spat his first verse at the crowd, the energy sky rocketed to a new level. Following recent single ‘Witchcraft’, the momentum slowed with ‘The Island Part 1’, but can only be treated as a break for ‘Part 2’ in which the hook sent the crowd bouncing all over the place.

Rob Swire’s serious facial stature remains as he pulls of intricate synth patterns which the crowd sings back again and again. It is obvious how tight Pendulum are as a band as their sound live is arguably better than their recordings. The personal favourite of my mate stood next to me was ‘Blood Sugar’ and as soon as the screen announced ‘Ladies and Gentleman’, members of the crowd were already expressing their delight at what was yet to come. The infectious hook sends the crowd into ecstasy before a sudden change into the bands remix of ‘Voodoo People’ by The Prodigy only heightens the crowd’s response. The band nail track after track and even have the courage to play a new remix of ‘War Of The Worlds’ which was apparently the first time they’d played the song. It went down well as you’d expect and led into my personal favourite, ‘Set Me on Fire’ which combines a haunting synth and a dub step drop which has the crowd moving from start to finish. ‘Propane Nightmares’ and ‘Watercolour’ go down tremendously with the whole crowd singing along for both tracks before the band disappear off stage. They emerge again to play ‘Showdown’ and latest single ‘Crush’, before dominating their final track ‘Granite’ with a huge circle pit viciously spinning at an alarming speed.

There is no doubt in my mind that this was the best live performance from a band I have seen yet. There was speed, precision, energy…everything that a live show needed was there. Perfect.