The ChemBase

(WARNING: Another long, but meaningful, rynostar review post. Go grab a coffee to enjoy reading this)

The Homecoming
This was special. It was a culmination. A shared experience. And personal.

The above took me a week to reflect on and write this post. It was not just about the set list, but about the venue, location, our community, our muses, and the occasion.

Some may recall I studied and worked in South Kensington a decade past. The Royal Albert Hall always fascinated me. As a teen I heard of The Proms, the multiple recorded performances by different artists, and the "Victorian" history of the venue. As a "poor" student, I was lucky to get tickets in the lower stalls for me and then girlfriend to see Cinematic Orchestra, The Heritage Orchestra playing an Amon Tobin orchestral piece (sans Amon due to visa issues), and a young Dorian Concept play as part of the 20th anniversary of Ninja Tune (hours after experiencing a Sunday Afternoon at Dingwalls session with Gilles Peterson). Having already worked for my hometown symphony, the pipe organ, bubble sound roof reflectors, and intimacy of an otherwise massive venue left me in awe. Last October, I was sitting in the upper level boxes moments prior to Yussef Dawes play a groundbreaking future Afro-Jazz set when you in the forum informed me of Kate Tabor's Wincanton exhibition.

The Lead Up
When the show was announced, I didn't think much of it. I thought this show would be almost impossible to get tickets. I was on medical leave from work due to anxiety and stress. My focus was on my mental health and next steps career wise. In that time, I found out that my contract would not be extended past the end of March due to budget cuts. I was in negotiation with my employer as part of a return to work plan when @chemdup posted the offer for an extra box ticket. Recognizing this was a once in a lifetime show, I Dm'ed him saying I would be interested in taking and came to an agreement with my employer to end the contract a week early. Just a few days later, @gfa2001 posted the link for standing floor tickets. There was no hesitation in buying the ticket, but also the nagging feeling this was too good to be true. I immediately started booking flights and contacting friends in the area. The previous trip to London in October was when the work stress was at its peak. This time I knew the stress would be behind me.

The Meetup
I've participated in multiple other meetups organized by others here on the forum. As mentions of a meetup started, I recognized my knowledge of the area from previously work a short walk from the RAH would be useful. Taking leadership on organizing the meetup was another way I could give back to the brother/sister/siblinghood. With @actionjackson780 and @Metta attending, it was comforting knowing I wouldn't be going in blind to meeting "strangers" in real life. The day before was in reality two days as I worked the last day of my contract, went home, packed my bags, went to the airport, got minimal sleep on the flight (2-ish hours), got to my Airbnb, and forced myself outside hunting for more space invaders for the evening to fight off the jet lag. When finally stopping to eat, @ILoveCats reached out to confirm details for the next evening. It was then the notion that this was really happening started to hit. Jet lag woke me at 4:00am leading me to worry that I would be too tired to bring the true Rynostar self for the meetup and gig. I spent the morning continuing my ongoing photo project hunting Invaders across south London and the early afternoon participating in Pokemon Go Raids. I headed back to the Airbnb around 3:00pm and forced myself to lie down and shut my eyes for 30 minutes in a hopeless attempt to recover energy. As I headed out the door to the meetup, the messages started pouring in about who we were looking for or that people were on their way. Upon arrival. I was quick to find ILoveCats and Roya where we were quick to introduce ourselves and start with the usual nervous yet excited testimonies of our introductions to Tom and Ed's music. It was exciting to learn that they came from Tennessee tonight for their first live Chemical Brothers experience and see the fresh anticipation in their eyes (that would later turn to glint). Ten (10) minutes into the conversation, @Stefan arrived hesitantly confirming if we were the correct table (but all good). He and I quickly connected the dots that it was both our tenth (10th) show seeing Tom and Ed providing another meet cute for the night. I soon stepped away for a moment for the loo and to order from the bar. While ordering and confirming with the servers our additional details, actionjackson780 and metta arrived. I stopped my sentence midway with the server to do big pogo jump hugs with both as we've had a special connection since discovering five years back that at the time we lived 15 minutes away from each other in Canada. Upon my return to the table, another unknown face to the table which turned out to be @FineTime. It was lovely to hear his story of living in the midlands and having followed them since the mid '90s. Over the next hour we waxed lyrical about our journeys to get here, our shared loves of everything chemical, our regular lives, and what we hoped for the night. I had two secret projects for the night which I started at the meetup. One was to have everyone at the meetup sign my cassette tape of FTBF as a keepsake. The other was to capture the night via disposable film camera to hopefully capture a different side of the night (as noted by Csar). As 7:30 approached, I led our siblinghood towards the Royal Albert Hall and we continued to discuss everything related to the night.

The Royal Albert Hall
After the cold twenty (20) minute stroll, we arrived at the North Side of the Royal Albert Hall, took last minute group photos, and headed to our respective doors as we were all located in different sections depending on tickets. Stefan, FineTime, and I made our way into the venue and are informed we need to hand in our tickets but that we can pick them up from door six (6) after the show. We next went on the hunt for the cherished poster prints which took us a full lap around the venue to snag our hands on. I had the forward thinking to bring a small bag to store the prints and store in the cloak room for the duration of the show. Finding the cloak room was another ordeal as the advertised location at door three (3) was closed with the staff turning us back around to where we originally started for the merch table (but downstairs). In that time we lost FineTime as he was spent time chatting with many charity volunteer, RAH staff, or random patron we encountered (and in an enviable warm welcoming manner). We must have circled the entire outer ring of the venue five (5) times upon the first ten (10) minutes of arriving at the venue. Once we stored everything in the cloak room, Stefan and I did another lap around to find FineTime but came to the conclusion we would have to keep an eye out for him on the floor.

Getting to the floor section means going down a long set of stairs on the outer sections of the hall passing side bars and restaurants I never realized were there before entering a dark set of doors and proceeding up a steep set of stairs. Reaching the top step, we find ourselves in the middle of the now strobe light filled hall that was half filled with James Holyrod Djing to stage left. We plant ourselves closer than expected approximately ten (5) feet from the front barrier. I marvel at being smack dab in the middle of a venue that has meant a great deal to me. Looking upward to the reverb spheres in the roof leaves me in awe having only seen them from higher side views at past shows. The steepness of the upper seating sections is more apparent from the floor making it appear that one wrong move means a quick potentially deadly fall many feet to the seats below. With my extra six inches in height compared to Stefan, I quickly find IloveCats and Roya to our right (with ILoveCats already dancing in the aisle) and ActionJackson780 and metta directly back from us. Me and Stefan confirm to each other that we are both "go all out" dancers while listening to James Holyrod. There are a few breaks for speeches and videos for Teenage Cancer Trust explaining the main goals for the night. One of our fellow patrons informs us that performances have been happening all week (The Who, Pulp) and that shows start immediately at 9:00pm (not the 8:40pm as advertised in the hall).

The Gig
- Slow Go start right into hard Do It Again
- Seeing Mark in Get Yourself High Oni-Devil costume hits hard having met Kate Tabor and seen the original in Wincanton recently.
- Big cheers for No Reason
- Loudest "Here We Go!" HBHG crowd chant I've ever heard.
- Stefan now joins as the third member of the synchronized brotherhood dance team. Slightly separated from me a few people behind for most of the show. Always fills my soul to know I'm not the only one who goes lock step in dance to every note and rhythm of Tom and Ed's sets.
- Feel Like I'm Dreaming has been my favourite off the new album. The psychidellic Kabuki visual mix sends me to another plane every time live. This was the only time the sound was slightly off during the gig with the bass drum kick not fully getting through the high synth lines. However, the fade out lasting slightly longer than previous shows left me with an afterglow leaving me wanting more
- Swoon brings back memories of hearing the Fabric 2009 video where we speculated on the track and finally established it's name via the "Remember to fall in love" tweet from Ed.
- New Star Guitar hitting with the unexpected feels. The build doesn't translate when watching YT videos. It feels natural as it sweeps into the old reliable.
- Not been fan of Live Again on album, but live hits hard with its squeals.
- Me screaming "The Eve of Aurora" every time she appears.
- Us leading small group of synchronized GTKO claps on the floor.
- Wide Open having new meaning again. Family and my new career path.
- Golden Path continues my reflection of the new path from Wide Open with the realization that "I should face it, and move on".
- Get Up On It is always me getting low and hard. Been my favourite live track since 2019.
- Previously was tired of Saturate in sets. Having it back after a tour off was nourishing especially as it was short.
- Goodbye drums mixed with haunting vox was ethereal. I kept looking to the roof feeling like I was floating in blue space.
- George and Mildred in Chemical Beats with new colours was a welcome treat. Could see them the entire night as there was no cover for them. and of course "Fucking Animals on Amyl House!"
- Galvanize is another track that I usually tire of, but the crowd energy left me wanting more of it.
- BRB kept the crowd energy. The energy switched to where the previously hard floor was clearly in lethargic mode and the seated crowd was now banging in entire venue.
- No Geography very welcome return from 2019. The crowd had separated a bit with me and Stefan finally connecting again.
- Darkness You Fear was where it became clear that the primary generation of the audience was those who were of younger age of the dancers in the video but now in their middle years at the gig. We still all wanted to go hard.

The Reel
A beautiful 6-7 minute blur. The most emotional I've ever felt for the track. FineTime reuniting Stefan again (he clearly didn't recognize I was on the other side of Stefan). Us jumping in armed unison during the first drop. Having a few moments by myself to go hard. The thought of the imagery of Christian stained glass windows in a venue where the monarch who laid the groundwork (and first foundational stone) as a tribute to her great love (Prince Albert) and as a venue to showcase the art of the empire. The long holding synths in the break with Mick Jagger screaming what's my name with the devil imagery leading to the reflection that we are celebrating in the heart of a place built on colonialism. The track built on opening pads and eventual organ sounds mimicking said pipe organ directly behind the screen, the sitar sounds taken from India, drums associated (maybe sampled) from Tomorrow Never Knows, Screeching guitars from the Stones Sympathy From The Devil with Mick matching squeals like we are suffering in Hell for our Dionysian celebrations as the organ sounds now coming to a crescendo, the release into a glorious spiritual ecstasy. They end with the Octave Cat break our electronic spiritual journey down to singular squeals. As is tradition, I hold my hands in a prayer manner while screaming "Thank You Old Friends" as they wave goodbyes to the home crowd with Love Is All flickering behind and Terry Reily's A Rainbow In Curved Air signalling the strike crew to do their thing. I hope this is the Reel that stays with me forever.

The Glint