You’d be hard pressed to find a bigger Spiritualized fan than myself. That’s why it was so surprising when I came across a live recording of theirs from the 1998 Flux Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland which I haven’t heard before. Although it doesn’t dethrone the ’98 Roskilde taping as my favorite bootleg of all time by J. Spaceman & Co., the Flux Festival performance is one of the most unique live sets of theirs that I’ve listened to.
Backed on all tracks by a full choir leading to almost unrecognizable arrangements of Spiritualized’s most recognizable songs, it’s refreshing that the performance is more of a fusion of Jason Pierce’s space-rock music with standard church hymnals rather than a typical Spiritualized performance with some organ here and there. Although dedicating three of the eleven tracks of their live set solely to the choir may have been a bit much, the hybrid version of “Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space” makes it all worthwhile as it might be the best thing I’ve ever heard. It’s damn good.
No doubt the recording could be of better quality (keep in mind this was the pre-internet age), however, the roughness makes you almost feel like you are there witnessing the show alongside the sea of Brits. You can download the complete set here or, if you’re just interested in a taste, check out my favorites below:
Spiritualized // Ladies and Gentleman We Are Floating in Space (Live Flux Festival ’98)
Spiritualized // Lord Can You Hear Me (Live Flux Festival ’98)
Tags: Bootlegs, Flux Festival, mp3, Spiritualized
Thank you for “Flux Festival ‘98″
Is there an un-ripped version of the show available. Spiritualized don’t play in tracks, even silence is part of the show, it’s delivered as a dosage and not i-pod ready.
After some brief searching, all I could find was the spliced up version. Even then, I think this is probably a complete recording of their set since there are periods of crowd chatter, etc… on some of the tracks.
Aw, I found this thread after searching for some info on this gig. I was there and it was amazing. I met my girlfriend there and we are about to get married so it was a pretty special gig for me.
I was at this show and it ranks among my best live experiences. I’d taken a fabulously enhanced yogurt in my pals’ flat before walking along to the queens hall (I think); this kicked in perfectly as the choir took the stage with great ceremony and lasted for most of the show, but this opener was the highlight, utterly uplifting with a vibe I can feel now as I type. Fk! Mel the butcher’s daughter and your cool-as-fk boyf, thanks so much for a great night.