Cornelius - Amsterdam Paradiso, 13th May 2002.
Cornelius - Amsterdam Paradiso, 2002.
Live at Amsterdam Paradiso
Cornelius doesn’t tour much, but when he does, it’s a big
deal. Cornelius likes to put on a
show. We’re not talking about your
cheesy run of the mill support band that rock, followed by greatest hits and
faux equipment trashing. On the tour
for the last LP Fantasma, the audience were issued with headphones so they
could hear the gig with the most perfect sound quality, and miss none of the
action whilst going to the toilets.
But Fantasma was the past, Cornelius is now touring his
latest epic Point, an album a lot less manic than it’s predecessor, yet equally
as brilliant. The same can be said of
the gig at the Amsterdam Paradiso.
There were no headphones, but we got a fantastic opening intro which saw
Cornelius in Silhouette behind a giant screen, pointing out lyrics and info on
the giant screen, before it dropped to reveal a cinema screen that would
feature mini films that accompanied each track note perfectly.
The first half of the set featured on the first half of
point, starting with ‘Point of view point’ through ‘Drop’ with it’s
drip-sampling harmonies, and ending with an extended ‘Bird watching at inner
forest’.
The second half of the gig focused heavily on tracks from
Fantasma, ‘Count five six’ all feedback and robotics, and ‘Star fruit surf
rider’ sounding harder and somehow more focused than it’s album’s counterpart.
The gig ended with a stripped down encore of ‘Chapter 8:
Seashore and horizon’. The giant screen
now reduced to a single snapshot of the Paradiso Audience, the music reduced to
a simple great pop song, and Cornelius raised to one of the best live acts at
the moment.
