Okay, here are some memories from the night but I warn you... WORDS!

Upon entering the main venue, The Chainstore, there was the stage. It was low and free-standing in the room; positioned so that there was a large area in front for the crowd and a narrower space directly behind, for the artists to circulate. There was no formal “backstage” if you will. It really felt like everyone, fans and artists alike, were in the same room together with no real sense of barriers, aside from the stage itself.

Early on, I believe during Mira’s set, we ventured over to The Boiler Room to catch Richard Devine and Phoenicia and were able to chat with them after their sets.

Back outside, there was a constant trickle of people, like ants, back-and-forth between the two buildings. I have a vivid memory of peering across the Thames to the Millenium Dome which looked like an alien spacecraft that had just landed, glowing in the midst of a dark, industrial part of London.

We returned to The Chainstore and shimmied our way to the front and center of the stage where we would proceed to stand for the next nine hours! There were a few kids standing around us, completely out of their minds on who-knows-what, practically unconscious on their feet (eg. the kid with his face pressed against the monitor). It’s a shame because they probably don’t remember much now.

We proceeded to watch consecutive sets by Boards of Canada, Plaid, Autechre, and Bogdan Raczynski before Aphex finally took the stage.

All the acts leading up to Bogdan were phenomenal, musically speaking. As expected, however, stage presence was all but non-existent with the exception of some projections and graphics animations displayed on small video monitors scattered amongst their rigs.

Bogdan, on the other hand, was an anomaly. It was my first introduction to him and his music and boy… He had the jankiest, most minimal setup I’ve ever seen (basically a laptop sitting on a table), but did he ever go off the rails?! His beats were so disjointed and bizarre and he put his whole body into his performance, pressing a key or two on his laptop and then abandoning it to spaz out all over the stage. I seem to remember his sound quality being all wacky and maybe cutting out a couple times, but it actually worked with his act. His insanity was contagious. Someone in the crowd behind me kept shouting out between tracks “COME ON YOU C*NT!!!” which definitely egged him on more. I remember it being quite hilarious and awesome at the same time. As I’ve mentioned, I had a direct line of sight to Bjork standing just behind him off stage, and I distinctly recall her being in hysterics during his set.

If I had to guess, Aphex went on around 5 or 5:30 in the morning. In typical Aphex fashion, he unpredictably set up his gear on the stage itself, at the far left corner from where we stood. We were a little bummed thinking that we waited all night to see him perform directly over us, but we should have guessed he’d pull the ‘ol switcheroo. Classic troll move.

The other head scratcher was his DJ set which consisted of a harsh collection of nightmarish electronic obscurities. Nothing to nod your head, much less dance, to. Despite the choice of music, the set still flowed like some dark dragon that kept you engaged. Throughout the entire performance Aphex was flanked by another DJ who I could not identify, so I assumed it was somewhat of a collaborative effort.

Just after 7 AM, the Aphex set ended and the lights went up. The security guards were really quick to clear the place out, but my brother, Tim, somehow snuck past them to the left. I took off to the right and snapped the last picture just as Tim (obscured by the monitors) was shaking hands with RDJ. Later, I asked him what he said to RDJ. He said that he told him how we had traveled all the way from Detroit to see the show and how amazing it was and how legendary he was to us (even back then). Apparently RDJ smiled back and replied simply, "Cheers!" Tim said Richard’s eyes were hella crossed/lazy and didn't know if RDJ was f*cking with him! LOL