Live: DOOM at The Button Factory, Dublin

1. I felt bad for the lads who needed to catch an 11.20 train. Wasn’t the girl on stage currently in The Apprentice?!

   1. Not an Apprentice watcher here so no idea. Random.

2. I couldn’t agree more. There were a lot of people there really determined to have a bad time and just booed through the whole gig which was a bit of a buzzkill. At that stage they should have just got over it and tried to enjoy themselves.

3. What time did the gig end up starting/finishing? I’m going to Manchester gig tonight and trying to sort out transport.

   1. I think it was something like 11 to 11.45

4. I pretty much agree with all of this.

   It was definitely worth it…all because he was so good live. One of the best live-mcs ive seen. Plus, it was Doom…i wasn’t going to miss the chance.

   Just before he started I said to my friend “he’s going to play 45 minutes” and it was pretty much that to the button. Did he have a stop watch?

   Also that girl should have got down after one song, he was pretty much completely uninterested in having her there once she got up there.

   I enjoyed it. As you say, the late start, the ‘DJ’ and the visuals were a let down, but he made up for it with skills.

5. I flew over just to see his London gig earlier in the year. Massive fan. I said I’d skip this though cos I’d college in Cork. He put in a really solid performance at the London gig but there must have been a few thousand people at it so I was a mile away from the stage. Would have liked to have been in the thick of it.

6. Thought the MC’ing was exceptional and the pure randomness of the show (Planned randomness??) almost added to it as a spectacle.
   But for €33 it was a disgrace. Choice Cuts should be looking at ways to sort punters out for another show or something. I’ve been going to their shows since they started as promoters and not only was that one of the most expensive they have ever put on it was the least organised and worst value for money. At least have Records on the turntables. We aren’t idiots. We always support live music in this country and give a huge response to every artist. We deserved more from that.

   Other than that. Doom rocked the kip.

   1. We were saying last night that maybe the Bulmers Berry sponsorship was used in case the gig went totally tits up and they ended up having to refund.

      Everyone got at least one free bottle of that jam and the branding was all over the visuals. Yet, the sponsorship didn’t reduce the ticket price. Is he that expensive to get over?

      1. I was thinking the exact same thing.. As I was leaving the gig last night I got chatting to the manager of The Button Factory.. She was looking for the promoter as well as everyone else who paid the admission fee.

         Taking ticket sales and the Bulmers sponsorship there is no way that most of that went to Doom. No way. He was in Europe. He came over on a tuesday and had NO equipment. I’m pretty sure that the “DJ” was the tour manager anyway. Chocie Cuts would have done very well out of it.

         Niall, do you think that performance was a reason for refund?

         1. Though it was less than exemplary, I don’t think there’s any case for a refund bar a complete no show.

            1. extensive corporate branding ought to, but fails to reduce ticket price? sounds depressingly familiar….

            2. it was hardly ‘extensive’ – a bottle on the screen? Doom’s a gobshite ovbiously, never going to see him again

            3. it was hardly ‘extensive’ – a bottle on the screen? Doom’s a gobshite ovbiously, never going to see him again

            4. extensive corporate branding ought to, but fails to reduce ticket price? sounds depressingly familiar….

      2. I was thinking the exact same thing.. As I was leaving the gig last night I got chatting to the manager of The Button Factory.. She was looking for the promoter as well as everyone else who paid the admission fee.

         Taking ticket sales and the Bulmers sponsorship there is no way that most of that went to Doom. No way. He was in Europe. He came over on a tuesday and had NO equipment. I’m pretty sure that the “DJ” was the tour manager anyway. Chocie Cuts would have done very well out of it.

         Niall, do you think that performance was a reason for refund?

7. I was really looking forward to go to and see him last night. But as the day went by, I started to realise that the price would have been a problem for me. Not because it was expensive (it’s Doom after all), but because I would have built huge expectations instead of the 15 euros gigs I’ve been to in the past. To me, both the artist and the crowd are important. When Q-tip was here last year, both the crowd and the artist were great. And it was one of the best hiphop gigs I’ve been to in years. So, reading the above, I am glad I didn’t go but sad for the hip-hop heads.
   On the other hand, if Doom was touring with some stones throw dudes, then it would have made a difference. Just saying.
   Maybe there is a lesson here for promoters. When bringing huge underground artists, don’t ask people to pay huge amount of money. If so, throw in some supporting acts with gusto (Hudson Mohawke type of peeps come to mind)+ throw a after party at an under-rated club in the city centre with one of the most under-rated DJ spinning just Doom music and aff….
   Get sneakers’ sponsorship and free t-shirts from Hairy Baby with Doom written in nice letters.
   A week before the gig, those who confirmed their attendance will be sent e-freebies (download+ free mixes and not just one)…
   Advertising outdoors need to be done more in the spirit (i.e. street teams are still good enough somehow)…
   Anyway, you get an idea…maybe I should start my own biz here…

   1. It sold out so I guess the promoters don’t really care about other promotion type material.. I would have been really really impressed and content had he just played for longer. No gimmicks, no after show party and no e-freebies. Just more tunes..

      They gave out badges. Does that count?

      1. I agree with you that more tunes equals happy people. So, yeah it should have been something more like 90 mins or even more. I know price shouldn’t be an issue. In fact, I checked prices elsewhere and they sell tickets for 40 euros in Paris. So, I shouldn’t complain. The guys at Chicecuts do fine job too getting good acts. And if preparation wasn’t there, then let us blame Doom for this. Badges okay I suppose ;-).

8. I just don’t understand how it took them until ten minutes before Doom came on to make sure the Mac/Serrato was working. In fairness, they had an hour to sort that out once the support were finished. That was just pure sloppiness. It reminded me of watching a 65 year old lecturer in college trying to work PowerPoint and was every bit as irritating. I don’t blame Doom for any of this, I was expecting him to come on late and play for 45 minutes, I bought the tickets fully expecting that. It was the other issues, which should have been fully sorted by Choice Cuts and the techs a long time before anyone was in the venue, that pissed most of us off. Leave the cost aside, the whole thing was totally amateurish. I didn’t see a single band at HWCH (all of whom had ten mins or so to get their shit together) put together a performance like that.

   1. After speaking to a member of staff last night I’m adfraid the Mac issue was DOOM’s fault. During the soundcheck they had completed a successful line check with a laptop that they presumed was the one to be used on the night. When DOOM turned up late he brought with him another, unchecked, laptop to use that seemed to have a problem with it’s output.

      1. Ah, thanks for that Neil. That at least puts Choice Cuts in a better light (who normally do a grand job with these things), seems like Doom’s going to have to take the fall for all the problems so.

9. I can accept the late showing, DOOM hasn’t got a reliable reputation and you get what you pay for. In terms of rapping, I thought he nailed it a few times and when he did it was impressive but he was at times I found him a little sloppy and off-time, generally not at his best.

   I do have a problem with him effectively rapping over instrumentals played straight, that DJ wasn’t part of DOOM’s crew, clearly it was some random lad provided by the promoter/venue and he effectively stood there doing little more than sporadically shouting into a dead microphone. I feel when you pay for a live gig that side of the performance should be more than a Special Herbs Record on shuffle. He’s toured with guy’s like J-Rocc before, hasn’t he? surely there’s a wealth of talented DJ’s he could tour with, or is what we got last night the norm?

   Overall, I had a good night but the performance and organisation were completely without effort, 8 people on stage failing to collectivity fix an apple mac summed it up.

10. great night , anyone expecting more just doesnt get it! the mans flow is impeccable ,flakey yes ,unforgettable ,certainly.

    Worth mentioning Melodica deathship (support act ) i thought they sounded really fresh well formed ,worth checking them out with legions of two this weekend.

11. couple of pics http://www.myspace.com/fearanphoist/photos/67837371

12. We all knew DOOM’s reputation, we all expected him to be either a) late or b) really fucking late, it was going to be ramshackle, it was going to be brief and it was going to be great to see DOOM live. If he comes back,I don’t know how forgiving we’d all be with a repeat performance for that price but we saw DOOM so we’re (just about) happy. Not only would I bet that DOOM is an expensive act to get over,I’d say he demands it all in cash just like Zep in the ’70s. Not surprised at the ticket pricing at all.

13. Many of you feel cheated at the late appearance of Doom on stage and the shorter than average performance time. We feel similar. We try our very best to get these kinds of artists over to Ireland because nobody else seems willing enough to …undertake the risk of doing so. We also pride ourselves on being highly organised. Our track record proves that. It’s as disheartening for us as it for you to see our work scuppered by the idiosyncrasies of an artist that we have no control over. If someone doesn’t want to be somewhere at a prescribed time we have very little comeback. All we can do is apologise and remind you that if you feel cheated and out of pocket, multiply it tenfold and that’s near to how we feel.

    DOOM was asked to go on stage no later than 10pm, and was picked up from his hotel at 9.30pm – he continued to have promoter wait 80 mins outside his hotel before he decided to come over.

    The visuals were soundchecked during the day and were fine, as per Button Factory but he used a different laptop to execute the live show and this had different settings, hence they wouldnt work – all ours did and so did melodica’s

    We worked for 3 months on that show, invested a lot of time and money into it and did not receive any professional courtesy back on the day of performance insofar as time keeping or even having a real DJ play the beats.

    It must also be noted that he is notorious for these show shenanigans and im sure this will not be the last on this tour.

    email [email protected] if you need further clarification on matter.

    1. cant say fairer than that!

    2. First time I’ve ever felt let down after a Choice cuts show…. I was pretty sure it was DOOMs fault all along anyway!
       Looking forward to seeing who they will be bringing over in 2011 (i’m crossing my fingers & toes for A Tribe Called Quest!)

Comments are closed.