The Orb 25th Anniversary Show

The Orb is celebrating its unique position as one of the few names to emerge from the 1988 acid house revolution still creating vital new music with a series of special 25th anniversary UK shows, including Manchester Academy 2, a venue which is without doubt their northern home having appeared there no less than 11 times since 1992, repeatedly selling out show after show!

Over the last 25 years, The Orb has charted one of the most idiosyncratic paths in music, notching up hit singles and albums, sellout shows all over the world and an impressive string of collaborations, most recently reggae legend Lee Perry on More Orbservations From The Starhouse.

Initially formed by Alex Paterson and the KLF’s Jimmy Cauty in 1988, The Orb has since consisted of the former plus different collaborators, springing to prominence with 1989’s ’A Huge Ever-Growing Pulsating Brain Which Rules From The Centre Of The Ultraworld’ before 1991’s The Orb’s Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld created a new genre called ‘ambient house’ but stretching into dub and avant garde.
‘Little Fluffy Clouds’ [co-written with long-time collaborator Youth] was a hit single, followed by 1992’s U.F. Orb reaching number one in the album charts, spawning a top ten single in the epic ‘Blue Room‘. The Orb went on to release a string of albums, including Live ’93, Orbus Terrarum, Orblivion, Cydonia, Bicycles & Tricycles, The Dream and Baghdad Batteries, collaborating with Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour on 2010’s Metallic Spheres.

Alex, who played a pivotal role in the creation of Primal Scream’s epoch-making Screamadelica, has also pursued side projects, run his own record labels and remixed names including Primal Scream, Erasure and Front 242, while DJing all over the world and for BBC Radio.
The silver jubilee shows are both testament to the longevity of a uniquely original British musical talent and guarantee of an evening of floor-shaking grooves, warmly-surreal humour and the original euphoric spirit which turned acid house into the biggest youth revolution since punk rock.
[Kris Needs]

System 7 is a band based around Steve Hillage and Miquette Giraudy, who released their first System 7 record in August 1990. Since then they have released 11 albums and a string of singles with some classic remixes including mixes from Richie Hawtin ‘Alphawave’, Derrick May, Dubfire, Carl Craig and A Guy Called Gerald. They are one of the few techno groups to feature the electric guitar (with the sound often heavily processed), and also feature a female synthesiser player.
Part of the development of Techno and Ambient music for many years, System 7’s mission is to continue with that process as part of a musical movement of dance-based rhythms and psychedelic ambience that embraces the whole planet, and through their friends and collaborators forge a network of highly creative people. System 7’s live performance is a bit more extreme than their records, with tougher beats and hypnotic live echo loops.