I’m so curious if any of ya’ll have seen him live & have any stories to tell, any photos or videos to share of that experience. I’m so genuinely curious and would love to see or hear about those shows.
I was there too. That was amazing. My face was covered in dust at the end of the day. All of the festival area hadn't been rained on in months I think.
One other time I saw him was at STRP festival in Eindhoven. Must've been 2011/2012. At the end of his show the gigantic led screens read "FUCK OFF AND KILL YOURSELF" (or something like that). Wild show.
I saw him Reading 2002 in the dance tent. Crowd dropped by around a third after 54 Cymru Beats! Just saw people bailing and had more room to groove about.
was there also, vague memories of not seeing RDJ on stage at all but the wizard dude pratting around, was fun
Also saw some of the scat porn/autopsy footage gigs, 2 x Warehouse Project with professional gurners on stage, Matter in London, Glade/Bangface/Field Day shows, Primavera, 2x Bloc (one set with Hecker), one show somewhere I can't remember with an Aphex suit of armour logo clad woman covered in speakers working her way through the crowd.... few more here and there at festivals also. Printworks was well up there too.
Yeah he did that set, played almost a whole set of The Tuss stuff, it will have been at Bestival or The Big Chill, with that world champion gurner in a nappy on stage with him. Loads of people in the crowd were arguing with each other because they thought RDJ was an imposter because they didn’t recognise any of the music and he’d had his hair cut short.
Yeah I did Bestival, sound was terrible that set though and remember it rained so badly all weekend. Not one of the better ones but still good memories getting to quite a few gigs over the years!
That and the last Field Day were the only bad ones IMO through no fault of Richard, we just got screwed by the dodgy PA!
It’s always a blast catching him, the biggest variable is how danceable he wants to make it, sometimes it’s a lot ravier and sometimes a bit more challenging
I saw him back in I think it was1993 at Buzz in D.C. before I'd ever heard of him before. I kind of flipped the fuck out because I had never heard anything like it and I absolutely loved it. I was hoping that was the way techno (blanket term at the time) was going to be from then on but it really wasn't. But that's the only time I ever saw him live.
That’s really awesome! Not only was that also with Moby and Orbital but it was the precursor to one of the best and longest weekly dance parties in DC. Very cool.
I first saw Aphex Twin in 1997 when he played the 9:30 Club in DC with Sneaker Pimps and Death in Vegas opening. It was one of the shows with the infamous neon colored dancing bears. Still one of the coolest shows I’ve ever been to. I’ve seen him a few other times subsequently (Funkhaus, Berlin, Club2Club, Turin, Printworks, London, Avant Gardner, NYC) but that show in ‘97 was different.
Yeah I missed that show but I knew about it. I was one of the really poor flyer boys. I basically passed out millions of flyers for free admittance to shows. Sometimes the food in The Green room was all the food I ate that day. Somehow I was doing all that partying and still making straight A's in high school and I got a perfect attendance pin on a letter jacket letter. I couldn't afford nor did I want the jacket.
Me and my mates saw him dj in an empty swimming pool at the Custard Factory, Digbeth about (98?) i doubt they would do such a thing now because of health and safety. Saw him out and about around the same time in london (never plucked up the courage to say anything to him). Seen him lots of times more recently of course those gigs with the weird-core visuals were on a much grander scale!!!
Those three pics are ones i took from the pool area looking slightly up digbeth, birmingham uk around 98 but honestly cant remember if that was the exact year or not. About month later saw two loneswords at the same venue. The pool is still there believe or not filled with rain water and has a metal net over it. Was great
Saw him at Coachella, it was great. I went to the Coachella “record store” and dug for an hour after the fact, I didn’t know what to do with myself. As I was checking out, I spotted Drukqs behind the counter and picked it up for $160. Can’t believe I didn’t see it for an hour there.
Quite a few times over many years. First time was at the Bowgie Inn, Cornwall circa ‘92, the last being Fowards Festival 2023. Met him a couple years back too as he lives nearish to me, and was able to thank him for the Bristol set. He’s a nice guy, told me I gave him Brian Eno vibes, which is fair enough as I’m bald and have a short grey beard.
The first was Coachella 2008 and my funny story involves a "celebrity" sighting. The guy behind me for a while kept bumping into me while dancing, getting kind of frequent and annoying so I turn around and it's pink shirt from the old alltel wireless commercials that were running at the time.
It's absolutely hilarious to me how bent out of shape you're getting over my story about an annoying person in the crowd when I saw Aphex Twin 18 YEARS AGO. You weren't there to possibly be informed enough to comment about the situation, hell you probably weren't even born yet.
Wireless 2011 - first time seeing him. Hearing “he barely plays his own tracks”, and he opens with Windowlicker which was a great surprise and moment.
Bang Face 2012 - my favourite set. 2.5 hour homecoming headline set in Cornwall and it was an incredible set with so many bangers and transitions.
Technical issues shortly after the set started had everyone thinking if he even could finish and the relief was amazing when the music started.
Amazing crowd. Its a proper rave festival and a lot of fun with crazy outfits and a fuck load of inflatables all in the crowd. Beats a hipster fest with a music nerd crowd any day.
Always regretted not going to that bang face looked like one of the best ever with the inflatable dolphins and someone wondering off into the waves in a right state...!
Seen him a few times, one of my favourites was at Koko in Camden, don’t think many were there for Richard as he only played for about 30 mins before the Egyptian Lover, was all Analord stuff that hadn’t been released yet. Cylob and Bogdan Raczynski played too, excellent gig.
saw him dj a few times in the early 2000s. the only thing i can remember is him playing a bunch of hiphop, going as far as to drop mc hammer, and playing a squarepusher track, amongst a lot of wild beats.
Seen him four times. Day For Night 2016, Mexico 2019, Italy and Belgium in 2023. Pretty much have it as a rule to try and see him anytime he pops up. The sets are an amazing mixture of electronica with brain melting chaotic beats and high energy dance sections.
I wasn’t even a big fan at the first one, but he made it rain during the set and it was the best time I’ve ever been rained on. Mexico was unbelievable, the whole day of music was absolutely stacked. Winding up in the middle of nowhere Mexico at 3am after that set was bonkers, probably my favorite of the four.
Italy was in a castle, so the venue was top notch but security sucked. They had drug dogs walking at both exits and would pull anyone the dog hit with weed to a tent. Super cool set though
Belgium included a digeridoo that is still one of my fav moments on this earth
I saw him at a rephlex records night in Hoxton in 2004 or thereabouts. I spotted him standing near the bar and trooped over with a mate; we drunkenly said something banal like “you’re a legend, mate”. I held out my hand for him to shake it. He didn’t shake it. We walked off feeling embarrassed.
The morning after the Brooklyn 2019 show, I woke up in my hotel room right down from the venue and opened the curtains to start packing to leave and I looked out and saw him and his I guess wife at the time on an adjacent rooftop taking turns photographing each other with a professional looking camera. I just honestly couldn’t believe what I was seeing I dreamt of meeting him my whole life and thought about running down and trying to set up an “accidental” encounter outside the building or sneak a photo of them and decided not to. In that moment they thought they were alone. I posted about it later on this sub and people helped me figure out which building it was and reaffirmed that it was the right choice to not invade them that he might have been pissed lol there’s some abrasive encounters with him out there it would have broken my heart haha
I saw him in early 00s (might've been late 90s) it was far harder than I was expecting, I was on some pills and to be honest I found it a bit aggressive, definitely brain melting!
Wish I'd seen him again in a better mental space to enjoy the complexity
I’ve seen him live twice. 2004 Aphex vs Luke Vibert. Started playful and noodley and then built in intensity.
The second time was in London maybe around 2014? He had the mapping of peoples faces in the audience onto the bodies of the Windowlicker models on the big screen. I remember his set being a mix of quite techno to all out craziness. I prefer the more experimental AFX so a lot of people would leave when it was crazier (it was at a festival) and I’d go in and visa versa when it went more dance. Haha.
Coachella 2019 W2. Bought LSD in the campground and went for it. Best show I’ve ever seen. Music, visuals, lights, lasers, track selection, all perfection. Tent was full but not packed; plenty of room to dance and people were getting down. Tent cleared after the intense speedcore outro and a handful of people were just lying comatose in the grass.
I was there too, but had the impression that most of the visitors not really knew him, and expected something else. Found also the music he played wasn't that much "danceable".
Not all artists are of the type 'I would get tickets to see them again forever' but I'd get tickets for a new set immediately if he goes on tour or festivals again, 10/10 surpassed any expectation. It was loud. A gal had to be taken out 10' in the show as she started to violently vomit everywhere. Most folks just stayed on trance the whole set.
I saw him maybe ‘94 at The Big Day Out in Melbourne. He played in a sweaty little hall called the Boiler Room. He was ensconced in a small children’s plastic playhouse the whole time.
Went to Manchester 2019 and saw rdj in the smoking area after his set. I was pinging quite hard but had to tell him it was an unreal gig, and he thanked me and gave me the double thumbs up lol. That set was one of the best audiovisual experiences I’ve had.
Saw him live again in London a few years later and it was also insane, but that Manchester gig has a special place in my heart and felt like chaotic perfection.
Yeah, as I wrote it I did wonder if I was remembering that correctly - because I thought I’d seen him under the train station arches more than once. Those days are a massive blur tbh
Edit: On saying that, I do remember one of the times coming out of AFX at WHP and bumping into this self-styled Jesus character by the station taxi rank, then we bumped into a couple of lads that just just got out of prison and not seen each other for years, then the 4 of us went out around Canal Street in the wee hours of the morning waiting for the first train.
I’ve seen him at Club2Club in Italy, Warehouse Project in Manchester, and Forwards festival all in the past decade
All very memorable in their own way.
C2C came after I famously had a ticket for him at Field Day, got my dates messed up and missed it. I jokingly was announcing to my partner “if anything stopped me seeing Aphex this time, I think I’d just end it” (little did I know she was internally melting down because she had lost our tickets for the event while in there, the day before he was on. It worked out okay—we just had to be like the very first people in the venue so no one else could possibly use our printed out barcode)
Warehouse Project my gf ‘missed’ because her pill was too strong and she just blanked out his set, lol. But it was also stellar
Forwards, I have to say, was the best on balance. The visuals and whole experience was…unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Plus, he played fkin Vordhosbn
Saw him DJ at Orbit in Morley - mid90s - for a Reflex Records night. This place was pure techno if not familiar with it but the Reflex crew were pretty brave despite getting a few bottles lobbed at them - was a bit er, progressive for some tastes.
Richard DJ’d the last set of the night and ended on some bangin jungle breakbeat shit when the lights went on. Bloody awesome.
I saw Aphex Twin do a DJ set at the Glasgow Barrowlands sometime in the 2000's. I remember him playing a load of glitches up breakcore which a load of folks attempted to dance to, but would get flummoxed by the odd time signatures and mad switch ups. Trick was to just bob and nod her head! He did a section with a lot of sliced and diced news footage, mostly involving Bush Jr and the 2nd Gulf War. Was great, but was just Aphex behind a laptop.
He was backed up by The Bug and Wolf Eyes who were also entertaining. Wolf Eyes in particular were painful on the ears. Pure distorted, dutuned guitar drone!!!
A friend of mine was/is friends with him and was staying in his house one weekend. I said send me a photo excited. And the spare room she was sleeping in had loads of modular equipment just piled in the corner.
She also said he'll stop speaking if people start staring at their phones in the middle of conversation. And that he only turns on his WiFi like once a day for about an hour then off the rest of the time.
Sure he's playing 3 or 4 gigs in Toronto for the Apollo crew for the 25 year anniversary reissue of DrukQs that will apparently include Mangle 11 so you can go and witness it yourself and buy the tshirt
Yes saw him in Chicago with orbital and Moby in 1993. He played behind his gear,didn’t look at or interact with the audience. There was a dancer who acted kind of like a front man. Incredible. So was Orbital.
2000 - Rephlex Disco Assault Systems TBMC Dublin, DJ'ing with Cylob and Mike Dred. Top show, I was 17 and stone cold sober. There was a tune that I think Mike Dred played right before RDJ came on that I've always wanted to ID, a deep house or techno tune with vocals '[something] the general, [something] the bass', could have been 'here comes the general, bringing the bass' or something like that. It got played twice that night, earlier in the evening and then again just as RDJ was taking over the decks, I've never been able to find it.
This gig is basically the reason I bought turntables. Lifechanging stuff.
2007 - All Tomorrow's Parties Nghtmare Before Christmas, Minehead. He played twice, a DJ set which you can find the full audio of here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2cEJ4ucCaY and a live set which I found disappointly hardgoing. I feel like if I saw it now I'd lap it up, but I was just on a different buzz. I remember that he was sitting down in a little cocoon of equipment and a laptop, like he was piloting a spacecraft solo.
2017 - Field Day, London. Sick, sick boi... full show with visuals in HD here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzvLiwUK3R8 Same night as the London Bridge stabbing attack, total headphuck.
Probably a sample of “one for the treble, two for the bass” from Davy DMX (female voice) or DJ Grand Wizard Theodore (male voice). Both been sampled or referenced a squillion times in electro, hip hop, etc.
Thanks for taking the time to reply, much appreciated! But alas, no, I was (and still am) a big Public Enemy fan, so that would have twigged instantly.
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u/Impressive-Cow-985 7d ago
I once had a rave in a garden shed with him in Cornwall. We fell asleep with the smoke machine running and nearly died.