– End of the Road to Hell: Orbital’s Last Ever Gig

Orbital were the brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll, whose career as electronic pioneers lasted from 1989 through to 2004. They took their name from Greater London’s orbital motorway, the M25, which was central to the early rave scene and party network in the South East during the early days of acid house. One of the biggest names in British electronica during the 1990s, Orbital achieved the rare distinction of being both critically and commercially successful.

I have to say that they were a band that I admired rather than loved, and that they never repeated the majesty of their first success. Legend has it that Orbital recorded the track Chime on their father’s cassette deck. The track became an all-time classic, despite only reaching number 17 in the UK charts at the time (after you download the show, forward to the last ten-ish minutes if you can’t wait to listen to the live rendition). The band had what can only be described as a tremendous 1990s, including a headline slot at Glastonbury in ’94 and being regarded as one of the 50 bands you need to see live before you die.

Orbital do ‘Chime’ at Glastonbury, 2004

Orbital split up in 2004 after playing a triumphant final series of festival gigs from June to July 2004, concluding with this live Peel Session gig at Maida Vale Studios in London on 28 July, 2004, which you’re about to download.

Click below for downloading pleasure…

File size: 123 mb
Length: 1 and a half hours or so

Written by Adam

August 28th, 2008 at 12:03 pm

Posted in 2004,orbital,The John Peel show

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Thanks for this — looking forward to listening to it — and for adding the Wiki listing.

Seems like the full show tracklisting is available on the BBC site:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/johnpeel/tracklistings/peel_archive.shtml?20040728

This includes the orbital live tracks, as well as the rest of the show (before Orbital).

The Orbital tracks are also listed as a session in Ken’s book.

Not sure about the best way to reflect these sources on the Wiki. Maybe a link to the BBC page and list the Orbital tracks?

Steve W

29 Aug 08 at 6:47 am

Fades in Slowly