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Originally Posted by: C4AJoh  +Muse+-+Live+at+Rock+Werchter+festival,+Werchter,+Belgium+1+July+2010+(The+Resistance+Tour).jpg) Infinite; Live at Field Trip Festival
Classical music is heard over the PA, signifying the imminent arrival of a certain alternative-rock trio. As they step onstage, it’s easy to see that each member of Infinite has their own unique style. Matt Roberts, dressed in a plain black shirt and pants, has a casual air around him, despite currently being viewed by thousands. Greg Oldson has an indie appearance, with his green pants and slightly long blonde hair. Having been seen a brief time ago, it’s startling to see the shift in Eric Quillington. Whereas his performance with MattY was with a clear-minded focus, he now seemed slightly disheveled, with a loopy grin plastered on his face.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, it is your lord and master; Eric Quillington. The Quixotic, the Chosen One, the last son of Krypton,” he says in a drunken slur. It was unclear what exactly was going on inside the enigmatic frontman at this moment, as he stood before the 150,000 in attendance. He had always enjoyed being in Infinite, and tried his hardest to put on a good show. In his teenage years, Quillington had been one of the wild rockers, a man known to perform naked and high on mere impulse. He had since matured, but perhaps the impulse-free side to him still lay dormant, and this was one of the occasions it had been set free. Nobody knew what the frontman’s drunken behavior would mean for the upcoming show.
All the audience knew was this; tonight, he wouldn’t resist the urge to fuck up Infinite’s performance.
Grinning like a Jackal (snippet)/Synthesia
Stepping up to the microphone, Eric decides against introducing the band with words. Instead he sings, a cappella, a line from a new Infinite song;
“Just turn on the bright lights, and no one’s going to say you’re all alone tonight”
After Greg counts his two band-mates in, the first real song of the evening begins. As it is unfinished, the song is very sketchy in structure. A catchy guitar riff, something Infinite have always strayed away from, drives the song. During the two-line choruses, Eric’s voice is distorted to make it seem as though it’s coming through a phonograph; very distant, and with a crackling, difficult-to-make-out, quality.
“Dear sir, please spare a penny for the blind
Take me through the spectrum, as the sounds turn to color
As you can see, my dreams of being a performance freak have failed
Does that still make me special?
And for a minute, the moth thought he was the flame
The muse mistook herself as the masterpiece
Good afternoon, it’s nice to talk to someone for an hour
All my plans for the future were abandoned when I rewrote the past
As you can see, there’s nothing that’s been troubling me
Does that still make me a tortured artist?
And for a minute, I lost myself in the beauty
Unfortunately, I ran out of words to rhyme”
Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces
“I’ve lost the plot,” Eric said, his speaking voice barely recognizable due to the slurs and stutters, “But, whatever, it’s all cool. Here’s, um, our next song. It’s the B-Side to our latest single, called Finding Negative Beauty in Spaces. No, Negative Findings in Beautiful Spaces. FUCK IT, I DON’T KNOW. Enjoy.”
Despite making an ass out of himself while doing anything but playing music, Eric still plays the opening strums to the next song with competence. It’s a simple melody of chords, one that can be accomplished without much technical ability or focus. This is a huge blessing for the guitarist, as he currently lacks the latter. Regaining some confidence in his performance, he attempts to return to the more flamboyant stage antics he is typically capable of while sober. Obviously, disastrous results follow; an attempt at a mid-air spin, something completely out-of-place with the slower-paced feel of the song, ends with Eric landing on his back. After struggling to get up while still playing his guitar, in a scene straight out of Spinal Tap, he finally makes it over to sing the first verse.
Eric’s voice, much like earlier, still possesses much more clarity while in singing form. The Quixotic has always seemed more graceful and confident while performing music, so this isn’t too much of a surprise. An undertone of seduction is evident in his singing, taking influence from various love songs, reinforcing the intended message of this song; a twisted mocking of ‘Love Ballads’.
“You can’t make pretty pictures, you can’t make pretty poems
It doesn’t matter, because you simply view the world differently
Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder
It’s only a matter of time before the loneliness evaporates
After all, you’ll never be alone”
Tinkling notes on the piano begin to be played by Greg Oldson, a musician who seems to be distancing himself from the position of drumming. As there is no percussion, it is left to Eric’s acoustic strumming to carry the rhythm. The song has gone to hell in the instrumental interlude between the verses; there is no actual beat, making each instrument seem out of time.
In a move that is becoming a defining characteristic of Infinite, Eric’s voice has been electronically distorted for the second verse, giving the singing a very inhuman quality. The sarcastically tender tones of earlier have melted away to become more fitting to the lyrics; a frightening recreation of insanity’s embrace.
“You can’t find inspiration, you can’t find a shred of success
It really doesn’t matter, because you simply view the world differently
Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder
If you’re scared of the silence, we’ll be there with comforting words
After all, you’ll never be alone
This is your statement; everything has it’s time
This is our statement; everything has it’s place”
Sleepyhead (Passion Pit cover)
“So, I, um… think this is our final song,” the drunken frontman said, “I mean, we would’ve played longer, but I just… can’t recite the alphabet right now. Wait, maybe I can. Let me try. A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I-“
His rant was cut off by a rapid drum-snare by the increasingly annoyed Greg Oldson, prompting Eric to shut up. Resisting the urge to moon his drummer in front of the mass audience, he unstrapped his guitar, rather than his belt. Stepping down in front of the piano nested at the side of the stage, Eric began playing the opening melody to a stripped-down version of Passion Pit’s Sleepyhead. As the original song was too complex to perform without the little preparation they’d been given, not to mention Quillington’s current state of mind, a simpler arrangement was preferred.
Singing in an almost comical falsetto, Eric delivers one of the most bizarre vocal performances of his career. Drunk enough to have no self-awareness, he changes several words around to fit his drunken sense of humor, to the laughter and cheers of those in attendance;
"And you said, it was like fire around the brim
Burning solid, burning thin, the burning rim
Like stars burning holes right through the dark
Flicking fire like saltwater into my eyes
You were my bitch at the end of this bed
I dragged you back to give me head
Some good head
They couldn’t think of something to say the day you burst
With all their lions and all their might, and all their thirst
They crowd your bedroom like some thoughts wearing thin
Against the walls, against your rules, against your skin
My dick stretches down through the floor and out through the door
Of your eyes, begonia skies, like a sleepyhead
Sleepyhead"
Stepping away from the piano, Eric takes several bows, nearly falling over with each one. Taking matters into his own hands, Greg leaps from his drumset and grabs Quillington before he can embarrass himself any further. Dragging his band-mate by his shirt, he motions for Matt Roberts to follow him. The aggravated mood from the drummer hasn’t been brought-over to the audience. Most who saw the performance were thoroughly entertained by Quillington’s behavior, and were sure to remember this unique live show for a long time to come. Plus, a new Infinite song was always regarded as a good thing by the band's fans.
Still, Infinite wasn’t the sole attraction; the main headliner of the evening was to perform next. A palpable sense of excitement is in the air as the audience gleefully chants out her name;
“Miss Vanity! Miss Vanity! Miss Vanity!” |
