What should you expect from one of music's remaining mavericks and one of the world's most successful producers? The plush 45-page programme previewing this show and the rest of the 'electronic' festival tells us to expect the unexpected. It also tells us that there will be no interval. Clearly the target audience don't often do 'gigs'.
Fifteen minutes later and the tweed jackets are tutting impatiently. Punctuality is clearly a pre-requisite in classical circles. And then Orbit and his ensemble arrive, drifting straight into a free-flowing string piece complete with Orbit-esque gurglings. It's subtle, and more characteristic of his production work than 'Pieces in a Modern Style'. Played on Stockhausen's specially constructed surround sound system the whole effect is strikingly similar to the Dolby Digital advert.
The track builds and builds for what could be half an hour. Xylophones kick in, followed by a twelve-piece chorus, followed by two percussionists on drum pads. Not satisfied with the already multi-layered sound, two of the more resourceful members of Orbit's ensemble move to the front spinning what appear to be glowing hoover tubes and a flymo(?).
It all makes for a completely bewildering spectacle for the Barbican crowd until Orbit brings things back down to earth by reintroducing "real" instruments, the resulting fusion having the energy of freeform jazz and the drive of progressive house. Impressive stuff indeed. And at last, the crowd respond; rapturous applause and - god forbid in these surroundings - whooping and cheering.
Orbit's new work - created specially for the gig - is sublime. Seamlessly mixing 'Pieces In A Modern Style' with pieces in his classic style and every point in between, in an intense hour Orbit achieves his sonic goals. With the inclusion of an eight-piece woodwind crew, the layers of sound all dissolve into one. It's now almost impossible to discern the difference between samples, choir and band, and frankly no-one cares as the rich soup of sound washes over them.
The classical crowd appeased, Orbit refers to his old material for the anoraks present. Starting off with his own remix of Morgan King's 'I'm Free', he gently strums the guitar whilst the abrasive synth builds to a climax. After applause so long that people begin to leave, he returns to announce that, "they might know this one", before launching into 'Water Off A Vine Leaf' and ushering Beth Orton to the stage.
Finally both factions within the crowd get what they really want. 'Barber's Adagio for Strings' sounding disappointingly like the Ferry Corsten trance monstrosity. Crowd pleasing enough though, that Orbit and ensemble reluctantly return for what seems to be a genuinely impromptu second encore to play it again.
So is this how the other half live? Probably not. But it should be.
