The Golden Age of Western Civilisation
The Chemical Brothers and Flaming Lips perform ‘The Golden Path’ in Edinburgh’s Princes Street Gardens.
The YouTube Gems series covers some of my favourite 5-10 minute online music videos.
MTV’s European Music Awards (EMAs) are basically an excuse for the all-conquering American television channel to organise a yearly knees-up in a European city, inviting the current crop of en vogue MTV-endorsed artists, musicians and celebrities to perform and be in with a chance of winning one of music’s least esteemed awards (come on, it’s no Ivor Novello). For the 2003 edition of the awards, the fine city of Edinburgh rolled out the red carpet to become the second British location to have the honour of hosting the ceremony. MTV wheeled out a revolving door of classic mid-2000 celebrities – Christina Aguilera as host; performances from Pink, The Darkness and Dido; awards presented by Kelly Osbourne, Minnie Driver and the Jackass crew; plus Vin Diesel wearing a leather kilt. You can see why they call it The Golden Age of Western Civilisation. A reminder of the main award winners triggers even more nostalgia – Beyoncé’s ‘Crazy in Love’ won Best Song and Justin Timberlake picked up Best Album for Justified.
Along with the awards ceremony, MTV organised an affiliated live concert in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle in Princes Street Gardens, taking place at the same time as the main event. This featured what some people would recognise as the niche MTV2 contingent, more of an if you know, you know vibe than the mainstream artists on show at the awards themselves. MTV offered tickets for free via a ballot process, giving the lucky recipients the chance to see Jane’s Addiction, Black Rebel Motorcycle and the Chemical Brothers perform. For reasons still not clear today, my mum and dad applied for tickets and successfully secured 3, clearing the runway for a trip through to Edinburgh for my second ever gig, aged 11. Disclaimer: no drugs were consumed during the field research for this article.
I could try to recount all of the details of that fateful night in 2003, but the truth is I don’t really remember much aside from the main headline performance. MTV’s decision to hold this concert in parallel with the main awards show was so that they could pull off a nifty live link-up to the outdoor gig during the awards. What better than the sight of 10,000 Scots partying under Edinburgh Castle to give the awards show some added je ne sais quoi? For the live link, Chemical Brothers’ new single, ‘The Golden Path’, featuring Flaming Lips vocalist Wayne Coyne was chosen – a perfect choice, showcasing a meeting of the minds between the UK dance gods and trendy American rock.
Now what I’m about to do is pull back the curtain and break the oath that I swore to the entertainment gods that I would keep that night. In the video at the top of the page, you would be forgiven for thinking that the grainy footage shows serious chemistry between the performers and the crowd, spontaneous cheering and impressively coordinated jumping in time with the Chemical Brothers’ pounding psychedelic rhythms. The truth isn’t quite as glamorous, though it does feature the aforementioned leather kilt-wielding Vin Diesel. Before presenting at the main ceremony, the Fast and the Furious star was tasked with being on stage at Princes Street, warming up the crowd for the big moment (footage of his intro here, in even worse quality than the video above). Not only did my man Vin give the crowd tips on how to act, Chemical Brothers and Wayne Coyne performed the song twice – once as a warm-up during an advert break and then again once the producers had given the green light. The dress rehearsal version was a carbon copy of the second, including Coyne’s ‘ad libbed’ “HELLO SCAATLAND” encouragements to the crowd.
The song itself is a belter – worth giving the studio version a go even if it’s not as well-known as some of the Chemical Brothers’ biggest hits. Wayne Coyne channels his inner Jack Black, recounting a story of encountering a shiny demon whilst on a late-night stoat. Come to think of it, he’s basically stolen the entire premise of Tenacious D’s massive hit, ‘Tribute’, from a few years earlier. Probably worth a call to Jack Black’s lawyers (“Coyne stole these lyri-… hello?”).
After the Chemical Brothers wrapped up, the only thing left to do was cheer Mr Diesel as he was seen speeding off towards the main awards ceremony in a Tokyo Drift-worthy car. Always the showman. Pretty surprised I remember as much of the night as I do, given it was nearly 20 years ago. No wonder though – how many people can say they’ve laid eyes on Vin Diesel in a leather kilt?