They cheered for a drum machine!

I saw something last night that I never thought I would see. A rock music crowd cheered for the entrance of a drum machine at a Stereolab concert. I think it was during "Need To Be", although I can't be sure. The drummer had been doing all his parts. He was the audience favorite, really. But all of the sudden he just stopped and the audience went crazy as the sequenced drum part started. Whoever started this trend years ago (Madonna? or maybe further back -- Keith Moon -- Baba O'Reily) would be so happy that audiences are actually excited about the unholy marriage of computers and animal skins.
That being said..
It was a wonderful show. Thanks to Michael W. for giving us the tip. Laetitia Sadier is an inspiring performer. You don't know rock until you've seen a singer go from trombone to moog to coloratura soprano in 5 seconds. Marathonpacks does a good round up of what we witnessed. I'll just say that it began with this gem:

MP3: Come And Play In The Milky Way

and did not disappoint the rest of the way. At the end Michael A. said that he felt like he had had a massage. I concur.

And on that very subject, a quote from my most favoritist book- The Recording Angel, by Evan Eisenberg:

(Concerts) format is perfect for catharsis: you sit down and let the sounds squeeze you, you stand up and let out a burst of vigorous applause , and it's over. The soul has had its sauna. (As Aristotle said) we all carry around our quanta of pity, fear and other unsettling emotions whether they are unsettling us at the moment or not, the scattershot approach of the public performance has its effect. Humours surface and are dispelled.