Gigography

A Gigography of every Chemical Brothers live show known. Does not include DJ sets (yet). That might be another article (see DJography).

Comprehensiveness
This list is constantly being researched and expanded, and doesn't constitute a comprehensive list of every gig, especially in early dates. The list is spotty up until June 20 1996 (which oddly enough happens to be my birthdate). After that date the list is 99-100% complete, but before that date, gigs are added as we discover them, and there are a lot of gaps.

If footage (audio or visual) is known to exist of the performance, it will be noted in the notes. This is primarily for earlier concerts, as by 2007 the proliferation of camera phones and Youtube would lead to widespread footage of nearly all concerts. From 2007 onwards, it will only be noted if pro-shot footage or long, unbroken footage of the concert exists.

pre-1995
{| border="2" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" class="article-table" style="float: left; width: 100%;" ! scope="col" |Name (if applicable) ! scope="col" |Location ! scope="col" |Date ! scope="col" |Notes Local legend has it that their first gig was performed here. Unfortunately, nothing else is known, including the date of the performance. It likely was a DJ set. Most often reported to be The Chemical Brothers' first gig, especially in the Don't Think booklet. Adam Smith first met the Chemical Brothers here and did the visuals for the show. About 300 people were in attendance and the set lasted 15ish minutes.
 * scope="col" |Owens Park BOP
 * scope="col" |University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
 * scope="col" |unknown
 * scope="col" |
 * scope="col" |
 * scope="col" |Sabresonic
 * scope="col" |Happy Jack's Nightclub (now known as Crucifix Lane), Southwark, London, UK
 * scope="col" |March 1994
 * scope="col" |
 * scope="col" |

The album version of Song To The Siren was also recorded at a Sabresonic gig in March 1994. It's likely they played two shows at Sabresonic before their Orlando gig.

"Asked by DJ Andy Weatherall to appear at his London club, the duo were too nervous to appear on stage, playing in "a cubby-hole above the cloakrooms" while Smith projected slides on to the empty stage; at a later gig, at Brixton Academy, Smith ran 16 projectors off a Hornby train set's power pack, an experience he cheerfully describes as "hellish". Rowlands adds: "We were using broken synthesisers, things that had been outmoded by digital technology; and Adam and his partner were doing a similar thing with their projections, refusing to do them on video."" Their first gig(s) in the United States, and their second or third shows ever (Tom's said it differently in interviews) were in Orlando. They played one or more shows. This is a placeholder for these gig(s), hopefully new information will become available.
 * Song To The Siren on Exit Planet Dust
 * scope="col" |-
 * scope="col" |Orlando, FL, USA
 * scope="col" |July 3,1994
 * scope="col" |
 * scope="col" |

From a Popmatters interview:

The Chemical Brothers first played in the States back in 1994. I recall one of their earliest gigs, at a small West Hollywood club in the middle of “Boy’s Town”...

“Yeah, I remember it, a mad gig in this weird loft, and there was this bloke in a kilt, playing the bagpipes. He kept trying to play over us and we were like, ‘Fa-ck off!’ It was chaos, totally shambolic... We did our first gigs in Orlando... We’d played in England once, and we got this phone call (to go to Florida), and we literally just turned up with our keyboards on our laps and got thrown into this mad world of Orlando raving ... it was brilliant though, all good fun really.” - Tom

New: Interview from 1997: "Actually, our third-ever gig was in Florida, in 1994," says Rowlands. "They just rang us up and said, 'You know, you're popular here. Come and play,'" Simons explains. "Having never been to Florida, we were quite happy to go, you know, have a week's holiday." "But when we got there," adds Rowlands, "We saw a scene where our records were kind of central. When we played 'Chemical Beats,' the place just exploded."

New!!! Although the year has to be wrong (1993), this article directly mentions a performance on July 4th at The Edge club, a club known to have hosted The Chemical Brothers on at least one occasion in the mid 90's. This 99% confirms one of the dates as July 3th 1994: http://www.orlandoweekly.com/orlando/dance-dance-revolution/Content?oid=2244233

THE DUST BROTHERS AT THE EDGE
CLIFF T: DJ Icey booked them at the Edge.

CANNALTE: All the shows at the Edge were impactful back then: To his credit, Icey did an awesome job of bringing people to Orlando that had made their mark – musically – here.

DJ ICEY: The Dust Brothers’ first single, “Song to the Siren,” was a huge staple for me as a DJ and most other DJs in Orlando. I actually called the number on their white label record, and Tom Rowlands answered the phone (to my surprise!). I told him we were interested in flying them in to do a show in Orlando. We provided them with five days hotel (Travelodge), two meals a day, and we arranged Disney visits.

The day of the event, we had a proper sound check set up, and we discovered they did not bring power converters but brought loads of equipment. We called Radio Shack five minutes before they were due to close, and luckily, the two guys that were working were coming to the show that night and agreed to stay open until we got there to buy seven power converters for their equipment.

DJ SANDY: They came in unlike any other electronic group ... playing massive! Little did we know what kind of superband they would become ... bow down, Skrillex and David Guetta.

DJ ICEY: The Brothers were playing a very live show and had an extensive stage setup of analog gear. We had them set up on the stage in the Shed in the back of the Edge (we could put 1,000 people back there and another 500 outside to stage left). Almost all of the DJs who were booked for that event were in the Shed to see the show, and it was a mind-bending, spine-tingling, absolutely ridiculous performance. I was standing on the side of the stage with Bruce Wilcox, who DJ’ed for us at the Edge Ft. Lauderdale, and after the first song, we looked at each other and realized we were witnessing something very special.

DJ SANDY: It was one of those nights where the vibe was perfect … so were the drugs.

WOHELSKI: It showed that with the right talent and the right promotion, the scene would come together for a big party, and it made promoters step up their game to deliver an even bigger, better, larger experience. What it did internationally and nationally was solidify the Orlando and Central Florida scenes as a hotbed of electronic dance music in America. What the band thought was a promoter’s whim turned into 5,000 kids going bonkers to the soon-to-be Chemical Brothers’ first U.S. show. From there, word filtered back to the U.K. press that there was something special going on here in Central Florida and in the U.S.

FORTIER: At the time, and probably for years later, it is and was just another show. When they came, they were just guys from Manchester who had made a bunch of tracks that were big in our clubs here. They weren’t the superstars they would eventually become many years later as the Chemical Brothers. Before this particular show, we’d already had Sasha and John Digweed at AAHZ. At Marz, we had a lot of other bands like the Chems with a very similar sound, as well as future local stars Rabbit in the Moon. And Brassy’s had Moby and a little band called Cybersonic that included a young Richie Hawtin. I think what we can look back on now about all this, including the Chemical Brothers gig was that we, as a scene, were really on it, forward-thinking and a leading light in the electronic scene.

Q-BURNS: It was a big deal. I remember people being generally psyched about it, more so than I recall for any electronic music act. I sold dozens and dozens of their records in my shop … I couldn’t keep them in stock for a couple months leading up to the show and for the life of the store afterward.

REMARK: That show kicked off the scene en masse. It was that show where the promoters, clubs and club-goers realized there was something magical happening and that those kinds of shows could draw thousands.

DJ ICEY: The show was a huge success, and their performance became legendary. The Brothers had told me that their show in Orlando, which really was their first proper live show, gave them the feeling that they were onto something big and the confidence that they’d be able to take it to the next level.

WOHELSKI: When  Dig Your Own Hole  went gold, because of his early support of the band, I made sure Icey got a gold record award. He deserves tons of credit; without him taking a chance, I’d never have seen and signed what became one of the biggest acts in the genre.
 * }

These are the only shows known to have taken place before their first international tour, aside from the 1995 Jazz Cafe show. Shows will be added as we hear of them.