I can't wait!
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/live...rk-set-to-wow-liverpool-100252-21452600/

For those that don't remember the elephant:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5lDkYBh-fQ

woah, that video is cool.

Gotta go see that.

Ooo I wana see this

sound that

Amazing, looking forward to seeing this.

Took these about 5pm today

omg is that a spider?!
x

looks like it

anyone know when its on in liverpool?

I've been told the first few days of next month

oooooooo cant wait
x

holy sh!t

5th, 6th & 7th September. I'll post more as I come across it. I can't wait - just a big kid at heart!

its going to be on Lime st..and crawl up the side out the building..then go on a parade round the city..we have got to escort the thing...
(just incase is starts running amok...like godzilla or something...lol)

HEADLINE

[ MERSEYSIDE POLICE CAPTURE GODINCYWINCYILLA ]

Theres NEWS that merseyside police tonight caputured wot only could be a HUGE giant spider it was climbing up Lime Streets Office tower shouting Suprise Surprise INCYWINCYCILLA ere!! ??


(Gets my coat)

omg thats big good pics joe

erm..how you gonna stop it? RPG?

Number one stop sign....(look it up if you dont know what i mean!)
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/Signsandmarkings/index.htm

download signals by authorised persons.....

Tried to take a few close up pics before but got told to put the cam away, they have been in their for a couple of weeks now, yes it's the 5th September.

What was said tho to me was "put them pics on the internet and you'll die" that was said by a man who looked like Side Show Bob off the Simpsons.

Dont the police use a "Drag-NET", tell it its just a little itsy bitsy web, That`ll stop the monster fron the `Pool
The Police could always use a bit of their "persuasion" methinks!!! (rubber trunchion and a pillowcase!)

It's on the move...

imagine finding that on your house! (would say in your bath but.....)

saw it today from ship in lairds at front of con hall with fireworks and water jets

omfg!!!! hoe goods that

Auditastic - if we all give you our chairs / blankets, can you bags us the best place to watch!!!
I soooooo can't wait.

when and were do I have to be to see it in action?

wow

thanks super joe

Lots of loud music coming from the building hall at 10pm, my guess is that a net is to be thown over the "Spider" when on show...

im gutted i cant see this spider

Wow - fantastic - I wondered what they were going to do - all they'd say on their website was 'an anima' but wouldn't say what it was going to be. In 2 minds about taking my kids to this now lol - might harm them for life lol

Go to La Machine
Doesn't say a lot about it but you can sign up to newsletter.
Showed my 4 year-old girl the photos - her mouth looked like a giant polo. Then she said she didn't want to come along and see it. I then showed her the sultan's elephant on youtube and she was even more sure she didn't want to go

Has anyone seen Philw - just to check he hasn't been iced by a French Sideshow Bob...

why did it do that to my last post?

had you signed in ??

I was signed in but somehow got signed out - I dunno - been a long day - and I was only in work for today - 1 day weeks are the best lol

No worries.

Btw, what is your pic, is it a Monkey or a cat or something??



That La Machine btw, freaks the hell out of me. Not good for people with Arachnaphobia

I think its supposed to be a monkey. I stole it off someone in another forum yonks ago lol My goodness - just remembered what the forum was - a 360 clan if I remember rightly lol

I am alive. The spider now has neons and will be at the Rock Cruisin on it's 20ft legs

Almost forgot it's got a Dumpvalve so it's in the click

can it shoot frickin' laser beams from its eyes?

a dumpvalve - is this so it can jettison its driver and wreak havoc?

bet it cant match my moth it can shoot laser beams from its eyes!

Well the trailer they had set up with around 6 20ft long pipes to maybe fire a net onto "La Machine"........

I have a few bad quality pics which i maybe able to show later on.

roflmao

they been playing loads of music from where they testing the thing. its dead loud in lairds

call environmental health noise pollution! lol

I just want to see the size of the big robotic newspaper that they squash the barstard with!

I've been told the full details for this event...

...all i'm going to say is keep your eye on the local media

Lad in work spotted it going on a flatbed trailer the other day, and I've been told it's gone from Lairds, so must have gone through the tunnel already??

roads closed on friday 1pm-midnight salthouse quay? wapping, the strand
midnight-4pm saturday the strand 3-6pm water street,castle street,lord street 4-8pm lord street,church street 6-10pm ranelagh street,lime street. sunday 1pm-midnight lime street mersey tunnel access!

cheers

as working in city center some woman came in with the list of roads closed so i posted for you guys!

great thanks for that - i wonder if we could get any more info - you think local rags will include it?

wens 3rd sep the la machine website says it will tell all!

This Wednesday

Would be great if you could get closeup pics seen as you're working by it?

see what i can do!

LATEST ECHO UPDATE

Sep 1 2008 by Catherine Jones, Liverpool Echo


THE countdown has started to one of the most spectacular weekends of Capital of Culture.

La Machine’s giant mystery creature will take to the streets of Liverpool city centre on Friday in what will be the biggest piece of street theatre the UK has ever seen.

Exact details about the top-secret creature and what will happen are still being kept under wraps.

But today, the ECHO is calling on readers to join in and play their own part in the three-day, £2m extravaganza.

We want to see your photographs and video footage of this magnificent event, and hear what you think about giant 50ft animation, known only as La Princesse.

ECHO editor Alastair Machray said: “Liverpool will never have seen anything quite like it. If you loved the Superlambananas, La Machine will blow your socks off.

“Our reporters, photographers and video journalists will be there with the creature every step of the way, and we hope all our readers will too.”

Readers can get involved in one of the following ways:

By web – comment and vote on our Live Blog at www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/machine

By mobile phone – send your photos or texts to 0787 268 0454 (put “mach” at the start of your message); standard rates apply

By email – send comments or photos to machine@ liverpoolecho.co.uk

By Flickr – upload photos and videos to Flickr at www.liverpoolecho. co.uk/flickr

Culture Company executive producer Fiona Gasper said: “La Machine is the biggest piece of street theatre the UK has ever staged and has been a carefully kept secret.”

The event is being produced by London arts company Artichoke, which brought London to a standstill two years ago with the giant Sultan’s Elephant, and created by French company La Machine.

Roads will be closed

THE Strand will be among a host of streets closed for La Machine’s mystery creature, due to hit Liverpool this weekend.

Many parts of the city centre will become pedestrian-only zones as the giant animation comes to life.

Roads will be closed and public transport re-routed at different times from Friday to Sunday.

Full details about what is happening each day are still to be revealed. Roads earmarked to be shut to traffic include Water Street, Castle Street, Lime Street, Lord Street, North John Street, St John’s Lane and Old Haymarket.

[email protected]

Keep

Only the French could name a big spider La Princesse!

Aparantly, it's on the move now??

Theres lots of police and a large trailer moving very very slow down Cammell Lairds, so Scott tells me.

He's going to try and get some pictures hopefully

One of the coppers escorting it through the tunnel said it will be around Liverpool for the next 8 days and it's being stored in the Echo Arena.

I thought it had already gone?

so did I, but I was wrong??

It's definately going now - 3 trucks & more going through the Birkenhead Tunnel

scott rang, he`s in Liverpool now waiting to get photographs

oh fook i wanna go down town now and honk my horn at them like some irritating tw*t lol

Aparantly, tunnel police dont have enough man power to move it so I'm gunna go down an take some pictures

if they all push at the same time (they'll have a group prolapse)

Now that's something I'd pay to go and watch

chimps at chester zoo...i always remember the one who's bum bits were on the outside.

me and joe and our lil sausage just got back from this and were all soaked to the skin oh and my trip to liverpool was a complete an utter waste of time as it stayed this side of the water and convoyed through birkenhead down towards wallesey Tunnel to go to liverpool through that way i will post pics up as soon as i can drag them off my phone sorry about the quality of my pics but im sure joe got a lot more and better quality pictures

It's on the move now, through Birkenhead, through the Wallasey tunnel then through Liverpool.

The music in Lairds was the bands (which have all the kit on cherry pickers) practising.

It was lashing it down.

brill pics joe

i wont post my pics up as joe got near enough the same as my pics as joes are better quality aswell excellent pics joe considerin the bleedin rain lashed down

Cheers

Still f'kin soaked lol

snap same here but hey it was worth it just to get that close to it as we was and trust me its really is impressive me and sausage thinks its just one big fair ground ride and the size of it u dnt just realise it from the pics wen it was on the side of cammel lairds buildin untill you was as close as we was its foooookin huge

Wow!!
I am so excited now!
How did they let you take all those pics?
Nice slow exposure ones, and rain orbs, Joe.



Eeeeeee I can't wait!

Marriage (Helen Marriage, co-director of Artichoke) reveals that La Machine will feature 'two days of lower-key prologue Sept 3 and Sept 4; people will realise something's happening, but not know quite what.' The few hints we're allowed to pass on involve a giant creature emerging from a larval stage of some sort, and learning to adjust before realising that, for reasons that may or may not become clear, it cannot remain.

'I like to think of this one as more of a boys' show,' Marriage mysteriously says. 'It's a bit more spectacular. It's 6m taller, special effects are involved, buildings are scaled I don't think anybody is going to have seen anything like it before.'

Press Release of movements.
I'm so excited!!!
http://www.lamachine.co.uk/images/uploads/La_Machine_press_kit.pdf

wow - the schedule looks fantastic!

Probably won't be in Liverpool to see it though

Fantastic pics, really cool!

good job boys and girls

Getting into position!

For those without facebook..

.

.

nice work joe
Back to work for me

Oh, pics are great mate

For those without facebook..

Soz Joe - thought it would just work

No problem, cheers for the link

Radio city have a webcam set up on it:



Image updates every 10 seconds (you will need to refresh the page)

That looks insane, and evil.

Does a man sit inside it and work the controls then???

The Daily Schedule

Wednesday 3rd September
Dawn The creature appears suspended on the side of Concourse Tower (by Lime Street Station).
10.00h A Research Base is set up at the Echo Arena (Kings Dock) at the ACC.
16.00h Scientists arrive at Concourse Tower to set up searchlights to light the creature.
20.30h Scientists switch on searchlights, which stay lit overnight.

Thursday 4th September
11.30h The creature is craned off Concourse Tower.
12.30h The convoy carries the creature and sets off for the Research base at ACC.
13.00h The convoy arrives at the Research Base.

Friday 5th September
11.30h The scientists perform experiments on the creature using different special
effects to see how it responds to different stimuli. The creature wakes up.
18.00h The creature wakes and parades to Salthouse Dock.
19.30h The creature arrives at the Dock.
20.30h The creature sets off for Cunard Building.
21.00h The creature arrives at Cunard Building.

Saturday 6th September
11.30h The creature wakes up.
12.30h The creature goes to sleep again.
14.45h The creature leaves Cunard Building and walks up Water Street.
15.30h The creature arrives at Town Hall – smoke effect.
15.40h The creature walks towards Derby Square along Castle Street.
16.00h Water ballet at Derby Square.
16.15h The creature walks down Lord Street to Holy Corner.
17.00h The creature sleeps.
18.30h The creature wakes and walks down Parker Street, serenaded on the way.
20.00h A tempest rages at Ranelagh Place.
20.30h The creature arrives at Concourse Tower.

Sunday 7th September
15.00h The creature wakes up and is prepared for the evening’s entertainment.
16.00h The creature goes back to sleep.
19.30h Musicians arrive.
20.30h The creature leaves the tower and parades to Queensway Tunnel entrance.
21.30h Finale at Queensway tunnel.

In the press kit I linked up this morning it gives you most techie info but I can't see how many operators there are on this. Check out the you tube link of the elephant in London in 2006 in my first posting (up there ^ ^ ^)and you can see all the operators working the puppet strings.

i seen it today its awesone! just have to see it to belive?

Now there's a web somewhere!

Theres 4 seats on one side for the controls



Not sure about the other side though, but there was a fella who got ontop of it too, so I think there may be another set of controls there?

The spider is made out of steel and poplar wood and will be operated by 12 people strapped to its frame, Ms Marriage said.

must be 2 on top then and 4 either side

That must look better on the job description than in reality!

wont it smash the windows with its lanky legs?

wheels

12 drivers !!!!!!!

Theyre going to switch on the search lights in 40 mins

I think its quite tactile - 'It has 50 axes of movement so all of it moves as you would expect an insect to move.'

thats so cool dude nice PICS man deffo going over

should be a good weekend?

yeah deffo were is the web?

S'gone!

don't think there is a web? lol

There is a web in Liverpool but is part of something totally different .I am not sure but think it has something to do with a Japanese artist

Web is behind the town hall

what a load of twaddle

@ sanchez

but isn't the spider going to the town hall?

Cant rememebr if Ive asked this before or not...

But what exactly does La Machine have to do with Capital of Culture 08 ????

it's a pice of street theatre

theatre = culture

seen it pass the shop at about 12.30 on a low loader down renshaw street! its huge 3 guys on top of it.

and the French are very cultured don't you know (not)

so it,s not goin to the web ??? :r

wow Some machine


How do we drive it can i have a go
Shall we hi jack it lol

Heres my La Princesse that crawled across the floor in Sausages house, so I captured it....

[youtube]v8F58NGELoA[/youtube]


A video I took of it the other night travelling through Birkenhead past Hamilton Square
[youtube]thgwG27uwc0[/youtube]


A video of it in Liverpool last night
[youtube]ehWRIyXf21I[/youtube]

did anyone go see it today? was going to take the kids after school but not in that down poor!

spider stalks liverpool streets..... click me try this link

thanks jonah the vid was cool!

heard all the weird music when it was outside lairds,just seen it on national news so we getting noticed for something good and not idiot joey barton

am in work sat so will go and look!should be good

OOOooohhh

thats cool bud!

woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow

fook in ell!

Another BBC news clip. Looks amazing
clicky

A couple of youtube posts (from other peeps)

[youtube]_ftfZfR9DRM[/youtube]

[youtube]Qc2SwINRfnI[/youtube]

[youtube]G_OM0tGBxNg[/youtube]

[youtube]nCGPLfpgjZU[/youtube]

[youtube]6VEr5kC1KZw[/youtube]

haha awseome the way it pushed down someones umbrella ella ella elaa aay aay..

Oh wow - what a fantastic and magical day we've had.

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=69731&l=7b25a&id=753720358

Been over there all day. The evening bit was absolutely fantastic. Have loads of video which I'll post when I've sorted it!

its a brill Machine and its getting watched by millions over the world. which is good for liverpool but why put it on the fookin ugliest building in liverpool

looks like jcb oving really slowly what a cash cow this looks to be, junk.

Hi Jason
They're using that buillding BECAUSE it's old and ugly (not sure if it's about to be demolished?)
That way if the building gets damaged while the spider is going up and down then it's not a huge problem. A lot of the 'nice' buildings around the city are listed so it would not be practical to use.
(OMG - I am turning into a La Princess geek)

why do u have to be so negative about everything ?

ok jonah, explane to me why this piece of shit is so so so so good. all i need is one decent answer, and i might see this lump of scrap metal which is costing alot of money that could be put toward starving children in africa in a different light.

Hmm, and i've just learned jonah that its cost 1.5 million for the privilage of that piece of junnk to be here. Still happy ?

I agree with you Andy at 1.5 million what a waste of money im afraid very spectacular but they could of used the money more wisely, nevermind the children in africa what about the kids in liverpool, Africa is nicer then liverpool!

Thats living costs for 5000 foster children for a month

Thank you al, glad to see im not the only one who thinks the money could be pu towards some thing constructive, now some one show le machine where neptune scrap yard is please

For £1.5M I would expect it to walk itself - anybody could knock up a few dangly legs mounted on a lorry for less than that!

Thought the elephant was disappointing for the same reason, spectacular until you see the lorry.

Never mind Africa - what about children in this area!?! Not to mention the pensioners that will be making the "heat or eat" decision, the servicemen and women that will find themselves homeless once they leave the forces because this country couldn't give a gnats bum about them! Too much of our money is given to other countries!

Sorry for going , rant over.

Good shout paganjay

totally agree jay, africa was a ott example of were the money could have gone, our contry needs it more, credit crunch is nibbling at every one.

1.5 million was just the cost to have it imported here and put on the building etc etc, the thing its self cost ££££££?

we didnt actually pay for it the french did we rented it!

hi, went to see the spider yesterday. what an amazing sight. the kids loved it.
all these peeps on here moaning about money wasted need to get a grip if your so worried about poverty get your hand in your pocket and do something yourself!

its part of the capital of culture celebrations what do you expect mother taressa walking the poverty ridden streets of norris green handing out gift vouchers for manweb to old women!!!!!

please......how in the fcuk does a giant spider relate in any way shape or form to the capital of culture..........

please dont get blind sided to the credit crunch, look at the lamb banana's, how many companies became bust over it....?

open your eye's people, your suffereing for it because our snide, very clever goverments are tricking us all.

well dont say i didn't warn you !!!!!

sorry andy.... of course u are right AGAIN..... i forgot no one else is allowed an opinion on this, unless it is the same as yours.... *rolls eyes*

sanctimonious
philistine

2 of my favourite words

who ? me ?

lol, you didnt really answer my question there jonah

cant answer it andy as im not allowed an opinion on the subject...

hmmm, you seem to be having a pop at me for having my opinion, even if it is logical, so go on bud, justify this thing

Whether it's a pile of sh*te or not, me and Sausage are off to see it now and watch it 'run' through the tunnel.

Will take pictures for you to see

will it be running though, how fast can it actually move under its own steam

What a waste of money for 1.5 million is my opinion.

Okay it looks good etc,
but ive been told that after the 1.5 million its still not
ours it still belongs to the french man.

How long its here for i don't know.
But why is it the Finale tonight ?

Please let us know if there was a big crowd ?

any one who hasseen this up close and seen the work that goes into it and how much time and effort went in to this i have seen this from day 1 b4 any one new it was even in the country and my opinion if it counts for anything is well done to all the guys that have made this happen i no how much work has gone into this and the fact some of them have worked round the clock to get this to work for every one well done all i form one am proude to see it and to have been 1 of the very few to have seen it from day 1 well done all

I was dissapointed with it and i posted on their web site to let them know, but my comment never appeared, it seems they are only posting positive comments!!!! What has a spider got to do with Liverpool? It should have been an all singing , all dancing, liver bird breathing fire.Lots of people said it should have been a beetle!!! Some people may have wanted to hang Ringo, but as a person who is not born and bred in Liverpool I still say it should have been a liver bird.

It was possibly an amazing feat, all I know is I was more Interested and busy cocnerning the New Brighton Rally....and having to get the train back from Preston to Liverpool, then home... I wasnt happy WHATSOFUCKINGEVER to see about 9000 people on the wirral line platform at Lime Street, just to see a giant robot spider.

Im tired, in pain, and angry that so many people have so much free time...grrrrrrr..

Rant over

My comment was directed at picking Africa as a recipient of the cash spent (which was then explained to be an example place, and left me quite happy) not against the spider per se. I have no feelings either way with regards to La Princesse. It is indeed a magnificent piece of machinery and I'm glad it has brought some much needed revenue and good publicity to the area, but I do fail to see why a spider.

As for putting my hand in my pocket to help those less fortunate than myself, I do - even though I am myself on benefits!

And regards Mother Theresa walking the streets of Liverpool with Manweb vouchers - would she be with Elvis, Lord Lucan and Jim Morrison per chance as she is as dead as they are

La Machine was commissioned by Liverpool Culture Company, with funds from its major partners, including the Northwest Regional Development Agency, the Arts Council and Liverpool City Council.

So it wasn't entirely the council footing the bill.

I reckon the local economy has probably made a packet over this weekend with that many people focused in one area.

Yes it is odd that the designer thought a spider would be good - but when I think about it I did see Liverpool in a new way - you really looked up and saw all the architecture around you and how the creature reacted to and existed within it.

I think the important part was the shared atmosphere and experience which was pretty special. It was exciting, highly anticipated, there was a real buzz.

Local schools will benefit as well:
As part of the production, Artichoke is working with teachers and pupils from 17 primary schools across Liverpool. Pupils from the participating schools will have priority access to the show on Friday with specialist resources provided to teachers for follow up work in the classroom.

Just come back and it was brilliant.

Never seen Liverpool so packed.

Thousands of people there - arrived an hour before it planned to set off from lime street and still couldn't get a decent spot to see it.

It was picking people up, there was a massive water display, fire display, snow effects and loads of fireworks and fantastic music.

I have got some pictures, but they're not the best of views as I was so far away because it was so packed.

As for the cost of the thing - Great feat of engineering and amazing display, but £1.5 million could have been spent better elsewhere IMO.

I think the only companies that would have benifited from this event would be Merseyrail and Arriva which is very unlikely any of the money would go back into the services they operate.

I've just got back. It was absolutely amazing. The whole city has been packed ALL weekend. That must have had a positive effect on the local economy. Yes people are going to pay through their taxes but surely that is all the more reason to get out there and enjoy - if you're bothered about paying for it then make sure you get your money's worth.
With Tall ships, Mathew Street and La Machine, Liverpool should be proud of itself. The area gets far too much bad publicity - bask in the glory when it gets good publicity.
I've taken loads of video and will try and upload it when I've edited out the naff bits.

True, great worldwide publicity at that

Hopefully some of those that visited Liverpool will have been over this side too. Maybe soon, when you tell someone you come from "The Wirral", people will know where you mean for a change

Do we want people to find us? Ooo I'm so insular lol

Pics from last night

I hope she paid the £1.40 at the other end - great pics Joe!

Fantastic pics Joe!!! That's some mixing desk up there lol.

great pics Joe

junk, cranes ruin it.

so erm.......what did it actually do??. Was it at all worthwhile me being tired and angry on the Underground at Lime Street ???

It walked from Lime Street through St Georges Plateau and down to the tunnel entrance picking people up on its legs and squirting water over people as it went.

Had I got there an hour earlier I would have got a better view of it, but it was just too packed.

Music was amazing, just went in time with the movement of it.

There was a massive water fountain from it as it got picked up by the crane then flames around it and then the fireworks went off from all around and the music ended.

Then it started snowing (it was actually little bubbles, but did look like snow falling) and the music started again and then there was loads of smoke as it crawled into the tunnel out of sight.

So yeah, pretty cool.

I've been told it'll all be shown on BBC 1 about Wednesday?

Here's my first batch

Batch 2

Batch 3............... I won't bore you with any more

Great pictures - you had a much better view than me

And a numb bum from sitting on the wall for hours!!

Same here lol

La Machine in Liverpool: A North West Tonight Special

Documentary looking at La Machine, the street theatre spectacle which is set to be one of the highlights of Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture. Presented by Gordon Burns and Jayne Barrett

BBC1 N West 7:30pm-8:00pm (30 minutes) Wed 10 Sep



Anybody fancy recording it??

My machine is set!

could not get bored with pics of an event like that, nice one. i seen and heard the rehearsals at lairds

good photos Softy

Great pictures everyone, its like something off war of the worlds.

The tv prog on BBC1 was brilliant

shit i missed it - bbc iplayer....

That's because you were too busy gossiping

i can;t find it to download

The background info was great but I didn't rate their footage too much - don't think it did it justice at all.

Miss it will be on the iplayer tomorrow.

ope so

I watched it but i wasnt impressed to be honest.
The crowds were amazing and the great liverpool spirit in the rain,
but the spider its self looked like a maccarrno set

It looked like it was on wheels,
i at least thought it would have walked under its own power.
Like a spider would.

And on that program it said it was tax payers money?
Well Gordon Burns was asked about it.

It was on wheels,

It had a little truck underneath which carried it, all the legs wid was move about to make it look like it was walking

I wasn't impressed by that either

Although I didn't watch the program, the BBC's footage of the finale looks like it was filmed in the park where I was and they had just a crap as I did

THe press tent was up in the park but I would have expected their cameras to get in closer.
I feel the musicians have had a really bad deal. They did a fantastic job and must have worked their @rses off, they seem to have no recogniton for their part. They've had no coverage and to add insult to injury, the BBC dubbed over them with their own music!

its now on iplayer
CLICK ME,,La Machine North West Tonight Special

cheers Jason

Someone spotted a web in the week before La Machine. Now we know why...............
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/live...er-appears-in-liverpool-100252-21849298/

gosh,,, were goign spider crazy