Notes on the Gong 25th Anniversary Concert, posted by RonChrisley and Clive Backham:
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 94 01:18 BST From: ronc (Ron Chrisley) To: alt-music-progressive@cs.utexas.edu, clive@uk.mdis.com, ronc Subject: Gong 25, Day 2 report (long) Newsgroups: alt.music.progressive From: clive@uk.mdis.com (Clive Backham) Date: Mon, 10 Oct 1994 10:53:16 GMT
Here as promised is a report of the Gong 25th anniversary show on
Saturday 8th Oct. I believe Ron Chrisley went to the Sunday show, so
maybe he'll post something about that.
Here I am!
The show got underway at 1.30pm, a mere 1.5 hours late. Nobody was too
bothered by this; who cares in the context of a 12 hour show? The MC
throughout was Tom the Poet,
*Thom* The Poet, please. :-)
who announced the bands, read out messages
from the audience, and generally encouraged everyone to join in the demo
that was taking place the next morning against the new criminal justice
bill.
First on was the Invisible Opera Company of Tibet. This is a four piece
band of gtr/keys/bass/drums, plus a girl dancer who was decorative but
otherwise pointless. They play fairly straight rock, with perhaps a
slight psychadelic tinge. They are very competent, the rhythmn section
is particularly good. Towards the end of their set they played "Master
Builder", after which Daevid Allen joined them for one song, "This is
the Time of the Banana Moon".
On Sunday it was Kangaroo Moon instead. This is a four piece band of
keys/digeridoo (Mark Robson, I think), violin, guitar, and drums. It
was very new agish, in a good way, and sounds much better than IOCT.
I'm glad that no one on Sunday played Master Builder or any other Gong
Classics until the end; in particular, MB was the climax for me, and
it might have been spoiled by an earlier airing.
Next on was Dider Malherbe's acoustic band "Fluvius", who have a sort of
Meditteranean/Eastern feel. Line up was Didier, Shaymal Maitra on
percussion, someone playing various sizes of what looked to me like
lutes,
Loy Ehrlich
and another chap playing odd acoustic bass instruments plus a bit
of (electronic) piano.
Henri Angel
They started off playing what I can only
describe as "cheeky/bouncy" music which was most enjoyable, but after a
while they began to meander a bit.
Nothing to add here.
Next on was Jay Fisher, singer/acoustic guitarist. Apparently he was
discovered by Mike Howlett, who has produced his first album. He had a
pleasant enough voice, and played his guitar well, but he wasn't really
what was needed in the context of this gig. Full marks to his
understanding of the situation; he fully realised that he wasn't going
to storm the house. Typical inter-song comments were "Wow, this is a
big place, I've never played to so many people", and "I'm shitting
myself up here".
Nothing to add here either.
Next on was Here & Now. I recognised Steffy Sharpstrings (guitar) and
Keith "missile bass" Bailey. I don't know who the drummer and keyboard
player were.
Andy Rold & Steve Cassidy.
Here & Now play heavy acid rock, and were doing so years
before Ozric Tentacles appeared.
Milly [my "date"] and I both thought of OT seconds after H&N came on.
After their normal set, Daevid Allen
joined them to transform the band in Planet Gong. They played "Floating
Anarchy", "Stoned Innocent Frankenstein", "New Age Transformation",
"No More Sages" and "Opium for the People".
I'm not familiar with PG, but this sounds like their set. Daevid Allen
appeared particularly insane when he came out in a ski mask and jumped about
the place.
Next came Tim Blake solo. I was surprised at how good he was, although
after the show a "proper" Tim Blake fan told me he was a bit
disappointed.
I was not impressed with the sequencer approach to his gig. Perhaps
played live I would have got into the songs.
I'd never seen Tim solo before, so perhaps my
expectations (that he might not be that good) were unfounded. Anyhow,
he did a number of songs using his computer setup. The only ones I
recognised were "New Jerusalem", plus a rather good rendition of
"Selene". Throughout, Tim seemed really happy to be there and was
really enjoying himself.
He came off as much less nerdy in the Classic Gong bit of the show.
Next on was the band "Shortwave". This is Didier, Pip Pyle, Phil Miller
and Hugh Hopper. They played jazz in the Canturbury mold. Rather like
In Cahoots but perhaps a touch heavier (which isn't surprising, since if
you swap Elton Dean for Didier, that's the band you get). Phil Miller
pulls the most incredible faces (of concentration) while playing.
Good stuff.
Next up, Lady June did a short stint. She read/sang a few of her poems,
but the audience (myself included) seemed unimpressed. I think she was
there because of her historical role in the Gong story rather than the
entertainment she could provide.
Nothing to add here.
Next came an unexpected bonus. Kevin Ayers turned up with his guitar
and a second guitarist who I didn't recognise.
This wasn't unexpected for most people, since he was second billing on the
flyers a lot of people had received.
His started with
"Interview", "When Your Parents Go To Sleep", There Goes Johnny" and
"Everybody's Sometime and Some Peoples' All the Time Blues". Then he
looked offstage and talked about all the friends who were gathered, and
motioned for some to join in. Pip Pyle and Hugh Hopper obliged, and the
now-four-piece played a song I didn't recognise, but seemed to be about
a "Super Salesman". (It definitely *wasn't* "Ballad of a Salesman Who
Sold Himself"). After this, Pip and Hugh left, and Didier joined on flute
for "May I?". Didier left, and Daevid joined on glissando guitar for
"Lady Rachel". After Daevid left, Kevin and his guitarist played three
more numbers. First off was a short instrumental rendition of "Teddy
Bears Picnic". He finished off with "Didn't Feel Lonely Til I Thought
of You" and "Stranger in Blue Suede Shoes".
I still don't know why I should care about Ayers. For me it was
acceptable blues, and nothing more (Milly and I looked at each other
just a few seconds after he came one and said "Blues" in disparaging
tones simultaneously, then both cracked up!) There were a few changes
to his set. Thom had tried to hype Kevin by saying that he had raised
the roof the night before. I can't imagine how.
Next on was Shapeshifter Gong: Daevid Allen, Didier Malherbe, Pip Pyle,
Shaymal Maitra (percussion), Keith Bailey (bass), and Graham Clark
(violin/guitar).
Ah, the bittersweet aspect of the show for me. Shapeshifter Gong were
responsible for my Gong baptism in 92 with a mind-blowing show at the Brighton
Centre (Graham agreed with me that that was a very good gig). So I was really
looking forward to this part, perhaps more than the Classic Gong part
(Shapeshifter is my fave Gong album). But alas, there were several problems,
the most significant of which was the complete failure of Graham's violin
pickup. He *makes* that lineup special, so the songs that featured him
suffered enormously. Didier had to take his solos in Hymnalayas and
Elephants/Mother's Gone. Sniff. He eventually played the violin into a voice
microphone, but it was still difficult to hear him.
As well as a few selections from the Shapeshifter
album (including "I Gotta Donkey" and "Shapeshifter" itself), they
played "Est Que Je Suis" and "Tropical Fish/Selene".
The set for Sunday was:
intro
Hymnalayas
Heaven's Gate
intro
Est Que Je Suis
Elephant La Tete
Mother's Gone
Elephant La Cuisse
I Gotta Donkey
Can You: You Can
Tropical Fish/Selene
Note: no Shapeshifter
Mother Gong came next: Gilli Smyth accompanied by Rob Calvert on sax
plus backing tapes. Gilli recited a few poems, did some mystical
incantations, and generally lapped up the atmosphere. Meanwhile Rob
Calvert made random noises on the sax. I have never liked Mother Gong,
and this set only reinforced my views. Gilli was warmly greeted by the
audience. My own reaction to her was as you would greet a long lost
returning auntie; pleased to see her for the person she is, but not
looking forward to what she may do :-)
Her choice of backdrops was particularly tacky: The Larks' Tongues mandala
[!], and an Escher image, among others. But not at all the worst performance
that day (Jay Fisher, Lady Jane, Kevin Ayers).
Finally, at about 10.30, Gong took to the stage. Daevid Allen, Gilli
Smyth, Didier Malherbe, Tim Blake, Mike Howlett, Pip Pyle and Steffi
Sharpstrings. Pierre Moerlen was due to be there, but apparently was
stuck with contractural obligations in the tour of "Evita" (Moerlen
playing Andrew Lloyd Webber - the thought makes me shudder. This ranks
alongside Eddie Jobson doing TV jingles).
No explanation was given for Pierre's absence on Sunday, although a letter of
goodwill from Hillage was read out.
Well, Pip Pyle is a fine
drummer (much better than you might think from Hatfield and National
Health albums),
Say what? Yes, he *is* good on those too, thank you! :-)
and made a very good stand-in. Steve Hillage was
apparently "far too busy with his System 7 work". You wot, John? "Far
too busy"? How about "far too selfish" instead? I'm a great Hillage fan,
but this is frankly not the behaviour of a gentleman. Anyhow, Steffi
did a fine job. He may not be in Steve's league, but he does a
reasonable Hillage impersonation.
Agreed.
Gong's set was: "Can't Kill Me", "Radio Gnome", "I Am Your Pussy", "Pot
Head Pixies", "I Never Glid Before", "Prostitute Poem", "Eat That
Phonebook", "Flute Salad", "Oily Way", "Outer Temple", "Inner Temple",
"Magick Mother Invocation" and "Master Builder". Then, Shaymal Maitra
joined the band for "A Sprinkling of Clouds", "The Isle of Everywhere",
"Get It Inner" and "You Never Blow Your Trip Forever", the final number
ended with the whole crowd singing the chant "You Are I And I Am You".
Same set on Sunday, I think. Awesome, if long, Master Builder. It
was fun to see Tim do the "Would you like to buy some tea?" bits and
the whining chorus to "Oily Way". It was wacky, quite a trip (but not
as much of a shock as my first sight of Daevid in teapot/pothead pixie
mode, of course).
The last portion of the concert was particularly long (Milly chose
this time to sit down and catch a nap!). I should point out that the
entire day we were at the absolute front center of the audience, with
our hands literally on the stage, so I was able to make lots of eye
contact, hear well, shake hands with Daevid, etc. During this end
section, Gilli looked at me and said something, but I couldn't
understand and just smiled. Then I saw her look at someone else and
make the same gesture and say the same thing, and I realized she had
asked me to come up on stage! This other guy didn't need to be asked
twice, and so there he was (looking quite the hippie part in his
tie-die Camembert Electrique shirt, long frizzy hair, glasses, and
headband), up on stage dancing frenetically. Oh well, I missed my
chance.
Another advantage of being at the front was that I was able to ask a
stagehand after the show for one af Daevid's
lyric sheets/setlists/scores. He was using these throughout the shows
to remind him of lyrics (he always seems to mess up Mother's Gone, for
instance). I got an A3 and and 2 A4's in his disctinctive liner-note
Gong-philosophy handwriting (although it is a photocopy!) of the
lyrics for Pot-head Pixies, Eat That Phonebook, and something I don't
recognize. The last includes: "Light Stronger/Eyes Open/See Wots
Going On".
There was a massive amount of cheering at the end, and in reaction to
demands for more, Tom the Poet came out and said "It seems you want more
Gong". When the crowd cheered, he said "Well, come back tomorrow" and
it was clear that there would be no encore. It was about 12.15 am by
this time, and after nearly 11 hours, I don't think anyone was
diappointed or angry. All in all, a great day.
There was an encore on Sunday, with just about everyone coming out and
jamming for a long time to something for which I do not know the title
[I now think that it was "Squeezing Sponges Over Policemen's
Heads/Foghat Digs Holes On Space"]. It was a little silly (2 basses,
3+ guitars, random dancing girls, etc), but fun. At the very end, Pip
Pyle thanked Daevid, and gave him a bunch of... bananas! Daevid was
pleased, and stated peeling one. Tim came over, pulled out a lighter,
and "lit" the banana so Daevid could have a "smoke"! Daevid then
threw the bananas into the audience, except for the last one, which he
gave back to Pip...
Some other points of note.
Daevid has just published a book called "Gong Dreaming, 1966-1969".
This is book one of a series that I presume must be called his memoires.
I didn't buy a copy, as I'm more into the music than the philosophy.
Available from GAS, I presume.
I bought this, cause I'm into philosophy :-) Not that I would
recommend Daevid's rather, uh, chemical route to enlightnement! But
the book should be a trip. I liked the (semi fictional) Shapeshifter
booklet, so I think I know what I am in for...
They were also selling a *complete* Pete Frame Gong tree poster, but
it was #6 ($9). They were also selling nice Gong 25 posters, but I
bought a "teapot scroll" for #2 that supposedly hasn't been available
since 74-75, when it was only available mail order.
They were not selling any shirts that were *obvious* Gong 25 shirts,
but rather the guys in the GAS stall told me to wait until after the
show, where outside I would be able to buy such a shirt for #5! I
did: it's very nice, has longs sleeves, sweatchirt material, and has
the names/bands on the back, etc. Nice.
The house sound was terrible.
Agreed!!!
After Here & Now, when it became a
complete joke,
Absolutely.
I made my way right to the front. I have discovered that
the sound is usually better there, where you get to hear the stage
monitors rather than the main PA, and sure enough it was. I am
convinced that the people who mix these sort of gigs are deaf. The
mixing desk appeared to be a marvel of modern technology, but they still
didn't seem to understand the very simple concept of dynamic range. In
other words, if every instrument is simply piped through at maximum
volume, it results in an indistinct mish-mash. In particular, the bass
and drums were mixed *far* too loud, making instruments such as vocals,
guitar and saxophone largely unintelligable.
Exactly.
The general atmosphere was great. I'm sure most people were there for
the nostalgia as much as the actual music. There were people from
France, Norway, America, Russia, Italy, and no doubt the rest of the
world. Tom the Poet kept asking for the Japanese contingent to make
themselves known, but nobody came forward.
There were lots of French, but Thom forgot to mention them!
Every act that I've seen before has played better, but that's not the
point. It was important to be there just for the experience. This
partly made up for my inability to attend the 1977 Paris reunion, which
I had to miss due to University exams.
Although the tickets expressly forbade tape recorders, cameras and video
recorder, there were large numbers all all these in the audience.
Indeed, at the start, Tom the Poet said "has everybody got their
bootlegging gear ready? Let's ignore copyright".
He didn't say that at our show. Not that I needed any such approval;
and it all fit on 5 c100s. :-) Now I just hope my photos come out.
Does anyone have tapes of Saturday's Shapeshifter shows? Any other
Shapeshifter shows? Or even the Gongmaison CD?
I can't believe they
weren't also making a soundboard recording for future release.
Graham says they tape *every* performance...
All the performers seemed really happy. There were some touching
moments, especially the way Tim Blake and Mike Howlett greeted one
another. It genuinely looked as though they'd not seen each other for
many years, unless they are both good actors.
Oh, and finally: I think Kevin Ayers was sober. Is this a record?
Perhaps he was sober on Sunday, but he asked several times for a
drink. When someone brought out a pint of water, he said: "this stuff
is disgusting; fish fuck in it. Could I have something stonger?"
Someone then brought out a can of beer...
During the middle of the day I had a chance to talk to Graham, because
of a mutual friend. We mainly talked about cognitive science, since
we (and our mutual friend) have that in common (Graham is doing a
DPhil in cognitive musicology). My friend had said something about me
going backstage being arranged, but since Graham didn't bring it up, I
didn't either. I was probably stupid not to. But what a week! The
night before I had seen and talked to Holdsworth, and on Tuesday I has
seen and talked to David Cross. His drummer Dan Maurer is getting to
know me pretty well, and had just talked with Milly about me (and gave
her a note to give to me) the night before (Friday) when she saw Cross
in Uden. I also ran into Nick May of The Enid/ Jadis/ Tamarisk/
Dagaband/ Quasar at the Cross and Holdsworth shows. He knew Milly's
name already, and was excited to see her on Saturday, because she is a
writer for Background magazine, a prog fanzine. And one of my
co-workers knows Cross' guitarist personally...
It's a small proggin' world, eh?
England is cool for gigs, I must say! But you guys in the states get
Progfest...
--
Ron Chrisley (ronc@cogs.susx.ac.uk)
WWW users, try: http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/users/ronc/index.html
[Includes pages on my research, & music: my collection, wants & for sale]
Date: Sun, 16 Oct 94 15:57 BST From: ronc@cogs.susx.ac.uk Subject: Re: Gong 25 Report (LONG) Date: Wed, 12 Oct 94 14:28 BST From: ronc (Ron Chrisley) From: ac1cdb@sunc.sheffield.ac.uk (C D Bates) Newsgroups: alt.music.progressive Date: 12 Oct 1994 08:57:27 GMT
[snipped stuff praising Pip Pyle]
Yes, Pip Pyle is a good drummer but he is not a great drummer. I was at
the Gong gig and I must say that I was amazed that Pyle fitted into the
many acts he played with but when it came to *classic* gong there was no
way he could compete/compare with Moerlain.
BTW did anyone else who was there feel vaguely uneasy that 2 out of the
7 people in *classic* gong had never been gong members?
Actually, look at these credits for Camembert Electrique:
Bloomdido Bad de Grasse [Didier Malherbe]: Tenor sax & flute
Submarine Capt. Christian Tritsch: Aqualung Bass, guitar on 10
Pip Pyle: drums & breakage
Bert Camembert [Daevid Allen]: local vocals & lewd guitar, bass on 10
Venux De Luxe [Francis Linon]: switch doctor & mix master
Shakti Yoni [Gilli Smyth]: space whisper
So Pip was in Classic Gong. So who is the other non-classic member
apart from Steffi?
Anyway, some more recollections from the Sunday show:
Someone asked Daevid: "is it true you're still a virgin?" Allen
laughed and said: "I'm a dingo!" I didn't quite get this until a day
or two ago, when I happened to be looking at the credits for Gong
albums to check on Pip (see above) and saw that Daevid was credited as
"Dingo Virgin" on the trilogy albums.
At one point, Tim Blake mentioned that one of the most important
things for a Frenchman was to find just the right bread. Didier
walked on with this very large baguette, and brought it over to Tim to
feel. After a few more cosmic words, Tim revealed that another
important aspect was the salad for the bread, and Didier opened the
baguette to reveal that it is actually a case for his flute, and we
were to be served "Flute Salad", which Didier then played.
Similar visual aids were used for Radio Gnome invisible, with Tim
pouring Daevid a cup of tea from a white teapot.
I was wondering what Daevid was using to get his gliss sound, but I
realized that it looked like an *Allen wrench*. Is this an old joke?
One nice touch for the show: some people had lit some incense and set
it up on stage; little things like that really added to the
atmosphere, quite literally!
The event inspired me to take some different approaches to enjoying
gigs: I danced almost the entire time, which I almost never do at
other gigs. Also, during Here & Now's set, I noticed some patterns in
the lighting, which I usually never focus on. Even when I closed my
eyes, I could still "see" different lights coming on and off through
my eyelids (I was in the very front, remember, so the lights were
relatively bright). So I decided to move in some way (my head, say,
or my hand) when a particular light pattern hit my closed eyes. This
forced me to concentrate on the light patterns in a way I never had
before. It sounds silly, but it created a different experience from
just listening to the music and only passively experiencing the light.
One last thing: I finished reading "Gong Dreaming 1", which was
fascinating even though I'm not a pagan, don't do drugs and don't
know/like Soft Machine! I'm really looking forward to the next
volume; anyone know when it is coming out?
Some requests: Does anyone have any Gong video they would like to
trade? Does anyone have Gong lyrics on-line? Did anyone save the
Daevid Allen story that Mark Bergen posted last April?
Ron Chrisley (ronc@cogs.susx.ac.uk)
WWW users, try: http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/users/ronc/index.html
[Includes pages on my research, & music: my collection, wants & for sale]
From: ronc@cogs.susx.ac.uk (Ron Chrisley) Newsgroups: alt.music.progressive Subject: H/wind and Gong Date: 14 Oct 1994 11:24:20 -0500
I caught Hawkwind on their last couple of tours in the UK and managed to see them play with Planet Gong late 1992. Does anyone know who was in this Gong line up - I assume the man dressed in tin foil was Dave A. but what about the rest of the band ? I assume the guitarist was Steffi Sharpstrings and the bassist was Keith Da Bass, but Clive's the man to ask (where's Malcolm in all this Gong brouhahah?). Speaking of Hawkwind & Gong, on the Sunday 25th anniversary show, Tim Blake reminded everyone that it was also Hawkwind's 25th birthday, and played something in tribute. I don't know what it was; I wouldn't know a Silver Machine if it flew up and hit me in the face! [I have since been told that it was "World of Tiers"] -- Ron Chrisley (ronc@cogs.susx.ac.uk) WWW users, try: http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/users/ronc/index.html [Includes pages on my research, & music: my collection, wants & for sale]