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GONG
FAMILY UNCONVENTION
Terrific 3 day event, well worth the money and travelling. Less said about the town activities the better, everyone knows about it... It is a beautiful town though, neat and culturally rich with an excellent restaurant / gourmet scene. Here & Now and Acid Mothers Gong and were highlights of the first night, the latter providing a set which could've easily climaxed any festival. Two hours of incredible free-rock / noise with occasional softer / spiritual moments provided by Daevid to break things up a bit. The crowd seemed generally stunned into total submission with only a handful totally freaking out uninhibited. Here and Now have still got what they're popular for all these years - floating free anarchy is the only way to describe their punk / dub / psych sound, but now with added prog power...! The stage set was maybe a little overblown for a band that were the long-standing free-festival / squatters / travellers favorite but they overcame us with long jams and Steffe's screaming howling guitar, climaxing with a near perfect blast of 'Floatin' Anarchy' with a suprise entry from Daevid providing a strong link to the original recording of 1977. Saturday in the day were various ceremonies including formal yet appropriately wacky dedications to the recently departed drummers Pierre Moerlen and Pip Pyle (the -yin and yang' of drummers). I remember some ambient, spacey violin from Graham Clarke and friends while 'bhuto' (?) artists mimed a thought provoking dance, followed by a lovely belly dancer (am I allowed to say that..har har) who seemed to be dancing just for me, of course. Daevid signed his new book while archive 'unseen' footage of Gong played on a large screen. Apart from Kangaroo Moon and Tim Blake, the night was mainly electronic dance and System 7 (Steve Hillage and Miquette Giraudy's 'new dimension' ) pulled out all the stops for the trancers and lots of Melkweg dance regulars. I also remember seeing various people painting (on easels) in the crowd as music played.
Two near identical rooms with balconies and plenty of dark corners, plus restaurant, bar, shop and foyer meant pixies could wander freely and outside for a gulp of chilly Dutch air and coffee etc. That is, up until Sunday evening when there was only just enough room left (mentally as well as physically) as everyone needed to witness the blinding set from the original Steve Hillage Band, (opening with the classic 'Hello Dawn', followed by a better than the original, very emotionally charged 'It's All Too Much' ). When you really thought you'd had enough it was time for Gong to enter the stage for the real (2 hour plus) climactic, galactic set, covering possibly half of their back catalogue and most certainly the whole of Camembert Electrique. Daevid's energy is enviable, at 68 yrs he sprung round the stages (and the venue and probably the town) for the whole three days and with renewed vigour, changed costume perhaps six times, finishing in the clothes from the inner sleeve of Camembert...wow!
Daevid Allen (age 68) MORE PICS HERE and on Planet Gong website Apologies to any musicians I've not mentioned. I've also probably got some details wrong..
Festival de l'Alambic Electrique
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