OFF: Gong review

[Keith A Henderson]

Hi Folks:

For those interested, I saw this posting on rec.music.progressive about the
Montreal gig....sounds encouraging, but alas, apparently no Tim Blake (he
mentions "six")...guess there is no keyboardist...look forward to sequenced
stuff...except maybe in NYC...Bill??

Although he doesn't say so, I believe Didier *is* in the US (Anyone confirm??).
 The person who said he was being replaced by the (other) Robert Calvert has
since suggested he was incorrect.

Well, here it is, in all it's glorifying essence.... :)

Keith H.
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Well, I was *going* to write a review of last night's (March 3) Gong
show at Club Soda in Montreal.  However, "review" to me implies some
degree of objectivity, and after such an incredibly mind-blowing
experience, I fear objectivity must be thrown out the window.  (Thus
putting me in the same category as the cretins who review records for
most mainstream publications, but there you go...)

Anyways, this was easily the best concert I have ever been to.  Better
than Rush, better than Steve Hackett or Howe, better than They Might Be
Giants, better than Tull, better than Crimson, and -- yes, it's true --
even better than Phish.  Incredible.  For the mundane aspects: Club Soda
is a great place for a small concert; I wandered around the place a bit
during the intermission, and realized there are really only two kinds of
seats there: good seats and great seats.  Nice, small place where -- for
a pleasant change -- you *aren't* assaulted by pushy waitrons trying to
sell you $8 beers every five minutes.  The sound quality was also
amazing, especially compared to every other rock show I've been to.  For
starters, it was NOT painfully loud, a wonderful improvement; however, it
was loud enough that really good bits (and there were plenty of them)
were all-encompassing musical bliss.  And you could really *feel* that
bass, when it needed to be felt.  (Not to mention Daevid Allen's
occasionally howling.)

For the important stuff: well, for a bunch of aging ex-hippies, these
guys can really groove!  No, let me correct that: these guys can really
groove!  No exceptions, no qualifications, this is a band that plays
together as though they were born to it.  The individual musicians may
not be stellar talents on their own (or maybe they are, but I haven't
heard much from any of them outside Gong except for Pip Pyle), but when
the six of them get up on stage together, something truly magical
happens.  Again and again last night, they sought out an intensely tight
groove, and built on it slowly, displaying an innate mastery for teasing
the audience with grand musical suspense.  And somehow through it all,
they managed to make it *fun* as only Gong can do.  Most of the time, I
just sat there with an idiot grin on my face, totally blown away by the
ridiculously wonderful noise blasting at me from above.

In short: go see 'em.  Do not miss this tour, there's nothing else like
it.  And while you're at it, hope and pray that someday these folks will
see fit to tour our fine continent again.  (Or at least come back to
Montreal... I dunno about the rest of you, but for me, once was
definitely not enough.)

     Greg (narpet at cs.mcgill.ca)