OFF: Gong in Tokyo
Dave Greenhalgh
d.greenhalgh at VIRGIN.NET
Wed Jun 23 20:07:43 EDT 1999
Hi list,
Excuse the mistakes in this, typing in a straight line is
not my strong suit this morning.
Not sure what I was expecting from the Japanese incarnation
of the Global Family. What we got was good, though. The
gig started at the inhumanly early time of 6pm at Shibuya's
On Air West, a venue which is little larger than a good
sized pub hidden away behind a Sushi bar in Shibuya's Love
Hotel district. In keeping with a Gong show the waiting
audience was eclectic to say the least. Businessmen in
suits along side the brightest coloured, longest hair this
side of Glasters. And, of course, my challenge. Would
Manami the Morrissey fan be converted by the end?
Set one was provided by The Canterbury Family which for
tonight was Hugh Hopper, Chris Cutler and David Allen. This
was a semi improv'd set based around a number of Allen's
80's and 90's compositions. Don't expect a set-list here,
the Kirin was doing its stuff and I can barely even read the
names on my scrap of paper, never mind the song titles. The
trio were joined half way through the set by Mark Hewmin (If
that's how it's spelt), a local based synthesist whose name
I didn't catch and a trio of J-Pop songstresses called the
Ex-Girls. All together they produced an hour of soaring
atmospheres and madness that thoroughly pleased those
members of the audience who had believed Tokyo Classified's
description of Gong as "the british Grateful Dead" and left
bemused the ones who had arrived on the strength of DJ
Takayoshi being the support.
Half an hour later and it's time for part 2. Things get
blurry from here. The second set was from Goddess T with
Gilli and the band joined by Mark Hewmin, David Allen and
the Ex-Girls. This was, without any doubt at all, the best
Trance set I have ever seen. Gilli's ululations fitted
perfectly with the harsher J-Pop sound of the Ex-Girls and
Allen's gliss guitar provided a superbly ethereal backdrop
to Orlando and (Sorry, forgotten/can't read the name) mix
of loops, live drums and live bass. There was a good
thread on the merits of sequence based Trance on this list a
while ago, all I can say is that this was how it should be
done. This time it was the turn of the GD-ers to look
bemused. Much dancing and much beer were indulged in and
the Ommriff was heard. Mind you it didn't sound very happy
on top of a 140bpm 4 on the floor beat, but once it got
used to the idea it flew.
Not "Classic Gong", so after over two decades of musical
sentience I _still_ haven't caught that act, nevertheless, a
bloody good night, and to my never ending surprise, a
Morrissey fan was converted to Canterbury Gong.
--
Dave Greenhalgh
ICQ#33513470
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