[unknown title] (atmospheric warm-up improvisation with lots of delayed guitar in the
spirit of Pink Floyd's middle section of Echoes)
The Lovers
Air
Yes My Brother (extended version, possibly 'The Prophet')
High Tide On The Sea Of Flesh
Divinity
[unknown title] (one great new groovy track, not in the BBC set I think)
Reviews
Review by Streamline
The report:
THE FUTURE SOUND OF LONDON'S PSYCHEDELIC BAND: AMORPHOUS ANDROGYNOUS Live @ Afisha magazine 5th b-day aka Afisha picnic fest, Luzhnezkaya embankment, Moscow, Russia.
The venue:
The event took place on the territory which belongs to the biggest stadium in Moscow city: Luzhniki. The stadium stands on Moskva river so the festival ground was situated on the bank.
The atmosphere:
It was quiet warm and the sky was clear. The fest started at 3pm but we arrived at 7-8pm because of our long & drunk walk along the Moscow city & because of no interest in those tea drinking ceremonies ect ect ect and djs/bands perfoming prior to FSOL which were due on 9-10 pm (can't understand all those organizers and Gaz & co who finished their dinner on 9 pm and slowly began to prepare for the gig, problems with organization). The crowd was huge & it was really cool to watch the show from the pit in front of the stage, which is the closest place to video screens and guys & a good opportunity to take some pics (the MTV crew were shoting some video footage (not the entire gig) for their report shown later in News Block + Gary was hanging along with the MTV guy in the studio for about an hour discussing something, answering questions and ordering videos, all this shit was broadcasted live), but the stage was too tall to take some Gary in action shots and the main reason we came there was music + so I tried to relax, smoke & listen. The backstage area had some free juices & wines along with vodka.
The gig:
The line-up: Gaz: Vocals, keyboards, samplers; Tim Weller: Drums; Stuart Rowe: Bass; Mike Rowe (Stu brother) - Hammond Organ, Fender Rhodes Piano (plays in Mick Jagger solo project and perfomes live with Sheryl Crow); Gary Lucas: guitars / fx; Baluji Shrivastav: sitar & tabls(?).
The stage was decorated with flowers brought by Gaz & friends from London and trees bought in Moscow specially for the show. The were 2 video screens in the back showing the cool video installations during the show made by Gaz's wife Dianne Harris (she was taking shots of Gaz during the whole show). The first video shots were showing a blinking F.S.O.L. logo. Very cool! The band started to perform with some kind of jam: it was cool and definitely sounded like early Pink Floyd records. Then The Lovers, Air, The Prophet, High Tide on the Sea of Flesh, Divinity and more, ending with some head banging tunes & fuzzy samples. Also I remember (fuck maybe I was too drunk) them perfoming a kinda psychedelic version of We Have Explosive track transferring to The Mello Hippo Disco Show (I may be wrong here). The sound was clear & loud. The number of live instuments included in the show brought some harsh sounding into the tracks. The lightning was just fine. They perfomed about an hour! (St. Petersburg Stereoleto show lasted about 2 hours, this year the Stereoleto series will include The Orb, David Byrne and others perfoming live). I was thinking of encore but the show suddenly came to it s end (can't understand all that shit about the militia, fucking assholes!, organizators didn t care enough about it before the fest).
The backstage:
Gaz, Gary Lucas & Beluji Shrivastava went straight down to the backstage area after the show finished. I was first to catch Gaz for a chat. He was friendly as always (second time I met him) & immediately shook my hand and said that he remembers our discussion last year. I asked: How are you? He smiled and then asked me the same question. I asked about Brian: Brian is working in the studio right now and busy with his family (hmm, as always). Gary said he misses Brian (so cute)... Also I made him a compliment on the new tracks included in the 6 Mix. The rest of the conversation was on not-FSOL topics and he seemed very nice to me and sometimes strange. As always Gary & others where lucky to sign some shit.
I had four quality A4 photos of him djing last summer and a small one for my friend. Gary liked them a lot and said Good shots man!!! I've got all that signed (love man, Gary Cobain etc.). Then my friend took a picture of me & him together and we shook hands... wishing all the luck in the world to each other. Right this time Gary was rounded by some girls wanting him to sign something. Then I had a short chat with Gary Lucas (he perfomed in St-Petersburg a couple of weeks before) and he singed his photo also. He was nice too. I didn't want to disturb Baluji.
The conclusion:
It was cool to watch the first FSOL live show ever. Not to mention the organizational problem it was really a great event. The weather was good, the Moscow was great, Gaz & guys were cool so... the mood was excellent! I wanna thank all people involved in making the event happen. Looking for the next AA live show due winter/spring 2005 in Moscow or Saint-Petersburg. Cheers!
Review by Alex Kanavin
Everything went with live drums, bass and guitar. Baluji and Lucas were mostly adding effects on top.
The band was visibly nervous, Gary tried not to look at the crowd. And just when everyone started to have fun and enjoy themselves...
The electricity was cut off by the Moscow militia!!! Gosh, what a disappointment! Apparently there's this stupid rule in Moscow that outdoorgigs have to finish by 11pm, and the band had hit that limit. Gary just said "I'm sorry but we have to stop now, because this man in a funny hat insists". They have started quite late because neither the DJ that played before them, nor the warm-up band (which, frankly, was just crap) would let their egos go, shorten their sets and finish on time. It took a while for AA to finish soundchecking and start playing too.
No chance to get autographs or chat with the band either, because the security people were turning everyone out. So we collected ourselves, took a deep breath and went electro-clashing for the rest of the night. One comfort is that the organizers promise to bring the band back sometime in the winter, and do it the proper way (indoor, tickets) this time
Review by e.b.
I feel myself obliged to add a couple of notices [to the above review]:
- the first track played on the show seems to be the new one to be
included in Alice in Ultraland (the first notes played are audible
in Six Mix show at the very end when Gary is talking)
- the electricity was not cut off really - the band slowly stopped
playing like the militia men told them to do
- the problem was in the whole organization of the event and not
with the previous band; it was well-know beforehand that the concert
will last until 2300. Yet Gary and others (except for the
bald-headed man - Rowe?) came late...
- after the security almost pushed everyone out there was a chance
to talk to Gary (sign, make photos, etc.) while he was gathering
flowers and equipment from the stage
Images
Photographs courtesy of Dianne Harris - many thanks to Dianne and Gaz for letting me use these!
Many thanks to Streamline for these photographs
Covers