(and ultimately, in some obscure way, ends with one... ed.)

My long-term friend Herman got married in Ireland late August, and on my way back from Cork I had a 2 days stop in London. However, I got sick in that latter metropole, and decided to return for a long-weekend soon. Soon was to become real when I read the Sofa Sound newsletter, quoting a PH&GE&friends concert Nov. 3 in London: Having attended virtually every Dutch PH- gig after my first one in ‘84 (Carre, A’dam), I thought I’d combine my promise to myself on “London” with a first “foreign” PH concert. 

Having arrived in London on Saturday -the day before- I first went to Leicester square and got me a 12 pound ticked for 25 pounds for the musical Tommy, that same evening. The Who being one of my teenage heroes 20 years ago, I thought I’d had to do this, despite the fact that besides “Operette” musicals are as insulting as music can get. I did not regret this: it really was terrific, the music being quite close to the original, and the choreography both creative and clear. Sunday I behaved as a tourist and I won’t disclose the details. At around 6.30 pm I arrived at the Union Chapel, which was more easy to find than I anticipated. 

The concert: the stage set-up triggerred wild fantasies: sitting on church benches -that’s been a while!- we saw two drum sets (Guy), a synth and guitar boxed at the front (clear), saxes at the right (DJ), a violin (SG or GS??), and a “could that be an organ? - apparatus at the left (HB ???). 

A German girl sitting next to me (sic.. T., ed.) claimed “someone” had seen “all four”. Wishful thinking!!

Guy and Peter appeared on stage; Guy taking the lead and introducing the gig. After some 6-7 minutes of guitar&drums, they fade into “A foreign of pronouns”, really great! On my tape this clocks in over 9 minutes, but it was over before I wished! This was followed by a long -but not as boring as in the late ‘80-ties- version of After the Show, during which Stuart Gordon sneaked in and sneaked out. So half an hour into this set, just two songs sung! 

Next up Accidents; on Enter K just a good song, but performances in the early ‘90-ties had already displayed its subtle/violent mixture of subtlety and shear violence. Tonight - but perhaps due to the rather reflective nature of After the show- it was almost solemnly violent, Manny Elias accompanying Guy on drums (guitar, drums, drums line-up!!).

Hammill then introduced the players thus far and left the stage after introducing David Jackson. DJ then played alone with his machine for about 15 minutes; too long I fancied, in fact this was more good fun than good music. Many players went on stage, I guess improvising, then a real surprise surprise: suddenly they switched to Ship of fools, sounding almost as raw and blunt as on Van der Graaf’s Vital. 
 

PH returned reciting incomprehensible words, followed by some electronic playing around. Then the players entered familiar territory, but what territory?? I recognised it, but it took me well into the words before I realised we were witnessing a first live -at least for me- version of “Seven wonders” (Miracles&wonders do happen; remember we’re in a church) !!

Ten years back this song sounded rightly so as a flip-side, rightly so denied access to Patient, but here it proved to be a full blown Hammill song.

“And now for something entirely different”, Guy announced, “not only by instrument being played”... “and the player playing: Mr Hugh Banton”. HB -who had already been sitting in the benches before the break, swiftly sat -almost invisible for the audience- behind the church organ and played a solemn hymn; I wouldn’t know what he played but it sounded solemn anyway. By far, Hugh received the loudest and longest applause thus far; evidently most of the audience realised the implications of Hugh being both present and playing.

Quietly, almost sneaky, other players went on stage, playing bits of guitars & drums & ? & organs, then I recognised the intro of Red Shift and witnessed the nearly classic VDGG line-up playing this VDGG-ish solo song. I got Van Der Blown away, and it happened in a blur. Before giving us the opportunity to wildly applause the reunion as Jaxon joined the stage, Red Shift faded into YES Lemmings by VDGG!! How can you handle two first- evers!! Blur,blur, blur! (Luckily I have my tape).

After this MAJOR event, PH announced they would be playing one more “tune”, and then “will Elvis have definitely left the building”. All of the players went on stage, except GE and two of the ECHO-cities who played plastic container drums before the stage, two thumbs away from my knee, and played a far from perfect -or were those phase shifts deliberate ? - but at any rate impressive version of Traintime. Fully in line with my first -Carre- PH gig, the audience well understood an encore was out of the question. 

In the tube back to my hotel, I realised how this “low profile” reunion does contrast to the reunion-concerts/records of all those old sixties/seventies bands; a wildly -even relatively speaking- publicised VDGG reunion would definitely have conflicted with the “spirit” of Van der Graaf; in this way it was politically correct in the good sense of the word. 

Finally: I believe in "accidents", but: how could my "unconcious life" have triggered me to go to far- off London just this once?? 

written by René Bos, November 5th -sic!!- 1996, Delft, The Netherlands; 
ps:  minor editing October 2001. Wildly amazing in retrospect, isn't it?

Back to Home