Low @ Sage Gateshead, 18.4.08.
Quite good. They make an incredible amount of sound with very few notes. The evening was spoilt by the ludicrous mismanagement of the venue.
Merzbow / Sutcliffe Jügend / Sartori @ ULU, London, 19.4.08.
Shit venue. No beer! Strongbow, Fosters or warm Carlsberg in bottles. Not the kind of gig you want to attend while completely sober. Sartori were ok for about 10 minutes, then got a bit repetitive and dull. I'd have expected something a bit more extreme from Justin (Cold Spring Records). Nice video backdrop. I' didn't know whether to laugh or not when I read the interview with Kevin Tomkins in the last Cold Spring catalogue. Lots of burble about the new album Pigdaddy being the most perfect recording ever. Quite a claim for a noise album. It was followed by a lot of juvenille sweary provocation which simply boiled my piss. Regardless of this I was really looking forward to seeing them tonight, in the same way GG Allin was a dick but I wish I'd managed to see him before he OD'd. I got a good position stage centre, right at the front. On they trotted, off they went. The first 5 minutes or so were a bit quiet and sparse, and I turned to KM and said 'This IS a joke, right?'. I don't really understand why KT decided to add 'guitarist' Paul Taylor into the mix. His hamfisted flailings are comical, but not a patch on his 'gggrrrrrr' posturing. Tomkins didn't seem to know how to use his kit, but eventually found the 'make things louder' button and the cacophony commenced. It actually sounded pretty good once it started hurting, but it shows this stuff for what it is - rubbish unless it can be felt. Things went a bit tits-up when some maniac came booling up to the stage next to me, threw his drink over the stage and started screaming at SJ, throwing his arms around and repeatedly spitting at them. They went off after about 5 minutes of this (I would have too), so I'm not sure if this was the planned length of the set or not. They only performed Pigdaddy. It took some stagehand goon 10 minutes to switch the kit off and stop the noise (here's a clue mate - it's the one marked on/off). Eventually he started pulling out cables that were still feeding the mix. Good move mate, if you want to blow the speakers up. I don't know if SJ take this as seriously as they come across.Merzbow started ok, but after 15 minutes it wore a bit thin. Didn't stop him dragging it out for another 45 though. Value for money! Yawn.
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