LIVE: Throbbing Gristle Chicago 2009 / REVIEW: Throbbing Gristle - The Third Mind Movements

This past weekend I decided to pack my bags and go on a trip to the Windy City. I went there to sight see, shop around, and to just get away. But, mainly I went there to see "THE" Industrial innovators THRO-BBING-GRIST-LE. I almost didn't get to go 3 times! The first time was because the show sold out, lucky for me they decided to add a second show.

My plane was nearly 4 hours late taking off, I basically could've drove there while waiting. But I did eventually get there. When we arrived in Chicago, my wife and I, we were surprised to see that our hotel was smack dab in the middle of the city (right across the street from the Trump Tower)! How we got the room for such a cheap price is beyond me ..we were more than happy with our location. We arrived late Saturday night which meant we had all of Sunday to stroll through the city and do whatever we wanted. Towards the end of Sunday evening we decided to walk around Wicker Park and waste a little bit of time before going to the show. We found a local bar and kicked back for a bit. My wife asks me "Do you have the tix?" "Ummm, no, you do." I said. "No, I don't..." "Crap! We left them at the hotel ~sigh~ let's go back.." We quickly chugged our drinks and ventured back to the hotel, which was kind of out of the way from where we needed to go, but what can you do? I ran inside and sure enough there they were, on the nightstand. We get into the cab and we were finally on our way to show, I'm officially pumped.

On the way to the show I ask the cabbie if there will be any cabs in the area after the show or if we needed to call ahead for a ride. He told us there weren't a lot of cabs in the area, but he lived in the area and didn't mind coming back out to pick us up after the event. He gave us his cell phone number, which may seem kind of "odd" or "creepy", but he was a genuinely nice guy so we were ok with the idea. After he dropped us off I made sure to tip accordingly and told him thank you. We walk to the curb, where the line to the show had began to form. My wife asks again "Where are the tickets?" "What?! Damn it!" We check our bodies, nothing. "Call that dude!" ::ring-ring ring-ring::"Hello?" "Did we leave our tickets in your cab?" "Yep, they're in the back seat. I will bring them to you" the cabbie said. Wow, this guy is incredibly nice.

THROBBING GRISTLE

LOGAN SQUARE AUDITORIUM ~ CHICAGO, IL

SUNDAY, APRIL 26TH, 2009

Finally with tickets in hand we enter the building. Throbbing Gristle is just starting there first set, yeah that's right, first set (they played two). The first set was a soundtrack Throbbing Gristle scored to Derek Jarman’s 60 minute alchemical film "In The Shadow Of The Sun" (1974) (TG soundtrack 1980 & 2006). There was a screen in the middle of the stage that played the movie. The band members were off to the side scoring the film while it played. This was Throbbing Gristle's dark droney, chaotic ambient side. It fit rather nicely with the films ambience, which was pretty creepy/artsy & bizarre. A truly unique performance by an already overly unique band.

After that a bit of confusion began...

I should've mentioned this before, but there were three different options for tickets, some were just for the second set, some were for both shows, and some (the ticket I had) were VIP tickets, which meant both shows AND a meet and greet with the band, plus some free shwag (see below). After they had finished the first set. They told everyone to exit the building. Of course no one was organized enough to know where to go or what to do so it took a little bit to get everyone out, everyone except the VIP's that is. While everyone was outside smoking there cloves and chatting about who wore the more extravagant army boots some of us were inside waiting in another line to meet and greet the band. I saw a few people walking around with what looked like cool posters and knew I was going to have buy one, even though I already blew my money on a t-shirt and tour exclusive CD (see below). I remained patient and saw that they were just giving away the posters to the VIPS so they had something to sign, in-case you didn't bring anything. The poster was FREE?!! Not only did I have them sign the poster, but my copy of "Part Two: The Endless Not" and the tour exclusive cd I got from them. They were all extremely nice and laid back. Genesis P-Orridge, the lead singer, definitely had the most personality of the group, not much different from his stage presence. After waiting in line like excitable young teenage girls about to meet Brittney Spears for the first time and getting our memorabilia signed they let all of the "unVIPS" back into the building. About and hour later the lights went out.

It was Bruce Mcclure's (the opener) time to shine. A droney "helicopter" sounding (as my wife said) guitar begins to fade in. The screen on stage begins to show the form of a white rectangle on a black background flickering on and off. After it flickered, morphed, skipped, rotated and distorted enough I began to wonder if the loop was going anywhere. It didn't, I have patience for most music. I love noise, but it just didn't go anywhere. It was somewhat sloppy (the video), uncreative, and just overall mediocre. And it lasted for 45+ minutes! Once it was over the crowd went wild, I'm just hoping that the artist understands they went wild because it was finally over. Maybe that was his intention, who knows art is so subjective anyways. The sarcastic comment "Encore!" from one of the audience members was the best part of this performance. Just get to MF'n Throbbing Gristle already!

The second set of material Throbbing Gristle played was random songs from their 30+ year history. Mostly songs from "20 Jazz Funk Greats" (which some people say is their masterpiece), but a few from random other albums including an interesting take on "Almost A Kiss" (my favorite TG song) off of "Part Two: The Endless Not" (my favorite TG album).

After seeing TG perform I now know they were meant to heard live. The energy in every song is pumped up a few notches, the experimental noises are more vivid and free. Genesis has this presence on stage that just screams tragedy and despair through poetic means and odd body convulsions. Chris Carter keeps the odd sounds in balance, as well as distorting some vocals here and there. Cosey Fanni Tutti looked like a gracious goddess with "questionable" intentions behind her bass. And Peter Christopherson just looked like a sadistic pimp in his random animal printed robe while adding his own unique form of noise experimentation. The set list was near perfect, they played every song you would want to hear from their ever expansive library of noise terrorism. They added new elements into old tracks as well as updating them for an almost better sound than the original recorded version. And I can't wait for the live album to come out, yes they're recording there US shows as they go on.

Overall I was extremely pleased with the show, I couldn't believe how much more I like hearing them live then what I do on CD. I am pretty happy with the fact that I can now say I've seen the very first Industrial band EVER, as well as one of the most influential groups in musical history play a show. My only hope is that I won't have to wait another 30 years to see Throbbing Gristle play again.

Here is the FREE, exclusive to the event, poster I got, signed of course. I also got a free Throbbing Gristle embroidered badge which was pretty cool.
The far left pic is a zoomed in shot of the top left corner of the poster. It has the TG logo as well as the dates of the Chicago shows. The middle pic is the whole poster (I had to put my Ipod and headphones on it to stop it from rolling back up). And the two pictures on the right are zoomed in shots of the signatures towards the bottom of the poster.

..and here is the limited edition tour cd:

7.5 out of 10

Find it here.

It seems there are many genres Throbbing Gristle have no problems getting involved with. The underline music has always been "industrial", but the overall vibe changes album to album. On their last release "Part Two: The Endless Not" they went for a more "straight forward" approach with their production. It became my favorite TG album overnight. It was also my favorite release of 2007. On "The Third Mind Movements", a tour exclusive album, TG explore the ambient territory of industrial landscapes, paranoia, and horrifying mind hallucinations.

If you saw TG play this year you might think of the soundtrack work the did live when listening to this release. It's dark/sporadic noise mixed with minimal drones, minimal piano treatments, "crunchy" drum sounds, over submerged/heavily reverberated choirs, sadistic whispers, odd vocal treatments, and various instruments distorted and destroyed by the hands of machine. With this release it almost seems as if they are focusing on sine wave technologies. Which is the art taking one tone apart and placing it back together however you like. The out come of which becomes cold and bewildering in the end.

"The Third Mind Movements" is essential listening to any hard core TG fan. Worthy of a listen if you're into drone music, abstract jazz, or industrial landscapes. This is also one of the most "unhuman" releases I've heard in a long time. I know Throbbing Gristle still aren't for everybody, but if you could just sit back, stay focused, and try to pick apart an experimental album like this you might see where the fascination comes into play. This album has officially left me alone and scared like a small puppy with it's tail between it's legs.

Standout Tracks: The Man From Nowhere, PreMature, The Third Mind (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Movements)