Throbbing Gristle played Coachella -- final NYC show tonight

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photos by Carl Johnson

Throbbing Gristle

A band needs to bring it, and -- in fits -- Throbbing Gristle did just that. The start of the show found [Genesis] P-Orridge, dressed as a Palm Springs mom possessed by a satanic shaman, lustily swinging a microphone between her legs. "Hamburger Lady" fairly devastated the crowd with its haunted lyrics, such as "she's burned from the waist up," calling to mind alienation from one's body, bizarre stock that Throbbing Gristle trades in well.

The middle of the set was too bogged down with instrumentals, as precision-crafted as they were by original members Chris Carter and Peter Christopherson, the latter of whom was robed in a way that could only bring to mind the Grand Puba of "101 Dalmatians." But at the end, they picked up the juice once again. The last couple of songs reveled in tribal trance, a video-game stomp that felt like the perfect laser of doom, penetrating teenage and old art-scenester hearts alike. It was similar to the "wall of sound" interlude in My Bloody Valentine's "You Made Me Realise" but with more grace and control. [LA Times]

The above review is from Throbbing Gristle's Coachella set on April 19th.

That show came after the band's first ever NYC shows which took place: Thursday, April 16th at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple and Friday, April 17th at (Le) Poisson Rouge. Since they they toured back to the east coast, hitting Chicago along the way, and are back for their third and last NYC show (for this tour or maybe ever) tonight, Tuesday, April 28th at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple. Tickets are still/back on sale.

While in LA last week, the band recorded an interview for Boing Boing and Richard Metzger. That video is still to come. In the meantime, check out TG member Chris Carter's trip-documenting photographs on Flickr. And a few more pictures from Coachella, below...

Throbbing Gristle

The Orb also played Coachella, and we've got many more pictures from the festival HERE.

Tags: Brooklyn Masonic Temple, Coachella, Throbbing Gristle

posted at 1:17 PM on April 28, 2009 in To Do | music | pictures | Comments (17)

Comments (17)

We saw Throbbing Gristle last night. Left after 4 songs..which was 2 songs too many. Saying I Just wasn't into it is really pulling punches. I know what's good and what isn't. Everyone there was either hypnotized or just had a low level of acceptance because I thought it was just one big joke. I was embarrasing to be there. I'm into experimental music and noise but it was neither. The great musical swindle of 2009.

Posted by Anonymous | April 29, 2009 10:11 AM

great show.. the instrumentals did bring the energy level down for a bit ,, but that didn't last long i thought they were going to bring the temple down during "discipline"...

Posted by larry | April 29, 2009 10:21 AM

"The great musical swindle of 2009" That's a bit of an overstatement.

You should have stayed for the epic rendition of Discipline at the end of the set. That song defines industrial music. That one, plus Hamburger Lady and Something Came Over Me are alone worth the price of admission.

Posted by Kevvo | April 29, 2009 10:28 AM

I was up in the mezz - can anyone down on the floor comment on what was going on with that fight/ejection?

Posted by Anonymous | April 29, 2009 10:49 AM

i was at both shows at MT, and i'd have to rate this one a bit better than the one on 4/16. the crowd seemed younger and more energetic, esp close to the stage. agree with the LA Times in that some of the instrumentals were a bit of a drag at times. Cosey was quite good on slide guitar adding some nice accent work thru out the set. Gen was a trainwreck as usual joking and clowning about.
excellent vocals esp a screaming end to (i think) 'hamburger lady'

overall very enjoyable show, some really good soundscapes, but i think what was lacking was some more propulsive songs like the closer "disipline", which has a really simple beat, kind of like what you hear at sporting events. but with the techno gloss it works and really got the crowd going. i was looking forward to "what a day", but the vocals seemed buried in the mix. (seemed a lot clearer on youtube vid).

the houselights were left on again and i just don't think it works.
if the idea was not to do a typical rock show lighting, just give a "raw" performance i get it, but at the same time TG is up on a conventional stage in a conventional venue. for me it added a blandness (some might say intentionally so) to an otherwise great performance.

Posted by freakbag | April 29, 2009 11:08 AM

"I was up in the mezz - can anyone down on the floor comment on what was going on with that fight/ejection?"

I was right next the whole thing.
It was total bullshit. There was a guy that was all fucked up and dancing around. He was a retard but was really doing no harm. All the uptight assholes where freaking out and pushing him around and then someone got the security to come over and get rid of him.
He wasn't being violent or anything like that. It was more funny than anything else.
Audiences are real fucking assholes these days.

Posted by Anonymous | April 29, 2009 12:36 PM

i was about 20 ft away, the guy may have been overly rambunctious, so i can't say if his 'dancing ' became overly aggressive. he was flailing his arms pretty wildly too.if you're in a mosh pit that's different, but the crowd in his section was pretty tame. he didn't want to leave quietly either. the security goons carried him out feet first. he looked like he was stoned out of his mind.

don't take drugs in public if you can't handle them.

Posted by Anonymous | April 29, 2009 6:54 PM

the lights on didn't work well i thought. it was interesting to have the lights go ON as they show started, but...i would have preferred a cool light show to go along with the trippy tunes.

yeah, that dancer who got ejected was tripping or exxing bigtime. not violent, just bumping into people. in the foyer, the TG roadie guy with the hat was trying to calm him down, but the dude was still in la la land.

Posted by kjod | April 29, 2009 9:19 PM

it was great last full show.

Posted by cheap dental insurance | November 6, 2009 3:38 AM

great!

Posted by tire rack coupon | December 16, 2009 2:39 AM

great band

Posted by best registry cleaner | January 21, 2010 5:05 AM

hooray!

Posted by medifast coupons | February 4, 2010 4:19 AM

fantastic!

Posted by quit smoking | February 16, 2010 2:23 AM

great band!