Set List

1. I Am Angie Bowie (Sine Waves)
2. The Last Rites of Spring
3. Are You Shivering?
4. Amethyst Deceivers (Version 3)
5. A Warning from the Sun
6. Drip Drop
7. Windowpane
8. Ostia
9. I Don’t Want to Be the One
10. Bang Bang (Sonny Bono Cover)
11. An Unearthly Red

Soundcheck

1. Windowpane
2. The Last Rites of Spring (Synth)
3. I Don’t Want to Be the One

Feeling: Reflective

“Live Four” phase.

Thighpaulsandra believes this gig was “hit and miss,” claiming the next one was quite superior. He explains that’s why the live album Live Four wasn’t entirely comprised of one or the other. I think another reason could be the apparent sound problems the band were having. For example, in AMT #1 during “Amethyst Deceivers,” you can see Thighpaulsandra repeatedly tapping synth keys with no sound coming out. “A Warning from the Sun” also suffers from these problems, as the main synth riff is hardly heard at all.

One could also attribute the mixed quality of the performance to John’s alleged drunkenness on absinthe and asking fans for drugs backstage.

—

I Am Angie Bowie (Sine Waves)

I cannot hear myself in the monitors, Andy, no!
I cannot hear myself in the monitors, no!

These lines are edited out on official releases.

John (after the song): “Thank you. Becoming ourselves. Andy, I still need more vocal monitor stuff, please. I cannot hear what I am.”

The Last Rites of Spring

John (after the song): “I wanna say (?) thank you. Thank you for coming, thank you for being here.”

Are You Shivering?

The audience applauds hysterically as the song begins.

John (after the song): “Moon musick from the moon to you (?). For those who take the little mushrooms, or take the liquid LSD. Or took the DMT.”

Amethyst Deceivers

Pay your respects to the vultures
And to the crow, and the raven
And the magpie, and the jackdaw
And the rook, and the rook
Listen to the rooks [repeated]
Listen to the robbery
Listen to the rubbery
Listen to the library
It’s in the trees, it’s coming
Let’s listen to the library

Our fathers and mothers have
Have failed to receive us
They have deceived us
They have failed to receive us
They are failed to receive us

So pay your respects to the vultures
For they are your future…

The “listen to the library / it’s in the trees, it’s coming” lines are a reference to “Queens of the Circulating Library.”

Thighpaulsandra’s synth notes go out of tune towards the end of the song.

John (after the song): “Thank you…”

A Warning from the Sun/Drip Drop/Windowpane

These three songs all segway into each other.

Thighpaulsandra plays the venue piano during the second song.

Whistle, and I’ll slice you with a knife
Whistle, Russell
Whistle, and I’ll come to you, my lad
Whistle, Russell, and I’ll come to you, my lad

Whistle and I’ll come to you with a knife!
Yahowww!
Whistle, and I’ll come to you

John begins to hone the lyrics to “Windowpane” during this performance:

She said, “Do not,” so I did
Took liquid LSD in my eye 

I took liquid LSD in my/the eye [repeated]
I took liquid LSD and made it cry [repeated]
I put liquid LSD in my eye [repeated in various arrangements]

Now start!
(I) put liquid LSD in my eye [repeated]

John (after the song): “Thank you.” He then mimics the vocal loops.

Ostia

John: “A track from Horse Rotorvator called ‘Ostia.’ Dedicated to all the poets and all the queers.”

I Don’t Want to Be the One

Sometimes, I can’t hear what I’m doing properly. Sometimes I cannot hear what I’m doing properly. Sometimes, I hear what I’m doing improperly. Sometimes, I see my reflection, tsk. Sometimes, a deflection, inflection, a perversion, a diversion, whatever, and it’s, it’s not me I read about. Very rarely, anyway. It’s not me I see. It’s very rarely, anyway. I, I hurt, and it hurts, and it works, and it hurts, and it works, and it hurts, and it works…

During the climax, John wails into the mic.

John (after the song): “And I always say, sometimes, I really have to be. So do these people surrounding me who I love.”

Bang Bang

John: “And now, something mysterious was played on the piano.”

John’s mic falls at the end of the second chorus, causing Thighpaulsandra to screw up a note.

John (after the song): “That was dedicated to Courtney Love.”

An Unearthly Red

John: “Now, it’s gonna get messy. I hope.”

He heard messages from God
He heard messages from God
Oh, he heard messages from God
And God told him to do it

He says, “My father is God
God is my father
My father is God”
GOD, HE SAID!
God told me to do it
He said, “God told me to do it”

My father is God
But my mother is a whore
She is the mother of all whores

And the President of America wakes up
With something dripping from his hands
Dripping an unearthly red
And is it dripping or is it tripping?
Is he screaming or is he dreaming?
Is he screaming or is he dreaming?
Or is he tripping or is he ripping?
Is he tripping or is he ripping?
I don’t know
No, go, go!

A liar, a liar, a liar
He’s a liar, liar liar
He’s a liar, he’s a liar
He’s a liar [repeated]
‘Cause he said, “God told me to do it”

Swallow the Bible, swallow the Bible, swallow the Bible
Tear every page out and swallow the Bible

My mother is a whore
She is the mother of all wars
She said, “God told me to do it!”
She said, “God told me to do it!”
She said, “God told me to do it!”
My father is a whore
He caused the mother of all wars
My mother is a whore
She is the mother of all wars
She poured war milk on it [repeated]

My father is God
Oh, what a burden, ‘My father is God…’
But my mother is a whore
She is the mother of all battles
She’d infanticide for cattle
She should be locked inside with cattle

She is my mother, he is my father
Father is God!
She is the mother
She is the mother of all wars

John’s closing words: “Thank you very much for coming. That is it for tonight from us. We do appreciate you coming, ‘cuz I know you’ve traveled a long way. Thank you from all of us onstage tonight. Thank you.”

John Balance – vocals
Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson – Ableton sequence, video projections, Clavia Nord Modular Synthesizer
Thighpaulsandra – Clavia Nord Modular Synthesizer, Kurzweil Synthesizer, Electro-Harmonix on John’s vocals (with 16-second delay, modified by Kanwal Dulay), piano on “Drip Drop” and “Bang Bang”
Simon Norris (Ossian Brown) – Clavia Nord Modular Lead Synthesizer, Kurzweil Synthesizer on “Are You Shivering?”
Massimo Villani – Pasolini poem reading on “Ostia,” Black Sun Productions’ “Ghost Boy” performance art
Pierce Wyss – Black Sun Productions’ “Ghost Boy” performance art

Please contact us if you have any promotional material from this event: info@live-coil-archive.com

Please contact us if you have any ticket stubs from this event: info@live-coil-archive.com

ART FRAME Palác Akropolis, s.r.o.
Kubelíkova 1548/27
130 00, Prague
Czechoslovakia

Joe Bodia’s review, as published in Prague Expat magazine Think:

Show Reviews in Prague – Coil and the Woggles
By JOE BODIA

October turned out to be a very rocking month indeed…

The very genial John Balance surprised me with a casual chat while signing autographs after Coil’s concert at Palac Akropolis on October 27th.

Armed with a large assortment of synthesizers and video equipment, the band took to a stage drenched in fog, and set up a very low, very loud, bass drone that had the marrow in my thighs vibrating. The band’s current lineup consists of the two original members; Balance on vocals and Peter Christopherson on synthesizer/video projection, and two others on synthesizers/keyboards.

The show featured two performance artists (“Just fans who live in our house” according to Balance) who spent most of the show flanking Balance, and entirely nude. Coil’s music is not wildly popular. This is not to say that they don’t have a pop sensibility, but it is often buried in other concerns.

Their music comes in three varieties: disturbing ambient instrumental strain (like rejected score for Hellraiser), a single line is repeated over a rhythm of increasing intensity (like Solar Lodge on 1984’s Scatology), and those songs with a more conventional pop structure (Love’s Secret Domain).

The 90-minute Akropolis set was split evenly between the second and third types, starting with Balance chanting “I am Angie Bowie…No!” as the initial bass thrum of their entrance faded. The band then moved into “Are You Shivering?” the refrain of which (Are you bathing in silver/ Are you drowning in gold?) was haunted by a video of a wide ocean under a full moon. One the evening’s oddest selections was a cover of Cher’s “Bang Bang,” dedicated to Courtney Love.

Lyrically, this song fits in with the seam of death and betrayal that Coil has mined since its inception. When asked after the show why he dedicated “Bang Bang” to Courtney Love, he replied, “Because I hate her.” The video projection was a mixture of moving images: raindrops, fractals, and mirrord animals. The final piece of the evening featured a dizzying flight simulation video. Neither the video nor the performance artists distracted from the power of the music, in the cacophony of sight and sound…

Angakok Thoth attended this gig and remembers: “nice show anyway. was there. offered jhon some mushrooms, but he asked me if i don’t have some speed instead… it was quite sad to see him drinking again…and two days later in wien with like 20 cuts on each of his arm from his wrists to his shoulders. (he said he did that after his drank too much absinth in prague)… compared to how healthy he looked not long before that in munchen…yes yes. been to 4 gigs altogether. mufatshalle/munchen, acropolis/praha, flex/wien and ocean/london. sometimes had chance to be with them backstage. other times talked with them… prague/wien – it was really interesting to see two shows just two days apart in different cities. In prague the vibe was incredibly positive (perhaps also because of the vibe of the city back then & lot of young psy-trance people in the audience, many people dancing). wien was totally the opposite. audience consisted mostly of black wearing people (+ few uniformed freaks and few vienesse underground celebrities.). Jhonn in some dark mood (still hangover?) with cuts all over his arms. I found it strange that they picked Wien to be main part of LIVE FOUR cd. In my opinion Prague was as intense as Wien, but with much more interesting vibe.”

Joe Silber attended this gig and remembers: “I attended this show, ecstatic that they were finally performing again. I’d moved to Prague six months before and was preparing to go to Vienna to see them if I had to, and then they announced a gig twenty minutes by tram from my house. Mindblowing stuff. My friend Chris and I spent about an hour talking to John afterwards. One of my sweetest music memories.”

Soma Radonar attended this gig and remembers: “In Prague (2002) with my wife – it was first visit some live experimental concert in her life. And, of course… with my friend (publisher). We traveled 200 kilometers from our home. My friend had before the show some discussion with William Breeze about Aleister Crowley’s book copyright, about the possibilities of translation into Czech lang., It was in some restaurant in Prague. That place I do not remember now. Unfortunately, the deal was not possible. Show was as the best of piece music magic(k) for me. After the performance I wrote some review for TAMTO REVUE magazine (only in czech).”

Joe Bodia attended this gig and remembers: “I attended this show, ecstatic that they were finally performing again. I’d moved to Prague six months before and was preparing to go to Vienna to see them if I had to, and then they announced a gig twenty minutes by tram from my house. Mindblowing stuff. My friend Chris and I spent about an hour talking to John afterwards. One of my sweetest music memories…He was sweet and sort of melancholy. We talked about his work with Derek Jarman and the sample used (if I recall rightly) Further Back and Faster. Movies, mostly. He spoke candidly and openly about whatever it was we were discussing. Somewhere I’ve got a copy of the Prague expat magazine that I wrote a review of the show for. Must try to dig that out.”