Set List

1. Anarcadia: All Horned Animals
2. Amethyst Deceivers (Version 2)
3. Slur
4. A Cold Cell
5. Broccoli (Version 1)
6. Paranoid Inlay
7. Sick Mirrors
8. A.Y.O.R.
9. Backwards

Soundcheck:

1. Sick Mirrors (Take 1)
2. Sick Mirrors (Take 2)
3. A.Y.O.R.
4. Backwards
5. Sick Mirrors (Take 3)

Feeling: Reflective

“Anarcadia” tour, “Backwards / The Remote Viewer” phase. Debut performance of “Sick Mirrors.”

Supporting act(s): Radio Interference, People Like Us

Anarcadia: All Horned Animals

John and Ossian walk down the path from the back up the audience up the small staircase onto the stage. Massimo and Pierce walk onstage flanking either distorted mirror and gaze into the audience.

Amethyst Deceivers

John: “Mr. [Aleister] Crowley and Mr. [John] Ausley welcome you to the spectral health spa. Broken auras, ectoplasmic disorders…celestial lubrication provided.” John Ausley was a member of the Sea Org.

The song is edited on official releases. Massimo and Pierce slowly spin in circles throughout the song, as they would on all subsequent performances.

Slur

John: “This next song is dedicated to the Ape of Naples…it’s dedicated to the Mushroom Boys with their wicked little fungal strategies…and to our good friend Marc Almond, who I don’t see enough, these days, and I miss him and I love him.”

The Ape of Naples and Black Antlers were titles John and Ossian made up for imaginary hardcore gay porn films back when Ossian worked in a pornographic film store. The “Ape” in question is likely a reference to one of the actors in said imaginary film. Later on, of course, they became the titles to two of Coil’s final albums.

Starting with this performance, Cliff and Mike would stop playing the primary riff and instead bass notes for John’s “And it seems to me that when I close my eyes…” verse, resuming the primary riff once he finishes.

Massimo and Pierce slowly kneel down onto their knees throughout the song.

A Cold Cell

John: “The miraculous image of sound washed ashore. The miraculous image of sound washed ashore. Beware, beware the black shadow of Cher. Beware, beware the black shadow of Cher. This is dedicated to all the people who are in prisons – physical prisons or prisons of their own making.” The audience applauds. John often repeated the ‘Cher Interlude’ at key points during subsequent gigs..

Massimo and Pierce slowly walk towards each other with extended arms throughout this song.

John’s lyrical improvisation:

…Sage of the stories of night to keep the night away
‘Cuz with the night comes the cold
And the cold takes the stone inside my heart
And turns it into something even colder
Something none of us can touch
Inside here, we have to cut each other
With razor blades in order to feel the warmth
Of the blood as it trickles down our arms
And we’re cutting each other
And the pain, and the cold
And the tall dreams
Even the dreams we have here are cold
And I dream of the sun
The molten metal
The metal melts and the razor blades
That we use to cut open our arms
And the hyperdemic needles we use
To inject, to inject ourselves
With paraffin
So we can get a small respite
In the, in the hospital wing
But it’s not a respite at all
‘Cuz there’s no food and no rest
It’s just a rest, a rest from the cold
We dream about the molten metal inside the middle of the sun
We dream about the molten metal inside the sun
The molten metal inside the sun
And in the distance, I hear the train’s driving away
And I wish I was with my mother
Because my mother represents the sun
And her hair is slowly dissolving
As the image of it dies within my mind
As I’m stuck inside this prison
And I don’t know what to do
All I have is ice and cold and stone
Ice cold stone
Ice cold stone
And ice and cold and stone
And the memories are slowly freezing over
Like pools of water inside
Where I have to break the ice
In order to get a drink of dirty water
In order to get a cup of dirty water
In order to get a drink, a drink of dirty water
So Lord, save my sinful soul
From local punishment
Amen

Broccoli

John: “This next song is about decay, renewal, recycling…uh, you may know that the Queen mother in England died recently, and Prince Charles, uh, her grandson has a very good interest in organic gardening, so I hope they recycled her by putting her in the compost heap.”
(Audience applause)
John: “She’ll make very good mulch, it’s all blood, bone, and fish bone, or whatever. She swallowed a fish bone once and nearly died; it should have been the end then. But did you know that the Queen mother has hypodermic-needle teeth through which she sucks the bloods of, of London’s orphaned and lost children in the streets? She stalks the streets at night, she is still undead. Possibly.”.

Massimo and Pierce contort their bodies as if mimicking tree-shapes throughout this song.

Wise words from the departing
The death of the mother, and the death of the father
Is something you prepare for all of their lives
Something you prepare for all their lives

Wise words from the departing
Eat your greens, especially broccoli
Always wear sensible shoes
And always say “Please” and “Thank you”
Especially for the things you never had
Especially for the things you’ve never had

By working the soil, we cultivate the sky
By working the soil, we cultivate the sky
And enter a vegetable kingdom
Of our own making
By working the soil, we cultivate good manners
Which is to say “Please” and to say “Thank you”
Especially for the things you never had
Especially for the things you never had

Wise words from the departing
Eat your greens, especially broccoli
Wise words from the departing
Eat your greens
Eat your greens, especially broccoli

Death flows, death goes, death flows, death throes
Death goes, death flows, death throes, death goes
Death flows, death goes, death throes, death flows
Death throes, death goes, death throes, death goes
Death throes, death goes, death throes, death goes
Death throes, death goes, death flows, death goes
Death throes, death goes, death flows like a river
Death throes, death goes, death goes like a river
Death flows, death throes, death goes, death throes
Death knows, death goes, death throes, death throes like a river
Like a river, like a river, like a river
Like a river, like a river, like a river
Like a river
Death goes, death flows

John (after the song): “If the actor stops acting, does the film become real?”

Paranoid Inlay

Serenity is a problem when you’ve been this close to heaven
What you really wanted to see was the wonders of the underworld
I caught St. Peter’s disease as he rattled his keys
Now, serenity is a problem, serenity is a problem
Serenity is a problem, serenity is a problem

Serenity is a problem when you’ve been this close to heaven
What you really wanted to see is the wonders of the underworld
I caught St. Peter’s disease as he rattled his keys
Now, serenity is a problem, serenity is a problem

Such a paranoid inlay
It’s pain by numbers, just join the dots

Bloody British bulldozers
These vegetables are suicidal
Bloody British bulldozers
These vegetables are suicidal

Serenity is a problem, serenity is a problem
Serenity is a problem, for me
It really is a problem
Serenity is a problem

It seems concussion suits me
It seems concussion suits me
Dear Diary
Dear Diary, these are the things I need to give up
Crystalline ladders, shiny things
Mirrorballs, I used to believe in mirrorballs
Television
Switch the fucking evil thing off before it switches you off for good
I mustn’t be afraid of people I haven’t met yet
I mustn’t be afraid of saying no
There’s no question I have to answer, ever

So, serenity is a problem
On a clear day, I can see forever
That the underworld is my oyster
On a clear day, I can see forever
That the underworld is my oyster

Watches, clocks, and telephones
Watches, clocks, and telephones
Watches, clocks, and telephones
Leading from behind, leading from behind
Crystalline ladders, shiny things, mirrorballs
I used to believe in mirrorballs
Shiny things, shiny things, shiny things

Sick Mirrors/A.Y.O.R.

John: “It’s the celestial turns bestial. It’s the shaggy God story. I glimpsed behind my shower curtain last night in my hotel and I saw a very, very heavy thing. I saw the hairy mother of God.”

“Celestial turns bestial” is a discarded line from the studio recording of “Backwards.”

This particular performance features exclusive lyrics, is the shortest in length at about 9 minutes, and is the only version to segway right into “A.Y.O.R.”

Remote viewing, remote viewing
Viewing from a distance
Eyes shut, eyes shut, eyes shut
Shutters in the way, shutters in the way
Visiting people far away

Something-ah, something-ah
Something-oh, something-oh
Something cold, something cold
Something old walks this way
Something cold, something old
Something cold walks this way

Something black cracks something’s back
And something’s black cracks the red thing’s back
Is the red thing cracked?
Is the black thing back?
But something old meets something cold
Something walks to the waters
I walked down to the waters
With my dogs by the river
With my dogs by the sea
I would never walk this forest with my dogs without me
Something cold, something old
Something cold walked to me

Something black broke the other thing’s back
And something red was left for dead
But was it dead, oh, was it dead, or just looked dead?
Or was it red or black or red, or just looked red?
And it’s coming, coming closer to eat me

Oh, something black broke red thing’s back
And something cold’s coming to meet me
It’s coming to meet me

The mirrors are sick
I can’t see anything coming from within it
My mirrors are diseased
Will someone mercurise them please?
Vaporise the mercury
Vaporise the mercury
Vapour, mercury, mercury
The blood’s in the way of the images
I’m scrying in the mirror, mirror, mirror [repeated]
I’m scrying in this mirror, mirror, mirror
Angels walk with me
Angels talk with me
They say I’m diseased with my mirror
I’m diseased with my mirror
I’m displeased with my mirror
What it shows me and what I don’t see
As I walk down to the sea
With my dogs with me, with my dogs with me
I wouldn’t walk this forest without my dogs with me
Walking to the sea where the horses are
Where the horses are
Where they marry in the water
I must stay underwater
Can I stay in the water?
If the water comes over me, over me?
The water is flowing over me, on me
On me
I may as well drown
In this beautiful sea
This beautiful sea

What was seen what was following
What was seen and what was following
What was seen and what was following me
What I saw on the seashore I will never say
What I saw there on the seashore I will never say
What is there on the seashore I will never say
What was there to say for me and it will never stay
It will never stay
It will never stain me
It will sustain me [repeated]
It will never stain me
It will never pain me
It will never claim me
Like the sea, like the sea
Like the sea, like the sea
Like the sea
I like to see, like to see
I let it claim me
I let it claim me
See me in the flames of the sea

John: “These are the lyrics I stole from the book. I took from the Pope’s I secret library. He’s got a lot of good lyrics in there. He’s got a lot of good lyrics in there.”

Your blood is my blood
My blood is your blood
Drink at your own risk
It’s all at my own risk

Backwards

John: “Thank you.”

The backing audio track cuts about a second in.

Massimo and Pierce present their asses to the audience, then stand back up and reach up the distorted mirrors during the ending noise section.

John’s closing words: “Ahem. We were Coil. Thank you for coming. And I hope – we hope, really, really hope – to come to Italy as soon as we can again and do this because we have a really good time. Thank you. It was Cliff Stapleton and Michael York playing behind us with Simon Norris, Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson, myself, Carmela Caliban Cock [Pierce], and Massimo. Thank you, we were Coil.”

Massimo Villani and Ango Visone recorded about an hour of soundcheck and backstage footage (AMT #2). Most of note are the improvised lyrics to the three takes of “Sick Mirrors” and the band discussing where to place the song in the set. Mike convinces Peter to place it after “Paranoid Inlay.”

John: How do you like that?
Ossian: Well, I-I don’t play very much on it.
John: I don’t like-
Peter: Just give me a second, so…Well, to be honest with you, sometimes we have more on one than the other.
(John smirks and shoves his crotch into Massimo’s camera)
Massimo (jokingly): What’s that?

Sick Mirrors (Take 1)

Ahhhh-ohhhh
It’s a long way down
It’s a long way down
It’s a long way back
It’s a long way down

Ah-hah

John: …Are you playing with Todd?
Peter: No… [indecipherable]
John: Exactly. You can’t hear them when you’re playing shit. Doesn’t work. So why can’t, why aren’t you playing with them?

Sick Mirrors (Take 2)/A.Y.O.R.

There’s a sign inside the…
There’s a sign aside the tree
A long way disease
And the dreams of the sea, and I dream of the sea, and the dreams hang around to me
And the dreams get around to me
As I walk into the sea
And I said by the time I was born, ah
The dogs will arrive by me
And it’s all wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong and away
And I’m walking here away and into

But when I was young, I was told that the way was wrong
So I never said a word and I never heard him sing this song
But I was told that the way I walked was wrong
And the victim said the sky was wrapped in song
So I visited the victim song
So it’s now a victim song
I taught myself to work this way
And this, my victim song
This is my victim song
This is my victim song
So right is wrong

So I said
So I said that right is wrong
So I said this right is wrong
This I heard inside you [?]
?
What I heard was wrong
?
I could be ignored [?]
I could be more temps [?]
?
Titulate the aim of the angels in my steads
This will titulate, it’s okay…all…
?
Wishing she could shoot you on the way home [?]
Wishing…sheets could walk away from [?]
?
Shhh, shit
Take a shortcut, knife
Angel, knife, shadow for angel
I’ll take a short-cut
We’ll take the short-cut

I will take a short-cut
A walk through the woods right there
?
Walking to the woods
?

My dogs will feed me
My dogs will feed me
As we walk in the dreams, ‘cuz the dreams, ‘cuz the dreams
I went to the way to the sea
I went to the way to the sea
…See in the waves of the sea
And then I’ll walk my way to the sea with my dogs with me
And I like to have my dogs with me
?
…To the sea, to the sea, to the sea
I walk the normal tree [?]
?

I’ll take a short-cut
I’ll do a short-cut
I’ll do a short-cut
I’ll make the short-cut
?

Peter: Oh, you’re a bit daring. What are we gonna do after “Slur”?
John: Again, well wait, well, before “A.O.R.”
Peter: No, those two don’t go next to each other.
John: So, you’re gonna come out with “Slur.” You’re gonna stop “Slur”?
Peter: I just have to turn “A.Y.O.R.” on the screen.
Cliff: I can, uh, I finish up on a single bass stroke.
John: On “Slur.” (To Peter) You cannot change into the next, the new piece?
Cliff: I can, I can do (changes hurdy-gurdy riff) and just that. That’s-
Mike: Yeah. It did sound good at “A.Y.O.R.” starting out of that.
John: Yeah.
Peter: It did, but those two songs are not next to each other in the sequence.
John: Alright, well, what we can have-
Peter (to Mike): You want to change the sequences as well! Oh, my God!
Mike (to Peter): No, no, no, no, no, not change the sequence. We can put it after “Paranoid Inlay.” Is that what it is? Yeah.
Peter: Yeah. Yeah, we could do that. Do you want to?
Cliff (playing hurdy-gurdy, to John). That’s it.
John (to Cliff): Oh, lovely.
Cliff: In fact, they’re, it’s the same as this, and I can do things.
John: I mean, you know, keep going, then very, very subtle changes.
Cliff: Yes. That’d be good if-
John: Less, then build it up, bit by bit.
Cliff: It’d be good if there’s EQ, um, uh, a bit of delay on the-
John: Reverb or delay?
Peter: Well, hold on. Hold on. We’ve got two separate schools of thought, here.
Cliff: Okay.
Peter: One is we do it out of “Slur.”

John: Well, let’s do that.
Mike: Well I’ve, I’ve already been starting it up, yeah.
John: Yeah.
Mike: Just put it divided.
John (to Cliff): So we’re gonna do it so it comes out of “Paranoid Inlay.”
Peter (to Lighting Person): Well, it’s an extra song.
Lighting Person (to Peter): Ah, an extra song. Really?
Peter: It’s sorta like the beginning of of “A.Y.O.R.” It’s gonna go after “Paranoid.”
Cliff (to John): And so, in fact, I go quiet, but I can always begin.
Peter: It’s gonna be by-
LP: Between! Between, uh-
Peter: Between “Paranoid” and “A.Y.O.R.,” yeah. It’s a new set. That’s the plan, anyway.
John (to Cliff): Maybe you can pick the new song. Let’s just call this “New Song,” for now.
Mike (to John): Yeah.
Peter: That’s the plan, anyway.
Mike: Is it, is it from Remote Viewing, the song?
John: Oh, it’s “Remote Viewing”! That’s right.
LP: Well work for me, because the lights are similar between, um, “Paranoid” and “A.Y.O.R.”

Peter: I picture where there’s just one light on each person and nothing else, maybe.
LP: Boring.
Peter: Okay, well.
LP: Get to work.
Peter: Okay. Work, work, work!
LP: Work, work like a slave. No, but um, maybe I mix some other pictures from other songs.
Peter: Yeah, sounds good.
LP: Um, what’s the atmosphere? Temple?
Peter (to John): What’s the atmosphere of this song?
John (to Peter): Huh, sorry?
LP: The new one.
Peter: It’s like the Velvet Underground.
John: Velvet Underground.
LP: Hm-mm.
Peter: What does that mean?
LP: Purple?
John: People shooting up onstage.
Ossian: Crushed Velvet Underground.
Peter: Purple, I guess is good. Yeah.
John: Purple.
Ossian: Purple and-
Mike: Complete, complete darkness.
Peter: Purple and white?
LP: Purple/white?
Peter: Yeah.
John: Oh, I don’t know about white.
LP: And a bit of movement. Okay, got it.
John: Purple throbbing. Gently throbbing purple.
LP: Yeah. Okay.
John: And dry ice, so it’s a purple cloud gently throbbing.
?: There’s no recording this?
Ossian (to ?): Nothing.
?: Nothing’s fine.
Ossian (to ?): No, we got Andy.
LP: Okay, some smoke.
John: Not too much bright lights. That’s stupid-
Mike (smirks)
John: Could be it’s sort of coming out of the subconscious. I’m just making it up before (indecipherable) comes.
LP: Yeah, the song before, we have white and red, the song after, we have red, white, and blue, and in the middle, we have purple.
John: Yeah.
LP: Good.
Mike (to Ossian): First time…fade in and fade out-
*Peter accidentally hits the “Play” button on Ableton Live
John: Death by tabla! [a membranophone percussion instrument originating from the Indian subcontinent]
Ossian: There is no recording…

Mike (to Ossian): Can you close in your neck?
Peter (to Mike): Main stood out to me.
Mike (to Peter): Nah, it’s on the bus, though.
Ossian: If we could ever work with Enrico, we could go and find-
John (to Peter): I think we have to essentially go and get one. They have, we have to record this.
Mike: Geoff, would it be weird not having a film?
John (into the mic): Someone must have a tape machine we can bring in, please.
Peter: And I can’t, ‘cuz I’m segwaying into that anyway. I’d need-
John: Simon, come and press my prima donna button.
Ossian: I am.
Peter: -the machine even if we had another tape.
John: Press my prima donna button.

LP: You want to do one more then, yeah?
Cliff: I wouldn’t mind testing out my, my system. My-
LP: Okay, gone in.
?: I want to do white.
Peter: Only, sigh…

Backwards

Backwards
Everything’s backwards
Fuck me from behind
Fuck me in reverse
Normal is perverse
Every from behind
Only na-na-na
I’m fine
False evidence appearing real
Na-na-na-na…
Everything’s black squids
Everything’s back woods

Peter: Don’t know how big this tape needs to be.

Sick Mirrors (Take 3)

I walk in the woods
I walk my dogs
And I walk in the woods
And I walk with my dogs
And I walk in the woods
And I walk with my dogs

And I walk in the woods
And I walk with my dogs
And I walk in the woods
I walk in the woods
I walk walk walk walk (in the woods)

Which door am I going to leave this lock and look through?
Which door am I goin’ to is helping me through
Which door am I going to leave this post through?
Which door to choose? (x5)

When I heard the news
It was a bad message
It was a wrong spec-
A wrong special
A wrong spree, um
Are we doing another song again?
A new song again

Peter: Music again. All the songs are the same, aren’t they?
Ossian (to Peter): A knife?
Peter: Was that you making that sound?
Ossian: I’m making a kind of buzzy, kind of-
Peter: Okay, okay, okay.
Ossian: From deeper!
John: Okay, whatever you just did. Yeah!
Ossian: Yeah? That’s the sound I am bringing in.
Andy Ray (sound mixer): I think that sounds really good, live, for the house-
John (to LP): You should, you should just sort of alternate between da-da-da.
Ossian: I did.
Andy: Yeah. What I was actually doing because I have all this back-line on one VCA and I was just kind of fading in and out to kind of create-
Ossian: ‘Cuz I do, I play a little tune on the wheel-
Peter: Does this sound too bad?
Andy: No, no, it’s great.
Mike: You, Andy. I’m sort of, on the chancer, I was fading my sound in and out-
John (to Cliff): I mean, new song, he’s got a really good sound.
Cliff (to John): Yep.
Ossian: I think it’s important that play-
John: And the three of you should play off, you know, listen, and then, you know, almost solo, “voooo” to that one, and then I can just sort of add in, so it becomes a quartet, and then-
Cliff: Sure.
John: Yeah.
Ossian (to Cliff): When you go for it…I think my sound sounds good when your sound’s playing, and then my sound-
Cliff (to Ossian): Plus, my, my reference-
Ossian: Yeah. Otherwise, mine sounds, it makes it worse.
Peter (to Andy): So this is gonna happen after “Paranoid Inlay” and before we go into “A.Y.O.R.”
Andy (to Peter): Do it.
Peter: Okay, cool. Thanks. (to John) How? Should I just decide, when I get bored, to segway?
John (to Peter): I think…when it, when it goes wrong. (smiles)

Sell, sell, sell..
Ooh…

John: What are you doing, Simon? Oh, why you do that, Simon? Why you do that, Simon? Why you do that?
Andy: So Christian!
Christian (to Andy): Yeah?
Andy: How many beers? Two beers, two hours?
Christian: No? One.
Andy (laughing): One hour, there you go.
John: Mmm!
Ossian: Three!
Peter: Alright, Geoff? Yeah, it’s good to me, thank you.
John (to Ossian): We don’t like you. Do that one?
Ossian: “We don’t like you”? Oh, you must do that. We can do that in, wait, oh, you could do that in “Backwards.”
John: I do that?
Ossian: Yeah. Well, you can do that within “Backwards.”
John: Shall I?
Ossian: Yeah.
John (to Ossian and Massimo): You’ve gotta make me, you’ve gotta make me on.
Ossian: “We like you, we like you, but we don’t like you.”
John: We like you, we like you, but we DON’T like you!
Ossian: We could do that in “Backwards.”
John (laughs)
Ossian: So sing that. Really scream it.

[John sadly did not scream that in the actual performance.]

John: You’re gonna mess with my mind, Andy, with the vocal thing on the new one.
Andy: Oh God, yes.

Ossian (to Pierce): We did the sound.
Pierce: Yeah.

John Balance – vocals, sleigh bells on “Anarcadia: All Horned Animals”
Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson – Ableton sequence, video projections, Clavia Nord Modular Synthesizer
Simon Norris (Ossian Brown) – Clavia Nord Modular Lead Synthesizer, sleigh bells on “Anarcadia: All Horned Animals”
Cliff Stapleton – hurdy-gurdy
Mike York – Border bagpipes, bombarde on “Anarcadia: All Horned Animals,” balalaika on “Broccoli” and “Paranoid Inlay”
Massimo Villani – Black Sun Productions’ “Ghost Boy” performance art
Pierce Wyss – Black Sun Productions’ “Ghost Boy” performance art

Andy Ray – live engineer

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

Teatro delle Celebrazioni
Via Saragozza
234 – Bologna
Italy

The following is a review of the concert (with some awesome pictures in it – the original of which you can find here):

COIL
Teatro delle Celebrazioni Bologna
6th April 2002

The first-ever Coil European Tour saw finally the (moon)light, and brought their first performance in Italy as well. There was good advertising and interesting comments from the press, signs that Balance and Christopherson’s seminal role in the development and evolution of electronic music is finally being recognized by a larger audience. Not less than 1000 people had a seat in the Teatro delle Celebrazioni, an exclusive and elegant theatre in the northern part of Bologna, which has always been one of Italy’s most culturally active and attentive cities.

Coil started their performance at 23.00 and immediately took the audience into a state of trance: heavy, beating ritualistic music blew from the speakers as two young boys came on stage completely naked, moving like dummies without expressions. While everybody’s attention was stolen and confused by their disturbing presence, as well as by the flashing lights and deep smoke, John Balance and Simon Norris came in from the theatre entrance, wrapped in blood-stained bride veils and carrying red flowers. This introduction left us breathless and astonished, but we soon recovered as the first song began: “Amethyst Deceivers” from the seasonal solstices singles series. Peter Christopherson provides sublime digital sound quality, while John Balance is free to unleash his wild performing talent. When “Slur” arrived, claps and screams flew high in the theatre hall: “Horse Rotorvator” remains as a milestone in history, and the 1000 people there were perfectly aware of that. “Glowworms/Waveforms”, “Paranoid Inlay” and other beautiful, hypnotic songs followed for one hour and a half, till the final moment which saw Christopherson and Norris waving and then breaking small neon lights, while the scene completely sank into a deep fog and blinding strobe lights. Before leaving the stage, John Balance introduced the band members and then told they had a great time in Italy and very much enjoyed to come and bring their performance to our country, hoping to come soon again. As if it was necessary, Coil showed which kind of artists they are, artists who play for the pleasure of their audience, artists who, after 20 years of seminal works, still remain accessible and humble people, unlikely many of the arrogant kids who have lately raised the head to show us what “industrial” is about. The night was intense and simply unforgettable, at last good and challenging music for the poor numbed ears of the Italian lands!

Simone Valcauda
April 2002

The following is a review of the concert, translated into English from Italian via Google Translate which also contains a small photo gallery of the concert. You can find the original here:

Almost twenty years ago, the England of Psychic TV and Throbbing Gristle invaded by that experimental provocation that bore the name of “industrial music” almost casually dropped on the ground, unexpectedly fertile, a bad seed that soon it would become a tree of evil. Nearly twenty years ago, Peter Christopherson and John Balance gave life to that hostile sound show bearing the name Coil. Almost twenty years later, that show was repeated.

At the end of the concert, I thought that all the preamble to the show was nothing but a strategy to destabilize the public even before the theater was opened. Hours of exhausting waiting huddled on the steps in front of the doors, in a foggy fog of smoke, suffocating of heated and nervous bodies … “They broke down …” We do not talk about the Maginot Line, it is the girl’s complaint to the ticket control in the same instant in which the doors open and the crowd literally rushes to the assault of the best places to enjoy the long-awaited and long-awaited concert … which will not start before 11.00 pm, in a crescendo of collective exasperation … Peter ignites the engine of this infernal machine and, as guarding the stage on the sides, in front of false mirrors, two human statues in adamitic costume take their places. But the real surprise catches us when, from behind, announced by aromas of incense and buns of bells arrive John and Drew, dressed in white (a strange cross between a space suit and a nurse uniform, of those who take you away with a straitjacket …) hidden by indefinable white hoods (angels or demons?) And a distorted pipe , between electronic noises and exasperating tints, it clashes in our ears while Balance “baptizes” the first row with water that winks to the sulfur and a sort of grail burns the incense of this church desecrated … Start the show and that of the Coil is a show without mercy. What awaits us is a taste of how they can stimulate the senses through a sound that is anything but catchy. Do not expect anything of the sick esotericism of the first productions (of “Horse Rotorvator there is only the memory in the execution of” Slur “), do not expect requie for the eardrums, no sympathy for the eyes, no peace for the minds. at any moment, it will monopolize your attention: an image, an imperceptible movement of the mimes, a distorted sound, an unlikely bagpipe.You will not take your eyes off for a moment. While from the stage industrial and technological litanies dilate and restrict the senses, on the screen flow geometric kaleidoscopes, psychedelic constructions, tunnels of liquid flames, eddies that suck an audience that seems (or maybe it is?) Hypnotized or involved in a mental “journey” … Images that become torment and horror in movies of “prisons for men built by men” as Balance himself tells us, modern forgotten gulags and hidden receptacles of endless suffering. “Serenity is a problem” especially if shouted by a cacophony of lights and sounds …I was expecting a Balance that was very well understood in its role as a frontman, that of a character who was able to bring together people from all over the country in the Italian capital city, par excellence. But the Coil, gentlemen, are not at all happy and John is now a skilled histrion, now a kind of delirious crazy splinter. Sound manipulations are like running trains that travel to the rhythm of a cacophonic dance and materialize with images in ultra-fast editing of faces and deformed bodies (like the “Gisela” by Pankow-iana memoria) stained with viscous blood … The sound terrorism of this evening has its peak in the growing epileptic of the grand finale.  Neon spirals, lights and vapors that know of hell … a cold, icy hell takes hold of the room, it seems to be in a trench, an antitheater of lights and deafening noises in an apocalyptic acme that leaves you breathless … every fiber we are bombed, pierced and harassed by sonic and visual bullets that leave no way out … Approximately 400 people, for an hour and twenty minutes, have been literally catapulted into a deviated space-time and have survived … the Coil have drifted away declining any responsibility for the moral damages caused to those present … The expectations of the eve have been satisfied by a superb performance, the result of both the experience that distinguishes those groups that in experimentation are always a step further, both in the not indifferent availability of very sophisticated means (even though I personally have not seen any trace of those superspecial effects “promised” perhaps to encourage a greater turnout of the public in spite of the not very easily affordable cost of the ticket …).

And I must also admit that my heart, incurably sick with nostalgia, tried with trepidation to recall the never forgotten past of “Ostia”, “Aqua Regis”, “Panic” … maybe next time … See the Black Sun rise … in the Solar lodge …

Review by Monica Nuancenoire for Erbadellastrega.it

Francesco Battisti attended this gig and remembers: “I was there and in that occasion I Knew Enrico Croci the Italian tour manager of Coil. He called Peter and John for playing in July 2002 for playing at the festival Il Violino e la Selce in Fano, and then he called again them for playing in Jesi, in July 2004 always in the context of the same festival we knew…I worked for the organization of the festival and I had the opportunity to know well Peter and John and also Antony Hegarty and Julia Kent that played together before the Coil’s concert in Jesi.”