Set List

1. The Gimp (Sometimes)
2. Sex With Sun Ra (Part One – Saturnalia)
3. All the Pretty Little Horses
4. Tattooed Man (The Dark Age of Love)
5. Teenage Lightning (10^th Birthday Version)
6. Wraiths and Strays
7. Black Antlers (Where’s Your Child?) (Bam Bam Cover)
8. Bang Bang (Sonny Bono Cover)
9. Amethyst Deceivers (Version 1)

Coil were apparently excited to play in Fano again so that they could be by the sea and expressed disappointment when they found out that this Il Violino E La Selce Festival would take place in Jesi.

Until a flyer of the show surfaced on Facebook, all sources, including official ones, claimed this gig took place on 2004-06-11, NOT 2004-07-11. Even Peter got the date wrong in Colour Sound Oblivion!

The band hand-picked Antony to support them at this concert, as they were fans and friends of his at the time. Some people even went to this concert just to see Antony, who would go on to achieve super stardom in the following years. Antony and Julia Kent played an approximately 20-minute set which was recorded by Alessandro Marchettini.

Feeling: Shrouded

“Even an Evil Fatigue” tour, “Black Antlers” phase. The last “major” tour of Coil’s existence.

Supporting act: Antony and Julia Kent.

Final live performances of “Bang Bang” and “Amethyst Deceivers (Version 1)”

—

This concert is shorter than the others of this tour. “Black Antlers (Where’s Your Child?)” is hit particularly hard in this regard, only lasting about 6 minutes before it grinds to a complete halt, rather than the usual extended 15-minute versions. I would assume that the band curtailed the rest of the songs so that they could fit in a rather lengthy rendition of the old favorite “Amethyst Deceivers.”

As is clear on all recordings of this show, the sound mixing started off terribly but became much better by “All the Pretty Little Horses.”

John lacks some of his usual confidence, especially on “Tattooed Man,” leading to some mistakes in his vocals, though he gets his mojo back around “Wraiths and Strays.”

Before the concert begins, a blip from “Teenage Lightning” plays. Probably just a mistake from Peter.

Sex With Sun Ra (Part One – Saturnalia)

John: “Thank you. Uh, this next track’s called ‘Sex With Sun Ra.’ Something I’ve never had.”

It’ll be alright if you kiss me
It’ll be alright if you hold me
I said, “Priceless, bloody priceless”

All accidents occur at home
Most accidents occur at home
Or in Harry Smith’s room in the Chelsea Hotel
In Harry Smith’s room in the Chelsea Hotel…

John (after the song): “Thank you. We’re truncating – we’re making short of the things tonight because we haven’t got enough time, unfortunately, to do the long versions we wanted to do so…apologies for that, but maybe you’re being saved from our indulgences. I don’t know.”

Tattooed Man (The Dark Age of Love)

John: “This next song’s dedicated to a friend of ours, Marc Almond, who was a certain age, uh, last week. It’s his birthday.” Marc Almond’s birthday is on July 9 and he turned 47 in 2004.

There’s a man lying down in a grave somewhere
With the [mumble] tattoos as me
And I love him, I love him, I love him, I love him
There’s a man lying down in a bed somewhere
With a different set of sex aspects
And I hate him, I hate him, I hate him, I hate him

There’s a man lying down in a grave somewhere
With the same tattoos as me
And I love him, I love him, I love him, I love him, I love him, I love him
This is me, here now
Whining like a dog
Pining like a dog
Pining like a dog in a thick harbor fog
Waiting for a ship
Waiting for a ship that’ll make him sick
And when his ship comes in, the troubles will begin!

There’s a man lying down in a grave somewhere
There’s a man lying down in a grave somewhere
With the same tattoos as me
And I love him, I love him, I love him, I love him, I love him
There’s a man lying down in a bed somewhere
With a different set of sex aspects
And I hate him, I hate him, I hate him, I hate him, I hate him

This is me, here now
Whining like a dog
Pining like a dog in a thick harbor fog
Waiting for a ship that’ll make him sick
And when his ship comes in, the troubles will begin!

There’s a man lying down in a grave somewhere
With the same tattoos as me
And I love him, I love him, I love him, I love him, I love him
There’s a man lying down in a bed somewhere
With a different set of sex aspects
And I hate him, I hate him, I hate him, I hate him, I hate him, I hate him
I hate him, I hate him, I hate him, I hate him, I hate him

I love him, I hate him [repeated]
I hate him, I love him [repeated]
I love him

John (after the song): “Another strange version of a new song. We keep playing around with these things; every time we play them, it’s completely different, so there you go.”

Teenage Lightning (10th Birthday Version)

John: “And the next song is about a natural phenomena [sic] you get when you get two teenagers together and you rub them together, and you have a natural phenomena called ‘Teenage Lightning,’ which we managed to capture on Love’s Secret Domain a long time ago.”

Don’t be afraid
It will not harm you
It’s only lightning, teenage lightning
Don’t be afraid
It will not harm you
It will not harm you

It’s only lightning
It’s only lightning, teenage lightning
Don’t be afraid
It will not harm you, it will not harm you

Lightning, teenage lightning
It will not harm you, it will not harm you
It’s only lighting, teenage lightning
Don’t be afraid

It will not harm you
It will not harm you…

It will not harm you
It’s only lightning, teenaged lightning
It will not harm you

John (after the song): “Thank you. I just want to say, uh, thank you to Antony and to Julia for supporting us tonight, thanks for coming, and for being here, ‘cuz they were wonderful, they were really beautiful, so thank you to them.”

Wraiths and Strays

John: “This is another new track. It’s called ‘Waifs and Strays.’ Borrowed from Marc Almond again, who did ‘Waifs and Strays.’ This is ‘Wraiths and Strays,’ as in gossamer-like ghosts that stalk the streets of London, especially in the Shoreditch area, or outside Turnmills if you know where that is. FF and all that, you know.”

I will follow and shoot!
I will follow and shoot!
I will follow and shoot!

Black Antlers (Where’s Your Child?)

Where’s your child?
Do you know where they are?

Where’s your child?
Do you know where they are?
Look around
They are nowhere to be found
They don’t know right from wrong
No one likes to be left alone
Especially when they don’t know right from wrong

Where’s your child? [repeated]
Feed the birds
Feed the birds
Do you know where they are?
Are they in the trees?
Oh, feed the birds [repeated]
Don’t leave the birds
Do you need the birds?
Oh, feed the birds

Where’s your child?
Oh, where’s your child? [repeated]
Where’s your child, ah?
Where’s your child, ah?
Oh, where’s your child? [repeated]
Can you feed the birds? [repeated]

John (after the song): “Oh, complications, complications.”

Bang Bang

Thighpaulsandra takes off his shower curtain and plays the venue piano Antony played during his set with Julia Kent. John sings the first line normally, but then ups his voice an octave for the rest of the song. He also sings an additional ending verse:

I’m lying on the ground
If you ever come around
And if you come back to me
I’ll show you how sweet a boy can be
I’ll show you how sweet a boy can be
Bang bang

Audience members laugh and applaud joyously as they begin to recognize the song the band is playing, even singing along with John.

John (after the song): “Thank you.”

Amethyst Deceivers

John: “We are going to do ‘Amethyst Deceivers.’”
(Audience cheers and applause)
John: “Debbie Harry has a t-shirt with the word ‘Vulture’ on it; I want to get one. Apparently, it’s a waste disposal company from New York, so if anyone goes to New York and happens to visit a waste disposal company with a t-shirt saying the word ‘Vulture,’ please think of me.” There is a picture of Harry with the t-shirt in question online.

John goes over to say something to Peter, who tells him to go back to his mic. “Can we have strobe lightning at some point during this song please? Bright light, white light.”

This performance most closely resembles the original live version, due to similarities with the backing track and Tom’s marimba, however the backing audio tracks have some additional instrumentation not present on other versions, so technically, you could call this a 4th version.

Oh, bright light, oh, white light [repeated]
Oh, to the vultures [repeated]
To the vultures [repeated]

John’s ending words are: “Thank you for coming! We’ve had a quite few difficulties, but I don’t know what we’ve done with them, so, but thank you for coming, so see you again soon, hopefully. Thank you, night night.”
Halvard Haldorsen and his boyfriend: “Cuckoo!”
John: “Sometimes, you have to be.”

John Balance – vocals, egg cutter/mini-harp on “The Gimp (Sometimes)”.
Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson – Ableton sequence, video projections, Clavia Nord Modular Synthesizer
Thighpaulsandra – Fenix Synthesizer, Clavia Nord Modular Synthesizer, Kurzweil Synthesizer, piano on “Bang Bang”
Tom Edwards – marimba
Cliff Stapleton – hurdy-gurdy.

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

Il Violino & La Selce Festival
Piazza Della Repubblica
Jesi (Ancona)
Italy

Francesco Battisti helped organize this show and remembers: “I talked to John and Peter inside the dressing rooms of the Pergolesi Theater in Jesi, which is located just behind the stage. John told me that he wasn’t very well that night and that he was afraid to sing badly. in fact if you look closely at the images of the concert John often looks around as if asking for help or asking for something like this: “I’m doing well”? At the end of the concert I helped Peter and John set up the merchandising tables, but I stayed behind them, close to them and closer to the stage. For this reason, you can’t see me.”

Halvard Haldorsen attended this gig and remembers: “In between here comes my little trivia; John starts to walk off the stage. Me and my boyfriend shouts an enthusiastic CUCKOO at him. He hears it, turns to the mic looks at us and says, ‘Sometimes, you have to be.’ Just to show our enthusiasm and that we thought it was the appropriate thing to say to him. Humor meeting artistic madness. Ps! After the show they played the entire Kraftwerk Tour de France album over the PA while Peter signed autographs. Forgot to mention. If you listen very closely to the Jesi recording you can vaguely hear us shouting out in the audience ;)”

D.A. attended this gig and remembers: “at the time I wasn’t a massive follower of Coil’s, and I travelled nearly 600 km mainly to see Antony’s 20 minutes or so performance. But the whole experience was utterly transformative for me, and prescient of people and friends I would meet later in the UK. I remember the set by Coil as being of an overwhelming intensity, Geoff was spirited and disturbing and the whole visual impact was stunning, while the whole feel was even darkly funny at times. I then became a great fan. But at the time I was in absolute and transcendent awe for Antony, who then became huge the following year. My host in Lesi was utterly terrified by Geoff :)”

Davide Aria: “I was with a friend who was actually terrified of Geoff, while I was in a trance… I actually went to the gig mainly to see Antony to start with, without realising the influence Coil would have on me later. I spoke with Antony at the end of the gig and he was very sweet…Thanks to that gig I decided to move to the Uk from Italy… And I’m still here !”