Psychic TV at Club Europa

Although these are not my finest photos I definitely wanted to post something from these guys. Psychic TV seems to play Club Europa about once a year every December. When I put next year's show on the calendar, and I will because they are well worth catching, at least there will be pictures.

Sadly for me lead singer Genesis P-Orridge opened the show by instructing the venue to turn down the lights. He felt that the audience "doesn't need to see us", a concept which is more or less the opposite of "concert photography". Unfortunately I wasn't really in a good position to use a flash either so I had to make do with what light I could get, mostly light from the psychedelic video projections. At least the photos are colorful (another advantage of skipping the flash).

Psychic TV's music is composed of dense layers of sound. It seems like everyone in the band is playing all the time, and there are quite a few band members. At the bottom are the usual guitar-bass-drum of a rock band which provides momentum to the music. On top of that are some unusual combinations of sounds. Can you recall the last time you saw an electronic keyboardist and a violinist in the same band? How about someone playing a violin with two bows at once?

As complex as their music may be it is certainly not disorganized. "Composed" is the right word to describe it. Not only are musicians "composed" as in "they know their stuff" but the songs are carefully crafted like classical music. This is not surprising. Genesis P-Orridge has a long musical history and the band has existed in some form for 30 years now. I suppose we could be hearing the "best of" every time they play. So be it, the result is a great live show. Even the relatively silly songs (e.g. their cover of Hawkwind's "Silver Machine") are fun to listen to. The truly great ones (like "Thank You") are transcendent.

Posted: 12/8/2012 at 7:08pm     Tags: Club Europa  Psychic TV