Entertainment For Lively Minds
Going to see Tangerine Dream on Saturday - any advice?
Posted by Bigsby on 29 October 2008 - 10:46pm.
I was going to keep a friend company - you know how it is, you repay someone for going to a particularly fringey gig with you - but he's had to go off on a business trip and I find myself in posession of tickets.
You see, I spent large portions of my teenage years (and since) distancing myself from anything 'prog' but now I'm faced with an evening of the stuff. However, I do enjoy a bit of DJ Shadow, and he has sampled the Tangs (there you go) I understand, so maybe all is not lost.
Anyone care to advise how should I approach it?
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I saw the Tangs a few times in the 70s and 80s...
...and it was an interesting experience. Three blokes, sitting motionless on stage with their back to the audience playing three sets of synths. No real light show to speak of, no band/audience interaction whatsoever.
To be honest, the only visual stimulus in the whole evening was watching the little lights of the sequencers chugging back and forth.
Unless you know the music really well and can spot the differences between the album and live performances, you'd be better off sitting at home, in the dark, with the albums on :-)
To be fair, this is based on 20 year old experience - they might be a very different live proposition now!
I saw them do Phaedra.
My advice is to chug down a big one ten minutes before the lights go down.
Very much in agreement there...
...you'll need to be suitably refreshed.
Ear plugs
A mate told me they are INCREDIBLY loud. Take some cotton wool.
...and a book to read
(with a small torch, presumably)
Thanks...
...can't say that has heightened my anticipation.
So...
...how was it?
Well...
... pretty grim I'm afraid. Not to say there weren't some good bits - I enjoyed some of the Kraftwerk-esque stuff - but the pomposity of it all was a bit depressing.
What I hadn't realised (and I should have checked the TD website first) was that a full 3 hour show was promised.
It was certainly loud (thanks for the warning Twangothan - I took earplugs) and despite having done some revision with a 'best of' compilation all day Saturday I couldn't really tell the difference betweeen most of the tracks, but then again I'm not familiar with their body of work.
Lower back pain kicked in after an hour, so I spent the next 30 minutes or so reading the paper in the foyer - TD still perfectly audible - and returned to my post for the final 90 minutes.
Edgar Froese barely moved, the other synth player tried to look enthusiastic, the percussionist was perky and the oboe / sax player expressionless throughout. A guitarist came on after 30 mins or so - suitably frock-coated - and impressed many with his rapid licks. A constant laser show brightened proceedings (unless you were upstairs in which case you had to observe the whole show through it) and a surprise cover of Tomorrow Never Knows lifted the spirits at about 2h 45mins.
The microphone was used for the first time at the very end of the show to say 'thanks' and that was it.
So, definitely one for the diehard fans but I don't think there were many converts. At least I can put a tick in the box marked 'prog-rock gig', and have been reminded why punk happened.