by Simen Viig Østensen
Photos: Jan Ekeberg

«Two men met on a bridge. One man saying to the other: Have a Lager, have a Lager he said. It was the Great Bear Yogi, Bananarama himself high up in to the Norwegian Alps»

In December 1974 it was freezing cold and the band arrived in an old van without a heater. Almost 26 years later, and on their first visit to Norway since then it was tropical temperature in Bergen (in April!), and the concert venue – The Garage – beat the temperature record of a Finnish sauna.

One of Dave Allen’s many costumes was a tight tricot with a nozzle cap tightly pulled down over his head, The fact that he did not get a heat stroke was as unbelievable as the fact that Gong was actually there on the stage, live, and only a few yards away from an ecstatic audience.

Master Builder, You Can’t Kill Me, Selene with several "oldies" following close, were performed with as much vitality and musical power as back in ’74, and tracks from the new CD, like Magdalene, appeared among the classic stuff. The only thing that made it possible to survive the heat out among the audience was the high goose-flesh factor which came as a cool breeze, for example when Allen asked: "Do you wanna cup of mushroom tea?", and the audience screamed so loud that the chauffeur on the Ulriken funicular almost fell out of his basket.

Gilly Smythe used two microphones, one regular and one fed through a vocoder (?) to create her speciality, the "spacewhisper". That she and Allen were no longer youths might be deducted from their looks, but not from the performance or the music. Many a raw youngster would have fainted of exhaustion before the encores at this pace. Did the old heroes have a sip of some secret pool of youth on Planet Gong?

Bassist Mike Howlett wearing venetian blind-equipped sunglasses followed the two original members closely, he played so that the beer glasses in the pub clinked to the beat.

Drummer Mike Taylor was seen by nobody in the dark at the back of the stage, but nobody seemed to miss either Pip Pyle or Pierre Moerlin for a minute, ’cause this man could play the drums, something which Howlett commented after the concert. "I found him", he proudly proclamated. Theo Travis was a great sax and flute player, and Bloomido’s unfortunate absence (he didn't have the time) was forgotten as this first-class jazz musician was instrumental in bringing Master Builder to new heights. Or when Flute Salad came flowing towards you from his flute.

Gwyo Zepix played guitar and keyboards on the left side of the stage (which unfortunately did not allow too much jumping and leaping), but even if both he and Allen did a healthy job as replacements for Steve Hillage and Tim Blake from past times, I still miss these two important elements in a live context. But what the hell, at Garage they were forgotten for a couple of hours.

The new songs were heartily received by the public, and the balance between these and the classics was impeccable.

The audience held both old and young Gong fans, perhaps more of the young, which seems reasonable since the band has had – and still has – a big name within the "House" community, and is by many regarded as "The Fathers of Rave". Gilly had preferred more girls in the audience, and I suspect that next time Allen will have air conditioning installed in his silver tricot (which by the way looked not unlike some Elvis costume from the 70s, although with a CD as belt buckle).

A really great concert and a lot more which hardly can be stated in writing, but to those poor souls who were not present in Bergen that night, a return visit this autumn is possible. Which may be a comfort to the man who had been looking forward to seeing Gong again after 26 years, but had to turn at the door because he didn’t have a ticket.

© 2000 Tarkus Magazine
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