Coil Live

Experimental music group Coil's live incarnation has a distinct legacy of its own. The initial performances took place in 1983, however they stopped playing live for 16 years after a mere four performances. The first Coil release, a collaboration with Zos Kia titled Transparent, includes a track from the first Coil performance as well as the last 1983 performance. According to the liner notes of Transparent, during Coil's second performance, which was videotaped by Peter Christopherson, John Gosling urinated on John Balance. Nick Cave, who was in the audience at the time, promptly left . Marc Almond is also credited for performing that night while Christopherson is only credited for providing back up tapes during the event.

On December 14, 1999, Coil performed elph.zwölf at Volksbuehne in Berlin. Although the performance lasted just under 18 minutes, it marked the beginning of a new era of what would become a series of legendary performances. Coil would go on to perform nearly 50 more concerts, with varied setlists as well as performers. Like the studio incarnation of Coil, John Balance and Peter Christopherson were the key performers and performed in most of the concerts. Other artists who participated in a significant number of performances included Thighpaulsandra, Ossian Brown (from Cyclobe) and Tom Edwards. Steven Stapleton (from Nurse with Wound) and other experimental musicians also collaborated in live Coil performances. Although Coil performed many shows at festivals and were involved in several tours, the majority of their live performances took place in 2002. In 2004 Coil embarked on their final tour titled "Even An Evil Fatigue".

Coil's performances were surrealistic visually as well as aurally. John Balance, Peter Christopherson, Thighpaulsandra and Ossian Brown were known to dress in fluffy suits, an idea inspired by Sun Ra.[1] The suits would later be used as album covers for the release Live One - other costumes appear on the covers of Live Two and Live Three (straitjacket and mirror-chested hooded jumpsuit respectively). Video screens projected footage and animations created by Christopherson, while fog machines created a thick eerie atmosphere. Balance would often screech and howl during performances, which would add to the effect. However, the overall feeling of an individual Coil performance was extremely varied. Other props were used, such as mini tents for Christopherson and Thighpaulsandra created by the artist Ian Johnstone, as well as a sculpture which would become the cover art for Live Four, designed by John Balance and Ossian Brown and created by the London dressmaker and costumier David Cabaret. Cabaret was also known for working with the performance artist Leigh Bowery in the 1980s.

Balance's problem with alcohol would often reflect the way in which the Coil performances were carried out. While most live shows revolved around his vocals, Coil performed more than once without Balance (in an alcohol-caused absence) where Sleazy provided vocals which were fed into a computer and processed. His drinking problem became so well known that during the 2003 All Tomorrows Parties performance a fan asked if there was any "blood in his alcohol", a reference to the Coil song "Heartworms". Balance replied that there was no "alcohol in my blood at the moment", later adding "I've got horse tranquillizer for later".

Many Coil performances were released, including the limited Coil Presents Time Machines, Live In Moscow, Megalithomania! and Selvaggina, Go Back Into The Woods as well as the wider releases of Live Four, Live Three, Live Two, Live One and ...And the Ambulance Died in His Arms. Many of these releases have also been included in the boxset The Key To Joy Is Disobedience.

14 video recordings of the Coil Live experience were made available in the Colour Sound Oblivion box set, along with 2 discs containing backing tracks and projections used during the performances.[2]

Performers

Live Concerts

Date (Year-Month-Day) Country-Province-City Venue Event Release status
1983-08-04 UK-England-London Magenta Club A Manifestation of the Will partial release on Transparent
1983-08-24 UK-England-London Air Gallery How To Destroy Angels Colour Sound Oblivion 1
1983-10-12 UK-England-London Recession Studios
1983-12-03 Germany-Berlin Atonal Festival II partial release on Transparent
1999-12-14 Germany-Berlin Volksbuehne 20' To 2000
2000-04-02 UK-England-London Royal Festival Hall Cornucopea Coil Presents Time Machines
"Disc A" of Live One
2000-06-17 Spain-Barcelona Sonar Festival "Disc B" of Live One
Colour Sound Oblivion 2
2000-09-19 UK-England-London Royal Festival Hall Persistence is All
2001-03-25 France-Nantes Le Lieu Unique
2001-05-30 Belgium-Antwerp Cultural Center Luchtbal
2001-06-01 Netherlands-Amsterdam Paradiso (Amsterdam) Dutch Radio4 Supplement
aired 2001-06-18
2001-06-03 Germany-Leipzig Wave-Gotik-Treffen
2001-08-18 USA-New York-New York City Irving Plaza Convergence Live In NYC August 18, 2001
Colour Sound Oblivion 3
2001-09-15 Russia-Moscow DK Gorbunova "Amethyst Deceivers" as a hidden track on Moons Milk (In Four Phases)
Live Two
Live In Moscow
Colour Sound Oblivion 4
2002-03-30 France-Limoges John Lennon Municipal Cultural Centre Artooz Festival
2002-04-02 Belgium-Ghent Vooruit
2002-04-04 Switzerland-Zürich Rote Fabrik
2002-04-06 Italy-Bologna Teatro delle Celebrazioni Live Three
Colour Sound Oblivion 5
2002-04-07 Germany-München Muffathalle
2002-04-10 Germany-Hamburg Fabrik
2002-04-12 Germany-Berlin Volksbühne
2002-04-13 Germany-Glauchau Alte Spinnerei
2002-04-27 UK-England-London The Barbican Play: Game On/Only Connect
2002-06-07 Netherlands-Den Haag Theater ann het Spui State-X New Forms III Colour Sound Oblivion 6
2002-07-13 Belgium-Dour Dour Festival
2002-07-26 Italy-Fano Corte Malatesiana Il Violino e la Selce
2002-09-26 Russia-Moscow Tochka Feelee
2002-09-29 Russia-Kaliningrad Vagonka Club Feelee Colour Sound Oblivion 8
2002-10-01 UK-England-London Royal Festival Hall
2002-10-05 Greece-Thessaloniki Ydrogeios Club Colour Sound Oblivion 9
2002-10-12 UK-England-London Conway Hall Megalithomania Megalithomania!
2002-10-16 Denmark-Copenhagen Amager Bio 3rd Tsunami/Amager Kulturpunkt
2002-10-17 Norway-Oslo Betong
2002-10-19 Sweden-Stockholm Fylkingen
2002-10-21 Finland-Helsinki Tavastia Klubi
2002-10-24 Poland-Gdansk St. John's Church
2002-10-25 Poland-Gdansk St. John's Church
2002-10-26 Poland-Lódz Centrum Filmowe
2002-10-27 Czech Republic-Prague Palac Akropolis partial release on Live Four
Colour Sound Oblivion 7
2002-10-29 Austria-Vienna Flex partial release on Live Four
Colour Sound Oblivion 7
2002-10-30 Austria-Vienna Spoiler Spoiler Talks DVD Series: Coil
interview
2003-04-06 UK-England-Camber Camber Sands All Tomorrow's Parties ...And the Ambulance Died In His Arms
2003-05-29 Canada-Montreal Mutek 2003 Colour Sound Oblivion 10, "Wraits and Strays" on Black Antlers first edition CD-R.
2003-06-21 Portugal-Porto Casa da Música Festival Live in Porto
2003-07-12 UK-Birmingham Custard Factory Supersonic Festival
2004-05-23 France-Paris La Locomotive Colour Sound Oblivion 11, "Wraiths and Strays" on Black Antlers reissue edition.
2004-05-31 Germany-Leipzig Wave-Gotik-Treffen
2004-06-03 Netherlands-Amsterdam Melkweg Electronation/KinkFM Colour Sound Oblivion 12
2004-06-11 Italy-Jesi Il Violino el la Selce Selvaggina, Go Back Into The Woods
Colour Sound Oblivion 13
2004-07-25 UK-England-London Ocean "Broccoli" on the compilation, Not Alone.
2004-10-23 Ireland-Dublin Dublin City Hall Dublin Electronic Arts Festival Part of "Going Up" on The Ape of Naples
Colour Sound Oblivion 14

References

  1. ↑ Rattlebag Radio RTÉ interview; Dublin, Ireland; 22 October 2004
  2. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/Coil-Colour-Sound-Oblivion/release/2367509
  3. ↑ "Supersonic". (unknown radio station) (12 July 2003). Retrieved 2007-01-10.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/9/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.