[kj] P.I.L. Last Night

[Karen Weil]

Nice summary of the gig, T.B.  To be honest, I've heard mix reviews of PIL 
gigs elsewhere. If they come to the S.D. area, I'd be curious to check them 
out.
Also, your opinion of Club Nokia was spot-on. I saw Porcupine Tree there 
last September; decent enough venue, but so expensive!

Cheers,

k.w.
SoCal
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "TB" <planetary at socal.rr.com>
To: "'A list about all things Killing Joke (the band!)'" 
<gathering at misera.net>
Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 11:29 AM
Subject: [kj] P.I.L. Last Night



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> P.I.L. in LA Last Night

>

> Postby Pandemonium > 14 Apr 2010, 10:22

> So I saw Public Image Limited last night at the Club Nokia in downtown LA.

>

> I've never seen Johnny Lyndon with The Sex Pistols or this band and I 

> figured wtf - give it a shot. Worst case scenario, maybe

> Lyndon will be at least entertaining on stage, which he mostly was.

>

> Club Nokia is in the big entertainment plaza next to The Staples Area 

> which happened to be hosting a Lakers game as well. You have

> to know the area and the best lots to park and do a little walking, 

> otherwise you can pay over $30 just to park. Although I've been

> to Staples dozens of times, this was my first show at Club Nokia and 

> actually had some trouble finding the place because there's

> also a larger "Nokia Theater" in the same entertainment complex which was 

> dark last night and actually gave me a quick scare

> thinking the show had been cancelled - lol! Once I figured out the Club 

> was kind of buried in the building up a couple stories, I

> was kind of amazed it was such a tiny club, probably holding about 1,000 

> people at best. Still, the place never really filled up,

> the balcony was completed unsold except for VIPs and the floor was maybe 

> 70% filled. $10 well drinks insured this cheap bastard

> stayed sober the whole night.

>

> There was no support band and P.I.L. came on just after 9pm. These days, 

> Lyndon looks a bit like a gap toothed, out of shape Bruce

> Willis with a pot belly wearing a blond pineapple punk haircut. Despite 

> his aging appearance, he's still a fairly funny, good

> natured engaging frontman even if he reads all his lyrics off sheet music 

> on a stand in front of him. At one point about 2/3rd's

> into the main set, he abruptly informed the audience he had to take a piss 

> saying something like he's at the age he should be

> wearing Depends which led to a 5 minute break that kind of took the 

> momentum out of the show. Although he seemed a bit winded at

> times, he did an excellent job singing and working the stage the entire 

> show even if he looks at times like a comical version of

> Frankenstein's monster.

>

> His band is a very impressive group of musicians, especially the guitarist 

> Lu Edmonds who played all sorts of exotic instruments

> aside from traditional guitars. Very tight and well-rehearsed, they played 

> a wide selection of songs from their entire career

> although I was really disappointed only two songs off "Album," "Bags" and 

> "Rise" were played - I was really looking forward to

> hearing "FFF" which wasn't played. Speaking of "Rise," it was clearly the 

> crowd favorite and got the best response of the night near

> the end of the set. Other favorites played in the 2 hour 20+ song set 

> included Public Image, This Is Not A Love Song, Flowers Of

> Romance and Careering. There was definately a few songs that a lot of 

> people didn't know, at one point after one such tune, someone

> next to me asked what it was, the other guy didn't know and several other 

> people didn't know either.

>

> With all that, I have to say it wasn't a particularly memorable show for 

> me anyway. Partly because I wasn't completely familiar with

> much of P.I.L.'s music to begin with beyond one specific album ("Album" 

> from which only two songs were played from) and partly

> because well..... the main body of music they did play was mostly long, 

> groove-oriented jams that at times just went on and on.

> Regarding the audience, although there were a tiny number of old school 

> punkers, for the most part, the audience was among the most

> lifeless group of people I've ever seen a show with although I suspect the 

> challenging set didn't exactly inspire a lot of

> reciprocal energy except with a few well known favorites like "Rise."

>

> One odd thing I noticed was this guy who I'd guess was the band's tour 

> manager who looked like someone straight out of a Monty

> Python skit standing just offstage on the guitarists' side who spent much 

> of the show almost marching in place to the music when he

> wasn't occasionally wildly gesturing at security regarding an occasional 

> fan up front who may have been pushing too hard on the

> barrier. The guy just looked........ strange.

>

> T.B.

>

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