The lack of promotion for Amorphous Androgynous gigs in the ’00s still staggers me. A.S. Cob – anonymous fan, friend of the band, maybe Mason Bentley himself? – posted on the FSOLBoard in May 2008 that a Russian tour was happening in a few weeks. Brian confirmed to me that four shows were lined up for August. The only one I received information about prior to the actual date (two days before) was the Moscow show on the 31st. Staggering, really. Gaz’s interviews since have contradicted the facts we know (numbers, places), which only makes things harder to comprehend.
The only things we really know about the Kazan show come from YouTube videos. It was part of the city’s first Creation of Peace Festival in 2008. The lineup of the Moscow show the following night is was promoted as:
Gaz Cobain – electronics, vocals
Alisha Sufit – vocals
Dave Sanderson – vocal, percussionn
Gary Lucas – guitars
Virgil Howe – drums
Baluji Shrivastav – sitar, vocals
Dianne Harris – video projections
Which feels somewhat empty, and indeed doesn’t match the videos. The guitarist doesn’t look like Gary Lucas, and a long haired bassist is present. A guy in sunglasses sits behind a second laptop, and Jonathan Mayer makes his Amorphous debut on sitar. Still, it seems like Mikey and Stu Rowe were out of the band at this point. The general sound and performance seems to match that of previous shows, however. Gaz sings along with the studio vocals and triggers various sounds on his laptop, with most of the electronics being played from the studio tracks; bass and drums are live, the rest of the other instruments largely decorative. Dave Sanderson does a lot of wailing at various points. The 31 minute YouTube video appears to be complete, with the setlist running like this:
The Mello Hippo Disco Show
The Lovers
Riders (On the Circadian Rhythm)
All is Harvest
Elysian Feels
We Have Explosive
‘Mello Hippo’ is in the usual extended version, once again subtly changed from the previous live performances. ‘The Lovers’ is fairly straight-forward, with the guitarist attempting much of the soloing, although it doesn’t capture the excellence of the chopped up studio version; Alisha Sufit sings “let us love, let us love” throughout the middle of the song, which is considerably more welcome than Dave Sanderson’s “come on, make some noise!” nonsense at the start of the track. You’re not Robbie Williams, mate. ‘Riders’ is the only new track in the set, and has changed quite a bit from the studio version, with different drums, a longer intro, a different structure, and vocals from Alisha Sufit, plus guitar and sitar improvisation. It’s clearly a favourite of the band’s, appearing both here and on Electric Brain Storm 1, although not the most obvious choice for a live track, with the original not featuring any guest musicians, and generally sounding as much like FSOL as it does Amorphous. Gaz does some… odd dancing. He appears to be bowing to Alisha Sufit. Maybe? I try not to think about it too much. As live interpretations go, it’s one of my least favourite. ‘All is Harvest’ features the “all I need is the air that I breathe” lyrics, but is otherwise the same arrangement as the studio version: it’s a track where the live performance does it some justice, although I’m not fond of the vocals. ‘Elysian Feels’ appears in its Abbey Road arrangement, leading into ‘We Have Explosive’, in what seems like the most fun part of the set, despite Dave Sanderson’s insistence on getting the crowd to make some noise.
What’s interesting about the set is how similar it is to previous shows, with ‘Riders’ being the only new track. With three albums’ worth of back catalogue, it’s odd that so few songs have ever ended up in the live shows. I did once hear rumour that ‘Galaxial’ had been played (God knows how), but otherwise, why not ‘Yes My Brother’, ‘In the Summertime of Consciousness’, ‘Divinity’, ‘Meadows’, ‘The Peppermint Tree’, ‘Tiny Space Birds’ and so on…
Fractional Difference 