It will be qui
te difficult to find one venue in Brussels that looks more underground than the Recyclart, it is very dark in there and the interior immediately makes you think of the 80s. An ideal place to see one of the most legendary bands from that period: Psychic TV.
First Aikula played. You never heard of them before, you say? Mind you, neither did we! Their debut album Jate did well in homeland Slovenia and Psychic TV gave these five musicians the unique opportunity to show the rest of Europe of what they are capable of. Eastern European rock acts are usually difficult for Western music fans, but because of the brilliant guitar work of Jan Pivk and Jernej Kobal, plus the strong vocals by Zoran Zelenović, you quickly noticed that the audience had no problems to enjoy this sturdy stoner rock. Immediately it was clear that this would be a night with a lot of sweat: the venue was packed.
I gu
ess most need not explain what Psychic TV is: founded in 1981 by Genesis P-Orridge (former Throbbing Gristle) and Alexander Fergusson (formerly Alternative TV) and primarily a visual project ( hence the name). After the release of a whole series of live albums, Fergusson went away and was replaced by Fred Giannelli. The next four years were almost pure techno. Afterwards Genesis P-Orridge was mainly involved in very experimental records that landed in the record col
lection by dedicated fans who wanted to hear everything Genesis did. It was in 2003 that drummer Edley
O’Dowd convinced Genesis to start again after a period of silence. Despite a lot of tragedies (including the death of Lady Jaye) Psychic TV was stronger than ever before, although the new style was a far cry from the early industrial sounds. Psychic TV was almost pure Krautrock now, but how!
Rig
ht from the start Psychic TV set the tone: a very hard psychedelic version of Jump Into the Fire, a cover of Harry Nilsson of his classic Nilsson Schmilsson from 1971. Everything was perfect: the intriguing bass of Alice Genese, the energetic guitar byJeff Berner, the tight drums of O ‘Dowd and of course the voice of Genesis which evokes all kind of emotions. We already wrote it: perfect!
As a second song the band opted for a classic: Just Like A
rcadia of Allegory And Self, the 1988-album in which Monte Cazazza was involved. The venue exploded, beer cups went up in the air, slam dancing as life was depended on it.After How Does It Feel and Looking For You, the sublime Alienist was played in which we clearly could recognize the old Psychic TV: psychedelia with a dash of electronica. From the Snakes-album of 2014 three tracks were played: After You’re Dead, She Said, Burning The Old Home and Southern Comfort. The band clearly suffered from the almost unbearable heat in the venue, but the 66-year-old Genesis gave everyting she (or he) had to offer and performed a superb set of which brats can learn a lot.
One minor point was the “fan” who found it was necessary to smoke in the venue and that while Genesis aske
d him several times not to do this, because of her asthma. A big middle finger to that “fan”, have respect for the artists, man!
When Genesis left the stage, she could not resist to make a statement and give the Queen a slap. With taxpayers’ money horse racing in Liverpool is sponsored, and as horses are required to jump over impossible heights a lot of animals die annually.
Psychic TV came back despite the heat (and the smoker) and played an excellent version of Suspicious. An evening to remember. Magic!
Pictures: Luminous Dash.
