Alles ist schoen - no comments

Just returned from watching 70s krautrock masters, Faust, in Hove, a mere 3 minutes walk from my home. Though I have a fair knowledge of the genre, I hadn't experienced any of Faust's music before, let alone their stage presence, and not much can prepare you for a 50-something French hippy (Jean Hervé Peron) ironing an audience member's jacket on stage, as a burly German drummer (Zappi Diermaier) beats the steel pipes he is holding aloft with a hammer before carving them up on stage with an axle-grinder, sparks flying across the stage. A flautist attempts to play a real clarinet and a child's plastic one simultaneously. A screaming-chorus of local popstrels accompanies one song, a marching band of local trumpeters and saxophonists another.

I wouldn't say it was "difficult" - not like this - even when they drifted away from jam session-rock, melody could be found among the metallic clanks, squawks, and the occasional Germanic chant ("Rund ist schoen!").

They were on stage from, I was told, a punctual 7.00 pm to well past 10. I doubt we saw even half of that, and managed to miss British Sea Power entirely, but it's liberating to be able to hit the bar during a performance, drift back, and find the band still in full flow.

All in all, a great night's entertainment. See them in Newcastle on the 8th. Final word from Jean-Hervé:

When I got back to europe in juli 68 , many friends had been brutally beaten by our repressive police forces and they all followed radical poltical movements. It was a schock for me . I went through a short an intense crisis : I opted in favor of the zen poetry instead of the marxist-trotzkist-leninist communism .
I painfully cut the umbilical cord, rolled my sleepingbag, picked up my guitar and trumpet . I was off , on the road !

Good choice.