Flying teapots, Electric Camembert, Pothead Pixies! What is this, some kind of French LSD cult? Well kind of. Welcome to another edition of progtastic fall of 2024. In 1967, Australian singer Daevid Allen was a member of the British psychedelic rock band Soft Machine and was denied re- entry to the UK after his visa expired. ( see September’s post on the current lineup of the Softs) Setting up camp in Paris, Allen and his partner Gilli Smyth established the first incarnation of the troupe that would become Gong. Allen’s wacky drug addled take on the band offered a whimsical fairy-induced output of “space-rock”. They accumulated personnel who signed on to the vision of Allen. Like Sun Ra’s Arkestra or George Clinton’s P Funk Allstars, Gong were an interplanetary happening that were theatrical as well as musical. Allen passed in 2015, but the notion of Gong endures. The current lineup boasts guitarist Fabio Golfetti, bassist Dave Sturt, sax/ clarinet player Ian East, drummer Cheb Nettles, and frontman singer guitarist Kavus Torabi. The crew touched down in Hamden for a lively set. My Guitar is a Spaceship, Kapital, All Clocks Reset, Rejoice! Tiny Galaxies, My Sawtooth Wake, Through Restless Seas I Come, Lunar Invocation, Master Builder, Choose Your Goddess, Insert Your Own Prophecy ( complete with taped Allen words from beyond the grave), and closed with You Can’t Kill Me. The band was tight, something that Allen probably eschewed in favor of mystical ethos. Gong did morph toward prog technical wizardry employing such axe-wielders as Steve Hillage and Allan Holdsworth. All musicians were talented and steered the spaceship. Torabi in particular was a sight, with his androgynous attire and poodle rocker hair, he looked like a lost member of The Romantics, the one that went behind the bowling alley and ran into 20 hits of blotter and never came back. I am amazed these bands are carrying the torch and happy they include the New Haven market as a tour stop.
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