The band, minus singer, stroll onto the stage of Manchester's Academy 3,pick up their instruments and crash into a grooved up, space-rock type of thing - feeling their way into the surroundings and sounds that will make up tonight's gig.
A couple of minutes in and David Thomas joins them, a colossal man with greying beard and thinning hair, clutching a file of
lyrics and lurching mic-ward, beady eyes checking out the front rows. He pauses briefly before the mic, leans forward slightly and - what happens next is a piece of pure rock magic - his face contorts, his body twitches and his mouth releases a stream of intense, high pitched vocals, the effort of which sends him slumped into a chair placed behind him, sweat beading his brow while lungs gasp for air!
Once seated he takes a hip-flask from his pocket and drinks down a great slug of whatever magical liquid is contained therein. Suitably refreshed he lurches forward again to deliver the next verse as intense, huge, manic, monstrous and magnificent as the first. Thus David Thomas spends the rest of the gig, alternately at the mic, face twisted, arms flailing, body seemingly inspasm or, sat breathing heavily, swigging from flask or beer bottle and nodding appreciatively at the incredible sounds issuing from the people around him.
Tonight is part of Pere Ubu's 30th Anniversary Tour and we're here to celebrate the life of a band formed in Cleveland, Ohio back in 1975, that awoke a slumbering rock world with their first release '30 Seconds Over Tokyo'/Heart Of Darkness' - a great challenging, inspirational slab of vinyl, marrying garage punk and avante garde. Contained within the record's two songs were a myriad of ideas and possibilities that would feed a host of bands over the next few years (PIL, Gang Of Four, Birthday Party, The Fall etc) and spread like a virus to infect musicians through the following 3 decades (Pixies/Mogwai/Flaming Lips/Sonic Youth etc.)
So, tonight is a mixture of old, new and all points in between. The band's line-up has always been flexible, just as the music has demanded and at present features Thomas from the original Ubu, guitarist Keith Moliné (a Pale Boy), band staples since the early 90's bassist Michele Temple (Mrs Thomas) and synth/ theremin manipulator Robert Wheeler plus newer, younger drummer Steve Mehlman.
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Together they ride a groove that is launched and held firm by the driving drums of Mehlman (a human dynamo) and the solid bass of petit Temple (who looks unbelievably happy to be here, grinning unabashedly and throwing lovingly proud glances at hubby Thomas). Over this, Moliné and Wheeler create incredible soundscapes that drift one minute and race the next, evoking changes in time and space, darkness and light.
Wheeler is like a mad professor, face taut with concentration as he performs a kind of voodoo dance around his theremin, hands and fingers coaxing, pulling and twisting sounds, like lost souls, from its invisible core. We're treated to the twisted blues of 'Slow Walking Daddy', the epic 'Dark' and the grinding riffs of 'Phone Home Jonah' from latest CD St. Arkansas which indicate a return to less experimental times. From earlier albums we get a great 'Ray Gun Suitcase'; 'Wheelhouse', 'Sad Txt' and 'Woolie Bullie' (from Pennsylvania); 'We Have The Technology' (Tenement Year) and - highlights of the night - the wonderful, legendary 'Modern Dance' and, in response to a heartfelt audience request, 'Non-Alignment Pact'. We also get a cover of The Dead Boys 'Sonic Reducer' and a song written for Wayne Kramer, dedicated to the women in the audience, which has lyrics along the lines of: "One day I'll be your man / cos then I'll be all that you can get"!!
A great show full of character, humour and danger. 30 years gone, who knows how many more to come.....
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