A couple of years ago I was living in London, not too far from where Throbbing Gristle set up the Death Factory and purportedly experimented with super high-pitched, super-irritating noises to keep a wandering group of vagrants from settling down too nearby their factory sweet factory. According to Simon Reynolds' Rip It Up and Start Again: 1978-1984, the itinerant vagabonds were so nonplussed by the sounds and their disturbing side effects that they circled the wagons and skedaddled on out of there, leaving Genesis P-Orridge and friends in loud and disturbing peace. This is kind of what I imagine Throbbing Gristle's upcoming performance at Coachella will be like, except magnified up to 5,000 times, and with Paris Hilton and a bunch of L.A. hipsters instead of no-account drifters.
And now you, too, can have a similar -- if smaller scale experience -- even if spending three scorching days in the desert isn't exactly your cup of tea -- unless you were planning on going to the UCLA show, because that date has been cancelled due to circumstances beyond the control of TG. Oh snap! But the sold-out New York and Chicago tour stops have added second dates, and the group is trying to find a replacement venue for the LA show. Tickets are on sale now
04.16.09 - Brooklyn, NY - Masonic Hall
04.19.09 - Indio, CA - Coachella
04.21.09 - Los Angeles, CA - UCLA
04.23.09 - San Francisco, CA - Grand Regency Ballroom
04.25.09 - Chicago, IL - Epiphany Episcopal
04.26.09 - Chicago, IL - Epiphany Episcopal* (JUST ADDED)
04.28.09 - Brooklyn, NY - Masonic Hall** (JUST ADDED)
06.19.09 - Copenhagen, Denmark***
06.21.09 - London, UK - Heaven
*Bruce McClure
** Alan Vega, Emeralds
***The European Premiere of Throbbing Gristle performing a live soundtrack for Cerith Wyn Evans (who will attend the event) film The Sky Is As Thin As Paper Here & other TG sound works.