From: "Pedro Sena"  
Subject: Gong Live 
Date: 09/16/97; 9:32:09 AM 
 
Reviewed by Pedro de Sena (c)1997.  All rights Reserved. 
 
GONG 
Chrystal Ballroom, Portland Oregon, September 12 
WOW Hall, Eugene, Oregon, September 13 
 
Lineup: Daevid Allen, Gilly Smith, Mike Howlett, Steffi Sharpsprings, 
Didier Malherbe and Pierre Moerlin. 
 
      !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
 
Many bands come and go. Few ever really stay around, for a medium sized run. 
And on occasion, one band stands out as a Redwood Giant might... they will 
not 
only not die and fall, but they will get stronger and better. 
 
Such was the case in this tour by thus veteran band. And it showed. Although 
one might have liked a bigger crowd in Portland, a town not known for its 
progressive music or attitudes, in Eugene, in a much smaller hall, with 
seemingly more people in it, this band showed both audiences why they are so 
magnificent, and won't go away... it's hard to imagine that this band could 
have a better, or tighter feel in earlier days. When comparing these two 
shows 
to many others in their many live performances, this trip is the one that 
deserves to be distributed. If anything, it is the audience that really got a 
treat, so inexpensively. 
 
In Portland, a much larger city, the band had the luxury of playing into the 
night, in a hall where the band sounded magnificent, but poor acoustics 
appeared to interfere with the band's monitors, although I don't think that 
the majority of audience members cared, or bothered to worry about it. 
 
Still the band showed some new fans that this band could rock, and play with 
the very best of them. The show was tight, and the many musical breaks and 
stops were in the finest of shapes, more than once leaving an audience 
aghast. 
And it may have been the solidness of drummer Pierre Moerlin that made the 
difference in this tour. This was a very confident, and alive band, that 
showed that it had the experience and the ability to do its thing. One could 
not ask for much more, other than a request for some new material. It seems 
that the GONG trilogy is the main interest, but the old interest may be 
holding back a new audience that may not relate to the old material, or 
understand that which Daevid Allen is trying to say or accomplish. But 
without 
a doubt it is the Om Riffs, Sprinkling of Flowers and Isle of Everywheres,
that everyone seems to be waiting for. 
 
For both shows, it is really hard to say which musician stood out the most 
out 
of the group, but suffice it to say that Pierre Moerlin displayed why he one 
of the world's best drummers, by not only time keeping a band, but helping it 
display its musicianship, in areas, where most bands nowadays could never 
even 
attempt. Also in fine form this time around, and perhaps a little looser and 
having more fun, was Mike Howlett, who seemed to be on a big fly high hour in 
Eugene. In Portland, it appeared that he was not as outgoing, but in Eugene, 
there were no stops, and this man showed why he is such a valuable asset to 
the steadiness and music of GONG. 
 
In Portland, the band had a more relaxed time schedule and was able to play 
just about anything that they had in their sights, pretty much giving the 
Portland audience a show that will not soon be forgotten. It had loudness 
when 
it needed it, punch when it was required and the sensuousness when it was 
mandated, thus displaying why this band does not fit into a commercial level 
o 
music. Sadly, the Eugene show with the supporting bands started way TOO late, 
and forced the band to cut their set almost 45 minutes, and prevented an 
encore, or the blasting of the OM Riff. 
 
It's hard to ask of a band to do much better than this, but in many ways, 
this 
tour is an indication that GONG is doing very well, and that they may be 
rounding into form as a group. The ever present, Gilly, Didier, and Steffi, 
rounded out the evening with moments of their own. For once, in this line up 
and tour, the show was so strong, that one could bypass the actual need for a 
keyboard player, in order to free Steffi to play his sharpstrings a little 
more, but to his credit, he handles the keyboard and guitar duties extremely 
well. In the previous tour, the band did not sound as alive and dynamic as it 
did this time, and the difference, is as promising to this pair of ears as 
any 
hope has ever been. GONG needs to survive, and should, for it really 
represents, not an age of doogoody stone heads, but a musical display of 
attitude and moral significance, in a world of musical industries that do not 
regard MUSIC as its first commitment. 
 
MUST SEE SHOW WITH THIS LINE UP. 
 
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