The Residents are an enigma.
I have been aware of the band, their philosophy, and their music for almost 50 years. I remember hearing about the Residents from friends in the late 70s. Now I had never heard of The Residents at that point in time, so I had to go and find out about them. What I found was a unique, crazy art collective who wore bobble head eye masks and never revealed their identity. Their music was also unique and every album very different. At that point my interest was raised and I promised myself if I ever got the chance to see The Residents then I would do so.
The Residents hail from the USA and never reveal their individual or collective identities. They always wear masks on every appearance, album cover or indeed on their website. So, there is an air of mystery and intrigue about this band. I delved further into this strange collective and found their music interesting, sometimes hard to come to terms with, but ultimately enjoyable. Now every album, and there have been many of them, is different. I have listened to some of their music but I am not familiar with all of it and can’t claim to be a true “fan”.
From their website: “Alternately seen as a rock band, an arts collective, and a spirit, THE RESIDENTS have been regarded as icons in the world of experimental music for almost fifty years. In addition to their ground-breaking work in the areas of trance, world fusion, electronica, punk, industrial and lounge music, the group has also been credited with being among the originators of performance art and music video, with their videos included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. Their lengthy career has also taken them into the world of film and television music, having scored numerous films and TV series as well as several projects for MTV. In addition, the group is also thriving in the world of digital media having released ten DVDs, and two internet series. “Wow! Eclectic, super productive and genre crossing or what!
So, I was determined, throughout the last 50 or so years, to keep my promise to myself and go and see this band if they ever came to the North-East. Now, to my knowledge, The Residents have never appeared in the North-East of England before. They have played in the UK on a number of occasions, Often at prestigious venues such as the Royal Festival Hall, London and Hammersmith Odeon, London; but have never ventured close by. I guess I have been lazy, and never travelled to see them in the past. More fool me! So, when I saw that they were coming to the Boiler Shop in Newcastle, I just had to go.
Bad timing of the night. I read on the Boiler Shop website that there was a support act so I figured the main act would be on stage around 8:30 PM to 9 PM. So, I asked my taxi driver to arrive at 8 PM to get me there just in time (I thought) to see The Residents. Big mistake. When we arrived at the venue and made our way up onto the wheelchair platform, our USA friends were already on stage. My carer for the evening (and thanks for the photos) Jackie, kindly went and purchased a fine pint of Guinness for me and asked at the bar what time they had taken to the stage. Apparently, they started at 8:15 PM so we had missed around 15 minutes. Anyway, their performance was fantastic in the true sense of the word. They had a great light show and behind them was a screen displaying images which, I assume, related to the songs and the bands mythology. I bought a T-shirt with their signature bubble eye mask displayed on the front, a couple of badges and a book which is an A-Z Encyclopaedia of The Residents (it will take some reading!).
The singer would do a crazy little dance moving his (?) arms up and down and bobbing up and down at the same time. Difficult to describe. They all had masks over their faces and instead of eyes appeared spooky lights. The crowd was a mixture of ages and different types drawn from their fan base: hippies, punks and those who were probably there out of interest and curiosity like myself. The place was reasonably full but by no means packed. I can’t begin to describe their music. Every song is very different with sometimes shocking and spooky lyrics. “Curiouser and curiouser!” cried Alice (she was so much surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English).”(Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll, 1865).I distinctly remember some of the songs: “Die! Die! Die!”, ” Kill Him!” and “Constantinople”.Definitely leading us further and further down that rabbit hole.
I was drawn into it. The crazy, spooky, music. Indescribable. New wave? Trance? Psychedelia? Labels don’t work for The Residents. A challenging, strange, difficult to describe yet ultimately enjoyable evening. 50 years too late, but worth the wait.
Setlist (something like, based on other performances): Jambalaya (On the Bayou); Hello Skinny; Cut to the Quick; Laughing Song; Bach Is Dead; Boxes of Armageddon; Would We Be Alive?; Cold as a Corpse; Smelly Tongues; Moisture; Constantinople; The Monkey Man; Semolina; Kill Him!; Blue Rosebuds; The Theme From Buckaroo Blues; The Stampede; Lizard Lady; Cold as a Corpse; Hungry Hound; Die! Die! Die!.
Encore: Diskomo; Nobody Laughs When They Leave.
I have wanted to see 
“One of his (Mills) earliest musical memories was “Puff, the Magic Dragon” by Peter, Paul and Mary, which he believes “summed up [his] childhood… However, it was hearing “You Really Got Me” by…The Kinks that inspired him to become a guitarist. “It was like walking into a temple, a moment when my life changed… Chung! This is your destiny! …I was a guitar worshipper.” Through the guitar, Mills also discovered Deep Purple, and has cited their lead guitarist Ritchie Blackmore as a major influence on his style. Later, Mills started to delve deeper into psychedelic music, and spent most of his A-Level years taking LSD and listening to The Doors. … but he soon realised that drugs alone would not bring him the enlightenment he sought.“ (From Wikipedia)
I even recognised several songs: the John Lennon classic “Gimme Some Truth” the lyrics spat out by Mills with appropriate venom, the Kula Shaker signature tune, “Tattva” and the Deep Purple (originally Joe South) classic and closer “Hush”. Along the way we were treated to songs with references to the 60s: “Grateful When Your Dead” and “Jerry Was There” (Jerry Garcia?) A compelling and quite bizarre take on “Ginger Bread Man” (yes, the lyrics were actually “Run, Run As Fast As You Can, You Can’t Catch Me, I’m the Ginger Bread Man”: just wonderful). Add some appropriate namedropping. Crispian: “I stole the next riff from George Harrison. I rang George one evening (you would, wouldn’t you, after all your mum is Hayley Mills) “Hey George, I hope you don’t mind I borrowed that riff from you”. George: “of course that’s okay, Crispian, but actually it’s not my riff, it’s Eric’s (Clapton, of course). Surreal., Then they were gone. It was almost 10:30 PM.
They were soon back for a trio of encores concluded with the wonderful “Govinda”, very similar to a Quintessence song of the same name. I loved every minute of it. Then things started to get crazy. A friendly guy, completely off his head, got me a set list (see image) from the stage. He then went on to offer to steal a guitar pedal for me.” No!” I shouted. He persisted “hey man, it’s cool”. I replied “it’s okay, I’m cool. The set list is just fine for me”. The guy gave me a couple of peace signs and disappeared into the crowd. Elaine and I made a hasty retreat through the crazy throng and got into our taxi, which was there waiting for us. The craziness continued, we drove through a tunnel where groups of young people were congregated making fires and settling themselves down for the evening, a couple of guys entertaining them with fire sticks which they were twirling around their heads.
Welcome to the Crazy World of 
The first half consisted of Arthur performing the majority of his first Crazy World of Arthur Brown album, including “Fire Poem” which leads into his anthem “Fire!” Everyone knows this one: “I am the God of hellfire and I bring you – – – Fire! I take you to burn”. The reaction of people when I told them I was going to see Arthur Brown. “Who is he?”, or “is he still around?” When reminded most people did remember “Fire!” He also included some new material and some classic Kingdom Come songs. Lots of costume changes. And, a real crown of fire! That is something I have never seen him wear before. Psychedelic backdrop showing liquid lens videos of Arthur in his prime in the late 1960s. Mannequins wearing spooky masks. The band wearing crazy costumes and headgear with feathers just as I remember Kingdom Come back 50 years ago. Gauze, flimsy, drapes adorning the stage.
Death”: Bruce Dickinson – Iron Maiden. “Arthur Brown was a man ahead of his time”: Elton John. “Arthur Brown is as much a dancer as he is a singer”: Pete Townshend – The Who. (All quotes from Arthur’s website)
. The third was, of course, Arthur Brown’s first album The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. I loved that album and played it and played it. One omission, Arthur, if I dare to be so greedy: I wish you had played Screaming Jay Hawkins’ “I Put a Spell on You” from that album. But then you can’t always get what you want (now there’s another song!)
Nick Mason, drummer of 
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song “Arnold Layne”. The band did a great job of recreating the music, ethos and atmosphere of these early classics. Gary Kemp in particular, is to be applauded for his tremendous guitar work and vocals. Indeed, each member of the band is clearly an accomplished musician and together they stunned the crowd with a concert which was authentic to the original Pink Floyd musical textures. The rest of the first set comprised a mixture of songs from early Floyd albums including less well-known tracks such as “Obscured by Clouds” and the wonderful “Remember a Day”. The first half of the show concluded with an uplifting, mesmerising version of “Set the Controls for the Heart of the sun”, complete with drum rhythms and gongs. Another song which I remember Floyd performing at that 1972 concert which now seems eons away in the distant past. The instrumentals were particularly well performed. A short interval followed during which I had time to partake in a pint of Hobgoblin (no Guinness, sadly).
The second half opened by taking us right back to the start with classic guitar-based tunes “Interstellar Overdrive” and “Astronomy Domine”, two of my favourite early Pink Floyd tracks. We were then treated to a few less known, at least by me, songs and the second set ended with Barrett’s “Lucifer Sam” and Meddle’s standout track, Pink Floyd favourite, “Echoes”. A very appropriate closer for an excellent selection of songs.
I treated myself to a signed drum skin and a T-shirt (sadly no programme). Many thanks to David for his expert photography and to Elaine and Chris for placing me safely into my bed at the end of a great evening. Thank you Nick for putting together a band worthy of the songs, their leader and the band name. Classic. Happy days.
This extravaganza had everything a Hawk fan such as myself could dream of; the band played a set of classy psychedelic rockers which spanned their entire career coupled with a new concept album The Road to Utopia, an orchestra conducted by super Womble 
longtime drummer Richard Chadwick, Old friend and wizard Tim Blake on keyboards and theremin, along with (relatively) new members Niall Hone on bass and Magnus Martin on guitar and keyboards. So we are treated to some of my favourite Hawk tunes including “Spirit of the Age”, “Born to Go” and of course “Silver Machine.” For the encore we wind back 50 years to the first album and “Hurry on Sundown.” Then another of my all-time favourites “Master of the Universe”, by which time we are on our way out, panicking and waiting for the taxi with 10 minutes to go for our train. The taxi arrives just in time! Then it’s a quick dash along the platform in York station, having navigated lifts down and back up again, and two friendly guys are waiting with a ramp to get me back onto the train. Although they are arguing a little as neither have been “trained to use the new ramp!” They managed to use it and we take our seats on the train for the short ride back up to Durham, where our friendly Station taxis guy awaits us. A short ride to pick up Chris and I am helped back to bed after experiencing another wonderful night with my hawk heroes. Happy days are here again. 🙂
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