Irregular
The Africa Centre, London
2nd July 1998
Having sat throught he absence of promised DJ Holger Hiller – and hence a repeated digi-dub tape instead – the appearance onstage of two-thirds of Pan Sonic presaged the arrival of Alan Vega. Strutting with his customary swagger, and dressed like a heavy-metal Guardian Angel in shades, Vega launched into his set while his collaborators manipulated the sliders, twiddled the knobs and produced an unholy racket to disturb the surrounding converted non-conformist meeting hall which is now The Africa Centre.
Unlike the recent Suicide gigs, there was no violent response to the stares, poses and screams of Vega forthcoming from the crowd, whose demeanour was rather respectful in the face of a true rock and roll hero working outside his usual framework. Perhaps it was the slightly anonymous presence of Mika Vainio and Ilpo Vaisanen, as opposed to the leather-clad stances of Martin Rev, but the lack of hurled cigarettes, glasses and insults seemed to disappoint the archetypally confrontational singer. Overlaying a decidedly more Rock oscillator output than usual from the Pan Sonic crew with Elvis “Uh-huhs” and extended moans, Vega kept the momentum of the performance on a finely-judged edge between intensly engrossing and repetetive tedium. The sound levels being somewhat restricted by the limitations of the sound system (though the bass tremors were satisfyingly felt in the chest and lungs), the strange impression created was that of being next door to a rave, only hearing the low end trob theough the walls, while an obsessional, angry New Yorker ranted in the vicinity.
-Antron S. Meister-
