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Join us in October for GONG!!Presales for tickets can be found at:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/gong-the-legendary-british-psychedelic-space-rock-orion-baltimore-tickets-929627840897?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl
Event is BYOB.
Doors at 7pm and show at 8pm
The ever-metamorphosing entity that is GONG launches, as ever, into unknown – and unknowing – territory with new tours destined to be talked about, discussed, and argued over, up and down the land.
From its beginnings in a French commune in 1967, through the Virgin Records years, mismanagement, court cases, break-ups and re-joining’s, deaths and rebirths – there has always been a continuous thread of beautiful, dangerous and extraordinary music.
The current holders of the flame have come together over the last eight years; sinuous bass player Dave Sturt joined just as the album 2032 was shown to the world; Ian East (Sax, Flute) was the next to blow in through the portal; Fabio Golfetti brought his guitars from Brazil (after working with Daevid Allen for many years); Kavus Torabi (lead vox and guitars) appeared to Daevid in a vision; Cheb Nettles (drums) just sort of turned up.
In 2015, Daevid Allen passed away. His influence and legacy were honoured on the band’s subsequent album, Rejoice! I’m Dead! (2016). In recent years GONG has performed with the Steve Hillage Band (himself a former member of the 1970s GONG line-up) and released the critically acclaimed album The Universe Also Collapses (2019) and a stunning new live album Pulsing Signals (2022) captures the band at a creative peak with tracks drawn from their 2019 tour. Their new studio album, Unending Ascending, was release in November 2023.
Gong’s musically diverse world includes shades of psychedelia, space rock, jazz, avant-garde, krautrock and surreal soundscapes.
GONG
KAVUS TORABI vocals, guitar
FABIO GOLFETTI guitar
IAN EAST sax, flute
DAVE STURT bass
CHEB NETTLES drums
Videos:
https://www.gongband.com/videos/gong-tiny-galaxies-veruno-03-09-2022/
OFFICIAL WEBSITE: https://www.gongband.com/the-band
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/officialgong
EXCLUSIVE WORLDWIDE BOOKING OUTSIDE OF UK/EUROPE: Leonardo Pavkovic, [email protected]
GONG : the legendary psychedelic space rock collective formed in 1969
Complex but fascinating history
Australian beatnik poet Daevid Allen (ex-Soft Machine) began making music with his partner Gilli Smyth in the late 1960s, along with a constantly evolving community of creative musicians. Albums from this period include Magick Brother, Mystic Sister (1969) and the influential Bananamoon (1971) – one of David Bowie’s favourite 20 albums.
A stable line-up of the band, now named Gong, eventually materialised featuring Didier Malherbe (sax and reeds), Christian Tritsch (bass), and Pip Pyle (drums), along with Allen (glissando guitar, vocals) and Smyth (space whisper, vocals). This band released the album Camembert Electrique in late 1971, as well as providing the soundtrack to the iconic biker film Continental Circus and music for the album Obsolete by French poet Dashiel Hedayat.
Gong’s next three albums, released on Virgin Records, became known as the known as the Radio Gnome Trilogy, consisting of Flying Teapot (1973), Angel’s Egg (1974), and You (1975). Over the course of the Trilogy, Tritsch and Pyle left and were replaced by Mike Howlett (bass) and Pierre Moerlen (drums). New members Steve Hillage (guitar) and Tim Blake (synthesizers) also joined.
After You, Allen, Hillage, Blake and Smyth left the group, guitarist Allan Holdsworth joined, and the band moved into a virtuosic jazz fusion style. Nevertheless the trilogy lineup reunited for a few one-off concerts including a 1977 French concert, documented on the Gong Est Mort, Vive Gong album. Allen also reunited with Malherbe and Pyle for 1992’s Shapeshifter album and the Gong 25th Birthday Party in 1994.
A great gathering of the Gong family took place in Amsterdam at the Unconvention in 2006 featuring many previous members and related bands. This event reinvigorated the band, leading to the release of the album 2032 in 2009 and the subsequent tour saw the arrival of Dave Sturt (bass) and Ian East (saxophone).
In 2012, Daevid Allen also enlisted Fabio Golfetti (guitar) and Orlando Allen (drums) for a tour of Europe, UK, Japan and Brazil. By 2013 Kavus Torabi (guitar) had also joined the group and the line-up of Allen, Sturt, East, Golfetti, Allen and Torabi then recorded the album I See You (2014). That year, Daevid Allen was diagnosed with cancer and was unable to perform whilst undergoing treatment. Fulfilling his wishes, the band continued the Gong tradition without him and toured to promote the album, bringing in Cheb Nettles (drums).
In 2015, Daevid Allen passed away. His influence and legacy were honoured on the band’s subsequent album, Rejoice! I’m Dead! (2016).
The band have continued to tour all around the UK and Europe since that time including visits to China, Scandinavia, Brasil, Japan, and The Cruise To The Edge in the Caribbean.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
OrionStudios, 2903 Whittington Ave,Baltimore,MD,United States
