Tonight I Will See This Is Not This Heat

[bobzilla77]

Should be an interesting one! I have tried to avoid reading too much about how they are handling it, and anyway it appears the musicians are different in each city.

Certainly this band has been on my "dream list" of reunions playing in my town for almost 30 years. Punk Prog Attack! Or unclassifiable grinding bliss? Either way I'm in.

[Hightea]

great show saw it Monday. love to hear your review after enjoy!

[bobzilla77]

Well, they tore my head clean off.

It's hard to imagine it having been better executed as a live event. There were two drummers, a bassist, and three guitarists one of whom also played reeds. Almost everyone sang. It was one of the most staggering drum performances ever, and tough to tell who was doing what, except when one or the other would get up from behind the kit. All the material as far as I could tell was familiar and performed somewhat faithfully but not reverentially - everybody had the chance to "solo" at some point, and the line between the two principals and their hired hands was never clear. Hayward was as spastic and over the top as I could have hoped, twisting his face into a grimace during the real grindy parts, hollering "Nooooo! Nooooo! YES!" through "Paper Hats." It felt like a real treat, everyone in the place was saying "I never thought this was possible for me to see." Somehow their rep over the last 40 years has reached the point they can sell out two nights in an LA club.

[LMG]

That brings back memories:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=130503

I am seeing them again in May, their last ever show, apparently.

https://thequietus.com/articles/25894-t ... london-gig

[joels344]

I was going to see them in Knoxville, TN over the weekend, but due to the drive and uncertainty of not getting into the show with it being a music festival, I had to unfortunately pass on the opportunity. I’m sure the show was immense, though.

[bobzilla77]

This is pretty close to what I saw.

[LMG]

Went to see them last night. This was apparently the last ever UK show, although there will be some in the US later this year, hopefully.

The setlist from last night's show at the Albany in Deptford has now appeared online:

Testcard
Horizontal Hold
Not Waving
Water
Twilight Furniture
Music Like Escaping Gas
The Fall of Saigon
Independence
Cenotaph
S.P.Q.R.
A New Kind of Water
Paper Hats
Makeshift Swahili
Rimp Romp Ramp
Sleep
24 Track Loop​
Health and Efficiency

I have seen them three times now, each time was different. Last night's show was incredibly tight - the same band has been playing together a while now, the earlier shows in 2016-2018 were either meant to be one-offs or in the case of the Barbican show, was delayed for nearly a year due to injury.

I really enjoyed the whole show, but particularly good is the inevitable set opener Testcard/Horizontal Hold, which is like an overture to the evening - it lays this band's cards upon the table and lets the audience know this is going to be an amazing evening. The Fall of Saigon is nervy and stress-inducing, S.P.Q.R. is the one about the Roman empire that sounds a lot like Wire, and is my second favourite. My favourite is Sleep,which is a calming lullabye in the middle of the maelstrom.

The horns were particularly good, I should say wind instruments, because two of the band at times play a melodica. The guitars are really good, no flashy soloing just textures and noisiness. James Sedwards of the Thurston Moore band plays guitar and bass, no Thurston Moore last night.

Very enjoyable evening with a heartfelt thank you to many people who had helped the recent incarnation of This Heat from Charles Hayward. If you like the band (and you should) it was just about perfect. Sad to see them go, really.

[LMG]

Two final FINAL live shows in the US in July.

One San Francisco:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/this-is-no ... 2335334664

One New York:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/this-is-no ... 2520817448

Needless to say, if you are at all interested in this band - either from their past in the prog/Canterbury/Roxy/Eno family trees or their influence on Wire/PiL/Sonic Youth/Animal Collective/Hot Chip, then do not miss them if you are possibly able to go.

I have seen them three times this decade, and each time they were unique and wonderful.

[Darkness_Fish]

I'm guessing that anyone reading this already has a certain tolerance for the avant-garde already, but I'm pushing that a bit further by watching Charles Hayward with Keiji Haino on 17th June, in Hebden Bridge. Unlikely they'll play any This Heat, and to be honest, I'm more going just to see Haino. You have to wonder how many more years of touring he'll do, and he's not played the north of England in more than a decade. Hoping he's going for guitar abuse, rather than flutes, or drumming, or whatever.