PTV Benefit at 1015 Folsom

I had not seen Psychic TV in couple of years now, since the Don't Drink Thee Water party in August 1993. I did not really know what to expect, tho' thought they might be doing their dance/acid-house set. The setting was 1015 Folsom, location to many rave/acid-house parties in the past few years, and the reason (do we need a reason to see PTV?) was to raise some $$'s for Genesis to cover an injury he suffered recently in LA.

I was quite surprised then when they opened up with couple of rok tunes. Actually, the band was not "thee full band": only Genesis seemed left from the original incarnation. He wore his hair long, free-flowing, and wore a dress. The rok songs were interspersed with some of the olde dance songs. The visuals were also new, not their olde PTV visual pagan invocations - are these still in the UK, being enjoyed at this moment by some secret PTV fans at the Scotland Yard? Local trance DJ Cheb i Sabbah was doing some timely mixing of various beats and samples while the band was playing. It worked, tho' not as well as I would have liked. The crowd was rather sedate, and not that large. Mass would have added to the experience, for sure. I hope PTV keeps some of the pagan/acid-house sound and does not go for the rok "thing". Change is good, yet I feel the pagan/soundscapes PTV does are so needed.

As the band was playing, in the next room various SF DJ's were spinning dance trax. Around 2:30 or so when PTV finished, DJ Cheb i Sabbah played some ethno-trance, and the visuals took a more trance-y look. The dance musick was quite good, tho' stayed in the house style a bit too much for my tastes. For a different report, see Brad's review of the Benefit.


The World Tree
Reproduction from J. Campbell's Occidental Mythologies
(To the Musick Page)

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