The ¡TchKunG! show last night was flat-out incredible! So glad I made it out there.
After relaxing for most of the day yesterday, I grabbed a bus and started heading out to find the FUNC. I wasn’t really too sure where I was going, but as the bus got closer, I saw a few other people that I thought looked like they might be heading to the show. Sure enough, I heard a couple of them talking about trying to figure out where the FUNC was, and we all ended up banding together. Luckily enough, one of the girls had been there before and knew where to go, so we all followed her for a couple blocks once we got off the bus. Sure enough, after rounding a corner, the sound of tribal drumming greeted us, and we were pretty sure that we’d found the place.
The FUNC reminded me a lot of some of the old warehouse parties I used to go to in Anchorage — it’s an old storage warehouse that’s been gutted and turned into a big empty performance space. Perfect for the kind of anarchistic revelry that ¡TchKung! generally creates. Outside the FUNC was a large draped area that seemed to be serving as something of a “chill room”, with blankets, pillows, and tribal/trance music playing on a stereo. I was never sure whether it was open to the general public or if it was for the performers, so I never went in to check, instead wandering around the lot outside the warehouse and peoplewatching. There were a lot of other people doing the same, talking with friends, and standing around a few burn barrels to keep warm until the show started.
The first half-hour or so of the night was just music over the speakers as everything got set up, then the actual show opened with a demonstration from Quilombo do Queimado Capoeira. Developed as a blend between martial arts and dance when the slaves in Brazil were not allowed to have their own martial art, Capoeira is one of the most amazing and beautiful dance/fighting styles I’ve ever seen. I’ve had something of an interest in it for a few years, so getting to see these people perform was a real treat. Even better, it turns out that while most of their classes locally are during evenings when I’m at work, they do have “all skill level” classes on Saturday afternoons, so I’m thinking about heading down there some weekend in the near future to check it out.
After the Capoeira demonstration, the Infernal Noise Brigade set up off to the side of the main stage. They were a bit too much pure noise for me at that point, so I spent most of their set bouncing back and forth between the bar area, where I grabbed a couple rum and cokes, and outside. There was a fair amount of spur-of-the-moment stuff going on outside, too — everything from firedancing to impromptu and improvised shadow plays using a floodlight aimed against the large white wall of a building next door.
Eventually I headed back into the FUNC and worked my way into the crowd gathering in front of the stage. A few people were wandering through the crowd, attempting to buy crude oil from anyone they spoke to, and passing out “money” in the form of copied dollar bills. Rather quickly after getting the bills, lighters would start to come out, and soon most of the crowd was holding up flaming $1, $5, $10, and $20 bills. Eventually we were told to stop, just in case the fire department came through and declared things a fire hazard, but every so often for the rest of the evening, you’d see the occasional bill go up somewhere in the audience.
After a few minutes of this, Uncle Sam came out on stage to welcome everyone to the show, and started pouring oil out over anyone within arms reach. I hadn’t seen the mudman that’s typical of ¡TchKunG! shows yet, but a ¡TchKung! show just isn’t a ¡TchKunG! show if you don’t get nice and filthy at some point in the evening! This is actually one of the parts of their shows that I’ve always enjoyed — it’s kind of hard to break into groups or think that anyone looks like they “don’t belong” when everyone’s slathered in mud, oil, or anything of the sort. It’s a little hard to describe, but it fits very well with the general air of the shows.
After Uncle Sam was done, ¡TchKunG! took the stage, and launched into the first half of their set. It’s so difficult to convey in words the energy that is present during one of their shows, but they’re by far one of my favorite bands to see live. The best word I can think of to describe any show by them is “tribal”, in the truest sense of the word — the crowd gets so wrapped up in things, that it becomes something more than a collection of individuals, and something closer to a “tribe”, I suppose…oh, whatever. You get the point. Or you don’t.
Midway through ¡TchKunG!’s set, they broke for a few minutes to bring out the Battle of the Dictators. In came George W. Bush, and then Saddam, held up on litters, with Bush brandishing boxing gloves, and Saddam holding a saber in one hand and an oil can in the other (which he used to pour more oil over the crowd as he passed by). Uncle Sam returned to the stage, and the lead singer for ¡TchKunG! donned an Osama bin Laden mask, and the two of them acted as commentators as Bush and Saddam proceeded to battle it out in the middle of the floor. The battle eventually got a bit derailed, though, when Bush and Saddam became so enamored over each others love of money, oil, and totalitarian control that they ended up molesting each other in the middle of the fighting ring, and the match was called to a halt for “unnecessary fornication!”
After the Battle of the Dictators fell apart, ¡TchKung! took the stage again to do the last half of their set. As they whipped the crowd back up into a frenzy, the mud finally came through, with both a Mudman and a Mudgirl working their way around, making sure that anyone who hadn’t gotten hit by the oil got a good amount of mud on them instead. Later on, the Mudgirl also came through with a gas can full of water, dousing people and giving them drinks out of the spout — a really nice touch, as few people really wanted to wander out to get a drink.
As the set started drawing to a close, another of the standards came out — their firebreather. He came out with two firebrands and cleared a good-sized area of space around him, then sent four or five absolutely huge fireballs towards the ceiling. Those are incredibly difficult to get a good picture of, but I’m rather pleased with the one I did get!
Eventually the set came to a close, and ¡TchKunG! left the stage…only to come back a few minutes later to do an encore set, something I’d never seen them do before! They did a great version of “Dijamy/Crashing the System” from their ‘Post World Handbook’ album, then left the stage again, closing out their part of the night, and after wandering around for a few more minutes, I took a cab home, showered to get the mud off, and fell into bed.
All in all, an awesome night. Hopefully it’s not too long before they resurface again!
More pictures of the night can be found in this photoalbum, and I’ve also found one other small writeup of the night on patr0ck’s LiveJournal. If I find any more, I’ll post them later on.
