Shows/1978-11-16

November 16, 1978
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Chislehurst Caves
City	London
Tour	UK Ubu Dance Party Tour
Event
Billing	Pere Ubu The Red Crayola

Photos

The Red Crayola

Photos by Shirley O'Loughlin

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Pere Ubu

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  Photo: Denis O'Regan

Ephemera

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Announcement

Record Mirror

November 14, 1978

Pere Ubu Mystery Gig

Roll up for the mystery tour with a difference! Simply pay your money and get on the coach... and you'll be driven to a "secret location" to see Ohio new wavers Pere Ubu!

The novel scheme has been organised by Chrysalis Records and takes place on November 16. Coaches will leave London's West End at 7:30pm, returning at midnight—all for an inclusive cost of only £2. Customers will see a full set featuring Pere Ubu and Red Crayola.

Tickets, however, are restricted to the first 250 applicants, and can be obtained by post from: The Final Solution, 12 Stratford Place, London, W1N 9AF, or by personal application at London record shops. (Cheques should be made payable to Chrysalis Records).

Reviews

Circus Weekly

December 12, 1978, pg.15

Pere Ubu plays fave cave

Secrecy was the order of the evening November 16 for what was billed in tiny "Pere Ubu gig" at an undisclosed location 30 miles outside of London.

The 250 or so fans of Cleveland's premier underground band who took the bait found themselves transported (at a cost of about $4, and by a very circuitous route) to Chislehurst Caves, an underground club (literally) that once hosted gigs by Jimi Hendrix and Hawkwind, but which had fallen into disuse over the past five years.

Ubu unveiled the fuller, more upbeat sound of their new Dub Housing album (available here only on import so far), and were joined on the bill by Texas' semi-legendary 60s psychedelic punk band, Red Crayola, now based in London around founder Mayo Thompson, of whom the Ubus are great admirers. A good time was had by all, and everyone was home by midnight. Only in England.

Record Mirror

November 25, 1978

Alf Martin

Secrets and promises are to be broken. The secret was. The promise wasn't.

Everyone seemed to know that Pere Ubu was going to play Chislehurst Caves but the promise that it wouldn't be printed was kept. The reason? The gig would have been blown out if higher authorities had found out. Seems the place is unsuitable.

How did everyone get there? Coaches from a couple of points in London set off on the 'mystery' tour ending up at the caves.

Caves are alright as caves but as rock venues they're bloody cold. A glass of lager in the hand had to be switched from left to right very quickly to stop them from going blue. Brandy was definitely the answer.

Red Crayola were on when we got there but I'm afraid not much can be said of them. Anyway, most people had come for the lig or to see Pere Ubu.

You can't miss him, he's the big one. Actually, that's being kind, he's obese.

Bloody hell! He doesn't sing as you'd expect. He's got this high pitched shriek of a voice. As though someone's grabbed him by the short and curlies and is tugging away. No wonder he uses a throat spray.

I'd like to know what he's singing about. I don't think I could put any of the words to the title of his songs. Well, perhaps a few but I'm sure I'd get most of them wrong. I know It's pretty hip to get into the guy and understand the deeply meaningful lyrics but I'll have to lower my head and admit that I don't know what he's on about.

The stupid thing is, I really enjoyed him and the band. Musically they were good if a little strange at times. It's difficult to describe him but the closest I can get is early Bee Gees! What? Fans of Pere Ubu might say. But if you remember them as bleating lambs and speed it up a bit, that's him.

The people who are in the know and have their fingers on the great man's pulse, enjoyed it. Me? I loved It. He made me feel warm. Or was that the brandy?

Retrospectives

Scott Krauss

That was interesting. The record company put an ad in a magazine promoting this tour where the destination to the concert was a mystery. There were about three or four busloads of people, and they drove them out to these caves where we were playing along with Red Crayola. It was the Chislehurst Caves that was used during World War II, so people wouldn't get bombed by the Germans. It was a small room, and we played up on the ledge. I remember it was really cold in there, and Tom wore gloves while playing. But it was a neat gig. I'm sure when all who were there reminisce they say, 'Did we really do that? Were we really there?'

Recording

Purportedly there is a cassette of the Pere Ubu set

References

The Red Krayola Shows
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Live recordings