Shows/1978-11-18

November 18, 1978
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Acklam Hall
City	London
Tour
Event
Billing	The Red Crayola Scritti Politti pragVEC Cabaret Voltaire

Photos

The Red Crayola

Photos by Shirley O'Loughlin

• 
  Mayo Thompson
• 
  Jesse Chamberlain

Cabaret Voltaire

• 
  Cabaret Voltaire
• 
  Cabaret Voltaire by the show poster

Ephemera

• 
  Print ad
• 
  Poster

Listings

Record Mirror

November 18, 1978

Reviews

Slash

March 1979

[...] A couple of weeks later Prag VEC were headlining (or playing last) at the Acklam Hall, a run down type of youth hall under an elevated freeway section off Porto-bello Road (right under where the Notting Hill riots started and the Clash discovered the white riot concept.) Also playing that night were a few underground heavies like Cabaret Voltaire, Scritti Politti and England's latest resurrection from american prehistoric days, the Red Crayola (or what's left of them).

Cabaret Voltaire gloomily toyed with their electronic machinery, somberly sang and mumbled of mysterious matters and stubbornly kepy the same position on stage throughout the entire less than cheerful set. It was interesting and at times quite compeling, and about as uplifting and cheerful as early Nico crawling thru those mental cathedrals of hers.

Later Scritti Politti reluctantly occupied the stage and played a short intriguing collection of songs with Beefheart (Trout Mask Replica period) type of structural shiftiness and elusive hesitant vocals. It was the very first public performance of this odd trio, and there was an overall impression of music carefully pulling itself out of the void, creating itself element by element before a strangely attentive audience. They have recently put out on their own label a single (see review this issue) that deserves a lot of attention but is not exactly what potential hits are made of.

For a duo (that Thompson character on vocals and guitar and a hyperactive drumming maniac behind him) Red Crayola made a lot of noise but simply failed to interest me after 3 minutes. Everyone else appeared to really enjoy what was going on, so I just stood there feeling left out and stupid until Prag VEC brought me back self-confidence.

They sounded even tighter than at the Nashville, coming almost close to perfection without losing any of their music's fire and massion. Only towards the end did Sue's voice start showing strain after some especially intense singing. They didn't quite reach that peak they seemed to be heading for, and I had to wait two weeks or so before my suspicions were confirmed and I could honestly  say to anyone who would listen that this was one of the greates  new bands this tired decade has been graced with. [...]

NME

Ian Penman

Excerpt:

Scritti Politti played out their first gig in a maze of nervousness without a proper set.

Not properly consulted (they claim) over their billing and not properly prepared themselves, they asked the audience to regard their appearance as an "open rehearsal". They won sympathetic respect and three offers of support slots on projected national tours.

Highly strung but low-key is an appropriate description of both Scritti Politti and Red Crayola.

The Crayola duo slipped on discreetly after an interval about as long as Politti's 15 minute set. [...]

Melody Maker

December 2, 1978

Jon Savage

Excerpt:

In the collapse of trends, movements — individuals: when they combine, all the stronger. Tonight four bands moving forward, confidently or haltingly, but all with a spark... all ripe to be scooped up, then pigeonholed in a new "trend", the very last thing any of them want. [...]

Retrospectives

Jon Savage, 2010

The thing about the very early Rough Trade releases was that they weren't ideological in the way that later releases were. The Rough Trade aesthetic, such as it was, didn't really get going until later. It was the end of 1978 and into 1979 that it all started to get dry as dust, boring as dishwater. Somehow, dogmatic politics had crept into Rough Trade and started to strangle it. I remember just before I left London to go live in Manchester I went to a triple bill to see prag VEC, Red Crayola and Cabaret Voltaire. Mayo Thompson was there and I had thought early on that Mayo was going to be fun but by then he wasn't, he was spouting all this dogmatic crap. In the end I felt, politics is serious, but this is pop... Scritti Politti, prag VEC, The Raincoats, Red Crayola — I couldn't listen to the stuff in the end. I think the rigour of the politics squeezed everything else out.

Richard H. Kirk of Cabaret Voltaire, 2010

[...] One time Geoff [Travis] had been up to Sheffield and helped record something and we'd given him a dummy fader: he thought he was adding something but he wasn't really. When we'd played at the Acklam Hall with prag VEC and Red Crayola, I remember Jon Savage had come up to me and said, 'On no account let Geoff mix the sound,' which is what Geoff had wanted to do.

Recording

Scritti Politti

• Art Forever

References

The Red Krayola Shows
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Live recordings