Fripp & Eno : Première in Madrid

By Juan Jose Abad

Spanish to English Translation by Hector Güll

 

             After Jack Bruce’s Band, Spain is witness to another Rock exclusive: Fripp & Eno,

whose live adventures begin here.  Although to confirm that it is “LIVE” is risky.

            

             Behind the stage are familiar screen projections of colourful spots like blood clots.

The surprised audience enters the venue in darkness surrounded by the usual space music;

on stage, to the right, the stool we’ll know is for Fripp; to the left Eno’s electronics gadgets

(covered by gilding towels) and the “master” tape over which they will work.

 

             Discreetly occupying their seats, those present, hardly notice when the tape is switched from the ambient music to the beginning of the concert. Both silhouettes are recognizable and their apparitions appear in the gloom of the stage, just like you’re dreaming them. Their presence is discreet, barely illuminated by two intersecting spotlights (red for Eno and green for Fripp).

 

Are we trendy ?

 

             Let’s ask ourselves that. Because the interest in both had wound up after half an hour,

when I came across five or six kids who asked me : “Did they started already ?”

“Yes, they’ve been playing for half an hour”.  Both of them, Fripp on guitar and Eno on synthesizers. The kids didn’t even come in, they stayed in the lobby.

 

             One could say that what Fripp and Eno are offering is a vulgar “light show”.

The projections are a shameless imitation of what we saw during Iron Butterfly’s show as they performed “In-a-gadda-da-vida”.  As for the music, the truth is that I didn’t expect them to repeat the LP “No Pussyfooting” with overwhelming exactitude. And that’s all.

 

             For those who don’t know much about the collaboration between the Crimson King

and the ex-transvestite of Roxy Music, I’ll offer this opinion : They’re not one or the other ;

but also they haven’t invented anything original. The ambience created by the late group dissolved by Fripp was more suggestive than that achieved with Eno.  And wasn’t Eno more well-known for his cheeky image with Roxy Music ? Sure !  That’s why I can’t begin to explain how two disparate talents, could communicate to the audience anything other than chaos, when they themselves can’t communicate with each other.

 

The Exhibited Discretion

 

             Why did they wish to appear like that ? You could hardly see them.  They appeared and disappeared, no dazzling exposure offered; during the performance of their ambient compositions, the background screen repeated the spots and one scene of horses carried by reins, blurred in a mist of colors. What were they doing ? Was it an attempt to convey a logical relationship between sound and image or were they limiting themselves, remaining trapped by the whole presentation ?

Maybe they’ll rise above it … was one point that came to mind.  In Madrid, paradise is still out of reach.  In the end we were all disappointed.

 

             The audience, who was never absolutely quiet during performance, (some from the crowd booed shamelessly), ask, nevertheless, for more.  Eno & Fripp then repeated Side A of “No Pussyfooting”: The projections were also the same. After they left the stage, that thing continued playing for another fifteen minutes …

 

             Unfortunately, for the moment, Eno & Fripp have nothing outstanding, daring, innovative

and/or experimental to offer.  At least that’s what we’ve concluded.  To tell you the truth, the only detail which delighted me, is that at the end of one of their interpretations coincided with the end of the projected film.  On the screen appeared a scratched title which read “sound end”. It isn’t much but …

 

Fripp’s Opinion

 

             Leaving the theatre, Robert Fripp, with a huge warehouse bag and guitar in hand,

walking fast through intellectual Madrid (close to “El Prado”, “El Ateneo”, “Plaza de Santa Ana” and “Teatro Nacional Español”) answers the question : “How was the audience reaction ?” :

“It was disconcerting. It wasn’t bad, but I didn’t think we understood each other …”

Exactly, musicians and audience didn’t understand one another.  Comments in general agree that it was a weird experience. Some even declared it a hoax.  Perhaps that’s better than showing disdain, hoping for something different.

 

The première of Gay & Co.

 

             As for Gay Mercader, there’s no doubt that he’s an excellent kid, that after our forced abstinence to which we were subjected in the past, he is firmly resolved that we march ahead

with all the surprising unions that pop is offering right now. And that’s the way it should be, of course, if worst comes to worst, we may need something more than just to have been the first to welcome them. Certainly the caliber of the performance is also important. We would prefer to have avoided being left dumbfounded by their mythical presence.

 

             Anyway after this Madrid show, I don’t think this collaboration will last. However the appeal of this duo is unavoidable for many pop-fans. Because (here’s another question) :  Can this music capture the sensibility of the audience, or does its halo of prestige prevent a proper judgment ?

 

             This collaboration (after Madrid and Barcelona) will continue through France

(Paris, Lyon and Bordeaux) to finish in England with two concerts, neither in London …

 

             In the end, it wasn’t so bad. And maybe the audience responded better than with the Reed and Jack Bruce thing, Though not as favourably of course, as was the case with Jethro Tull.

And we’re still hungry for anything that will satisfy us at last ! Something we can tell our children about ... so when’s Pink Floyd and The Rolling Stones coming ?