Here are my personal impressions of the RMI gig at The October Gallery:

The October Gallery is housed in a three-story Victorian building in a quiet street in an area of central London containing several large 19th-century hospitals. The theatre is a medium sized room on the top floor, with a high pitched ceiling, so acoustics weren't particularly wonderful, but as the room is not that big the sound was generally OK. On the ground floor is a courtyard with a few plants in tubs, tables and chairs, which was used as a relaxation area / bar in the intervals. All in all it was a very pleasant setting - however there were seating and ventilation problems, of which more later. Over the disused fireplace in the theatre a motto hinting at the venue's previous incarnation as a poor-house, reform school or pauper's hospital is carved into the mantelpiece, reading
OBEY THEM THAT HAVE THE RULE OVER YOU
I thought it would make a great title for the live CD of the gig, should they decide to issue one.

Known offenders attending: Andy Bloyce, Tony Sawford, Dave "Dangerous" Gurr, Carl Jenkinson, Mick Garlick, Davids Barker & Law (of course) your humble narrator and his wife.

The first set began just after 2 p.m. with gentle washes of Mellotron and string pads, joined by Gary's slide guitar. There was a definite laid-back feel to the piece, with little development. The piece lasted about forty minutes (as I think did all the others - I wasn't timing) and at about thirty minutes in a simple sequence was mixed in. Things rapidly shifted into a higher gear, culminating in a duel / call-and-response section between Gary's guitar and Steve's solo synth that became ever more histrionic, until the point where Steve collapsed over the keyboards in a fit of giggles. It soon wound down to a drawn-out, gentle closing section. Steve announced a short interval of 25 minutes, during which several people went down to the courtyard.

As the audience drifted back for the second set the familiar sound of Can's "Future Days" was issuing from the PA. Gary had his guitar on and was quietly playing along in best Michael Karoli mode. I think Dave captured it on video.

The second set was much more up-tempo. I should have said earlier that a video mix was being projected onto the wall behind the band. In the first set the images were largely static - confusing crosscuts of a crowd shouting or screaming, grim Northern street scenes, running water. As the first sequence of the second set kicked in this changed to high-speed road chases and a breakneck "supermarket sweep" from a trolley's eye-view. Gary whipped out a portable Theremin and contributed some sweeping glissandi, and then as the driving Doepfer and Notron sequences built up, overlaid then with some screaming guitar, the whole effect bordering on the mind-altering. Unfortunately it proved too much for one member of the audience. I think about fifty people were in the theatre, but there was only seating for about thirty, so several had to stand at the back. The room was exceptionally hot and stuffy, and at the height of the frenzy one guy fainted and hit the deck like a van-load of bricks. He was rushed outside by his friends and later made a complete recovery. Luckily the band either didn't see or managed to carry on and bring the piece in to a gradual wind-down and another extended finale.

Another break, and back for the last set. This time the PA was playing Popol Vuh's "Nosferatu" soundtrack, and Gary was once again noodling along, this time in Daniel Fieschler mode.

For the last set Duncan picked up a guitar and sent out some sustained, throaty chords which were soon submerged below the trademark RMI wash of pads. Perhaps in response to the somewhat guitar-led first two sets, Gary sat out much of this set, contributing some Floydian bendy soloing in the middle but otherwise confining himself to VCS3-style effects. The main sequence used was more melodically varied than before, and the emphasis in this piece seemed to be on texture rather than melody. Steve and Duncan brought the piece to a finish, and then Steve announced the final track, which unlike the improvised pieces played up until then was a composed piece. It was, of course, "A minute of silence" which was greeted as an old favourite. It made a pleasant change and was a great way to end the day, even though it was slightly marred by some tuning and timing problems.

I think a "well done" to the band is in order - I don't know if I'd be able to cope with playing three sets of wholly improvised music in four hours on a hot summer's afternoon. I just hope someone, somewhere, had a DAT running....