Gong UnConventional Gathering

…to play with Gong for the first time since (date? place?), Steve Hillage - of System 7, along with glam partner Miquette Giraudy - will rejoin GONG, the band in which he rose to prominence as British guitar hero in the heady seventies.

Headlining a full weekend of Gong related gigs at the Melkweg Club in Amsterdam, Hillage and Giraudy will be joined by the original synthesizer wiz Tim Blake, whose contribution to classic seventies Gong changed the place of synthesizers in rock music forever.

In this case it will look as close as now is possible to the original classic Gong band - given that drummer Pierre Moerlen died in tragic circumstances in 2005.

Over the weekend, supporting bands include both SYSTEM SEVEN and THE STEVE HILLAGE BAND which will feature some fine old favourites from his solo career. Ozrik Tentacles offshoot: EAT STATIC will finish their set with a jam with SYSTEM SEVEN while GRAHAM MASSEY and GRAHAM CLARK will also be there as Toolshed Lite.

The feminine side of Gong will be represented by MOTHERGONG featuring GILLI SMYTH, DIDIER MALHERBE and drummer ORLANDO ALLEN.

Other acts include the evergreen HERE and NOW, DIDIER MALHERBE'S elegant HADOUK TRIO, TIM BLAKE and JEAN-PHILIPPE RYKIEL, the immaculate HOUSE OF THANDOY including Mike Howlett, the much loved KANGAROO MOON which will add the divided alien and morph into MAGICK BROTHERS, UNIVERSITY OF ERRORS playing the first SOFT MACHINE ALBUM: JET PROPELLED PHOTOGRAPH, and a gigantic GLISSANDO GUITAR JAM.

Oh, and just in case you were wondering, the gloriously iconoclastic ACID MOTHERS GONG featuring revolutionary drummer Yoshida Tatsuya will be there as launch-pad into the future.

The Alien originally visioned the Planet Gong to be a state of being only accessible through contemplation of the Gong Mandala, a power symbol based on sufic studies and seven initiations accompanied by seven sound-drones, composed by daevid allen in the mid eighties.

The initiations would lead to a personal unity with a deep inner femininity and passage through the portal into a so called seventh dimension in which Planet Gong could be reached. The central intelligence of Planet Gong is called the Octave Doctor, who in turn serves the Masters of the Spheres.

The teaching is that this planet itself operates according to the laws of music and all that this implies. Once experienced, the subject could return to earth as a gong planeteer having a depth of understanding that could help this crazy earth-world survive its urge for self destruction.