Unfortunately, after speaking to Douglas after the show, he regretfully stated that this is most likely be "the first and last North American Tour". I was a bit saddended by this news, but I was glad to have been given the moment to fully appreciate the hidden half of the DIJ equation living in America.
Being the first show of the Tour, enduring the discomfort of US Customs, The members of the Twilight Command crew comming in from outside of CONUS arrived at the club nearly an hour late, and the show was pushed from 8pm to 9:30pm. So people were given the opportunity to mingle in the coctail lounge of ManRay and dance on the alternate dance floor.
We did not have any idea what ManRay had in store for us. I'm not sure if this was part of the show to selectively weed out the steadfast, by blasting the crowd with AC on a cold November night. It was brutally cold during half of the performance, but it eventually lightened up, and we eventually thawed out.
The show opened with Strength Through Joy, and delivered a smashing performance. I was quite impressed with the Richard Leviathan's ability to deliver his contempt for the current blight of humanity. A wonderful presense on stage, his will clearly felt throughout the chamber. Unfortunatly they did not play my favorite title track off of The force of truth and lies.
KAPO then materialzed onto stage, thier wisdom transduced by archetypal beings. Channeled through the beastly icons of tradgedy, chaos, sorrow and suffering. Each pounding beat of the drum invoking the nothing, the emptiness and the horror of the dark night of the soul.
The beings then transformed into mere mortal men, once again, back to this plane, to speak of runes and men on rocking horse night. Why did you have to say it would fall, and fall and fall and fall and, fall apart, Leper lord?
I definatly sensed a bit of disdain ebbing from of Douglas while streaming out the memory of Death of the West and Fields of Rape. A stunning performance of Heaven Street enlivened the audience and ended the night on a sober note.
Boyd Rice's performance of Total War was perfect. I hadn't heard that in years, but the rest of the performance was in typical noise fashion, and my ears, after 14 years of punk, industrial, deathrock, and batcave, distort after a certain number of minutes of 100dB+ violent noise. The array of the weak minded needing to fill their spine with the will of another was awfully sickening. You will see the drones, I'm sure.
I want to thank Douglas P. for appreciating the work I have done on this page. I can't take without balancing the act with a return action. This is the least I can do for a man balancing the world with the masked voice of chaos, nothingness, and the emptiness of being. Embracing these truths enable one to become fully alive, not to mention the enhancement of the inverse of those concepts. True Harmony in the cold face of the universe.
Fare thee well,
Brian Oblivion
7th November, 1997 0253EST