Live report- 31st January at The Union Chapel London

On the 31st of January 2023, The Residents played the fourth date in their Faceless Forever / Dog Stab! Tour at the Union Chapel. It was all part of the project's fiftieth anniversary which took place in 2022, and gave this long-term fan of the project to see this most distinctive and one-off project in a live setting once again.

For those unfamiliar with the Union Chapel- it’s the most distinctive and one-off venue, very fitting for The Residents. It's an impressive and towering church- which was built in the late 19th century in the Gothic revival style, it's a Grade I-listed building. Which is located in Islington, at the north end of Upper Street, near Highbury Fields.

I turned up at the venue around 7ish and was pleased to join a long queue to get into the building, as I’d read the show was sold out early that day. There was a support act, and this came in the form of two-piece Terry Edwards & Paul Cuddeford. I was already aware of Mr Edwards, as I always had a soft spot for his Gallon Drunk band, and their devilish, sleazy and often messy mix of psychobilly, garage rock, surf, noir soundscapes, down ‘n’ dirty jazz tone. I wasn't aware of Mr Cuddeford’s work, but after a search, I found out he’s a respected Guitar player, songwriter and audio engineer. He began his career as an engineer at Ridge Farm Studios and has played in live bands with the likes of Ian Hunter, Steve Harley, Rick Dufay and Bob Geldof.

The two played a six-song set- with Edwards on various saxophones, guitar, and vocals. And Cuddeford on just electric guitar. The set consisted of three Yoko Ono tracks, and three tracks from funk punk band The Higsons- which was the band Edwards was in before Gallon Drunk- they existed between 1980 & 1986.  The set was pleasant enough- moving between instrumental jazz-rock, and more quirky experimental rock with vocals rather in the vein of The Legendary Pink Dots.

 

 

At dead on nine Pm The Residents take to the stage, and the four-piece rather looked like a noir band from a tripped-out Lynchian reality. Each member wears a suit, tie, and fedora- the red & white dress suits are covered in illustrations of tiny eyeballs- with the four finished off with face scarves & glasses with lights on either side.  The band was made up of a keyboard player, a singer, a guitarist and a drummer/ percussionist. Behind the band were projected images- these changed from song to song, and went from classic images of the project, along with wonderfully unsettling/ moody new visuals.

 

The band played for around an hour and a half, which took in them coming back for a two-track encore. As the tour's title suggested they played a selection of tracks from their 1978 record Duck Stab/Buster & Glen- which is seen as one of their key/ important record, as well as an avant-pop classic. Though the set also took in a good selection of tracks from throughout the project's fifty-year discography. As with all of The Residents re-takes on old songs- they are often quite drastically different/ modified from their original form.

The set kicked off with “Jamablaya” which was originally a Hank Williams song, which the band covered on their 1986 album Stars & Hank Forever. The version of the song they played was suitable simmering & rather Cajun brooding in it’s intent with moodily flowing jazz-tinged keys, ambient hover, and light guitar tone scorching- all with a projector backdrop of psychedelic swamp land.  As the set went on we had appearances from “Hello Skinny”  from Duck Stab- the new version is all tick-tocking ‘n’ snaking percussion, darting jagged guitar tones, and of course the singing Resident’s instantly recognizable husky southern tones.

As we move on through the set, we get effective switches in tone between the eerier‘n’ creepy with more keyboard-led moments, the more mid-paced & atmospheric, and the rocking out/energetic. Memorable moments came in the form of “Buckaroo Blues” from the late 80/early 90’s Cube E tour- the track opens in the form of a decidedly retro synth scape tone, with snapping 80’s electronic beats. As it progresses it opens up more with moodily twanging guitar tones, live percussion, and of course the vocals which move from sing-song-like to more spoken word. There’s a barn-storming metal guitar take of “Burn, Baby, Burn” from the 1998 album Wormwood- with the track having me headbanging for the first time in many a year!. Also on the very fired up, intense side of things, we have “Die,Die, Die” with rapidly pulsing red lights and demented/ melted yellow smiley faces on the projection, and the singing Resident billowing ‘n’ yelling. The set was finished off with a version of “Diskomo” which was the 1980 disco remix of the material from the band's 1977 album Eskimo. The track opens with beautiful projections of shifting & spiral icicle shapes- with the music moving from angular icy synth stabs, to more stomping beat bound. They fittingly play out “Nobody Laughs When They Leave” from the project's 1990 album Freakshow.

In finishing The Residents really took us on a breath-taking audio-visual journey through their fifty years back catalogue. With each of the four members playing the material with such vigour, demented charm, and mood. And I’ll most certainly be keeping an eye-out( pun intended) for upcoming shows at The Union Chapel, as it certainly is a most distinctive venue.