“This is it, this is the future of Rock’n’Roll” - 35 years ago today!
Our third 'Energy' at Brixton Academy (now the O2), London, 20th January 1990.
Alongside what was for the time, next-level production —including levelling the venue’s sloping floor and installing groundbreaking audio and visual systems — we also hosted a very rare live performance by the legendary KLF, one of the few they ever did, caught here on video.
Here’s what KLF's Bill Drummond told Melody Maker magazine about their ambitious plans for the show, which we desperately wanted to make happen:
"We always try to think of an alternative to an ordinary live show, and for one party we played, Energy at the Brixton Academy, we wanted to build a hill on the stage, cover it with turf, put a fence around it, and let five sheep with ‘The KLF’ painted on their sides roam around while we played a track through the PA. We planned to have some equipment up there too, with the hope that if the sheep knocked into something, it would make a noise and be an added bonus. We thought, ‘Yeah, this is it, this is the future of rock’n’roll.’ But Lambeth Council refused to let us have live animals onstage.”
Instead, the KLF performed on a raised scaffolding stage about 10 meters up, with an enormous wind turbine and smoke machine blowing behind them. It was epic—if not quite as bonkers as five sheep on a fake hill, at a rave, in a venue in Brixton!
And just look at who else joined them on the line up that night!
@carlcoxofficial ,
@trevfun303 ,
@fabiodnb ,
@dj.frankiefoncett.llc ,
@frankiebones411 ,
@tommy_musto_zhm and dearly missed Guru Josh.
Big up
@jeremytaylor2600 the brains and organisation behind my creative mess. Thank you Nick Archdale and Andy Neal, for this incredibly rare footage, shot from their lighting booth. Shout out to
@timtaylordj , who made so many of these incredible memories happen via his agency, to Frankie Bones and Tommy Musto, who flew in and took this all back to the US with them, and to everyone involved in those crazy, seminal days.
Let’s hear your stories.
