As part of NYC venue Le Poisson Rouge’s 15th anniversary, Monday was a night of pioneering art rock, with Germany’s Faust and Ohio legends Pere Ubu playing the venue.
Led by the original member Jean-Hervé Peron and featuring his daughter on lead vocals, Faust were in top form. You don’t often see a cement mixer being used as an instrument but there it was used on “Fish.” Faust closed out their set with an amazing version of “Krautrock” off Faust IV, with Peron noting “We don’t play rock and roll. we play Krautrock.”
This was a special Pere Ubu show with past and current members assembled, including Tony Maimone, Allen Ravenstine, Eric Drew Feldman and MC5‘s Wayne Kramer. Frontman David Thomas, up on a riser in a wheelchair, conducted the show, which felt almost entirely improvised as he mixed singing and spoken word. Thomas was not having the best night, though, making for more than a few awkward moments, and the set ended abruptly after a version of MC5’s “Kick Out the Jams” and bluesy version of classic Pere Ubu single “Final Solution.”
The night began with a drony set from MV Carbon, and photos by P Squared from the whole show are in this post.
