The bizarre occasion Throbbing Gristle performed at Pontins
Fancy a cheap weekend away with the family? Somewhere with plenty of activities to keep both yourself and the kids satisfied? Why not head to Pontins, a place where the youngsters can indulge in penny arcades, crazy golf and go-karting, while you stay in the bar getting rat-assed on questionably coloured cocktails while you receive some light-hearted entertainment courtesy of the famous Bluecoats, a Bobby Davro wannabe, and, err, Throbbing Gristle.
Yes, you heard me right – I am referring to Hull’s finest avant-garde industrial music pioneers in the same breath as the infamously dilapidated holiday camps that used to be scattered across the UK. Now with only one site currently open to the public in Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, its already diminished reputation lies in tatters, but in the early 2000s, their Camber Sands park in East Sussex attempted to spruce itself up and go through a process of reinvention by playing host to some of the All Tomorrow’s Parties festivals, known for their celebration of underground, experimental and cutting-edge lineups.
This 2004 edition of the now-defunct festival, which was dubbed The Nightmare Before Christmas, was curated by the transgressive British visual artists Jake and Dinos Chapman, and saw the likes of Aphex Twin, Shellac, and Lightning Bolt wreak chaos upon the dreary resort. As part of a long-standing tradition, the festival regularly invited cult bands that were no longer together to reunite as part of their programming, and in this instance, among those welcomed through the doors was Throbbing Gristle.
Already, the image of any of these performers gracing the same stage as a gaudy cabaret act is something that sounds like a fever dream, but despite the apparent novelty of the idea, it was evident that neither the festival, nor the acts, were fucking around. With their bleak and harrowing soundscapes and themes of sexual liberation, exploration of gender identity, and extreme approach to progressive politics, you’d think that Throbbing Gristle would have been the last act in the world to stun crowds at a slipshod theme park.
However, despite not having performed together since 1981, the band sounded as fresh and vital as ever, with the original foursome of Genesis P-Orridge, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Chris Carter and Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson, all defying the odds to generate a spectacle of pounding electronic rhythms and abrasive tones. Genesis’ self-styled pandrogynous appearance was, by all accounts, a shocking way to present oneself at a festival attended primarily by proto-6 Music dads, but their defiance of the norm was never an obstacle to their artistic expression, and no space was ever going to stand in the way of them delivering a typically intoxicating performance.
While not as deafening as many of the other acts on the bill, what Throbbing Gristle were able to deliver was a sense of unease among their audience, always challenging them to open themselves up to the outer reaches of their comfort zone. If something they did felt disturbing, it was up to you to come to terms with how to accept it, rather than for them to turn it down, and even over two decades after they’d last worked together, this remained a key feature of their ethos.
All Tomorrow’s Parties will never happen again, and nor will a Throbbing Gristle show due to the passing of both Genesis P-Orridge and Christopherson, but for anyone who witnessed this momentous showcase of one of Britain’s most influential and adventurous bands, it has to have been a true ‘I was there’ moment. Yes, it saddens me that I was far too young (and unaware of the band) to have attended, but if anyone is willing to fund my idea of getting Boredoms to play at Chessington World of Adventures, be my guest.
