Throbbing Gristle live performances

Throbbing Gristle were noted for their live performances, which were often experimental and quite different from their pre-recorded work. In addition to studio albums, a large number of recordings of live shows were released, of varying sound quality. A concise history of Throbbing Gristle and COUM Transmissions can be found in Simon Ford's book Wreckers of Civilisation (ISBN 1-901033-60-0). A 25 CD boxed set, TG24, documenting many live Throbbing Gristle performances was released in December 2002. A follow-up to this boxset chronicling the last 10 performances was released as TG+ in January of 2004. These releases accumulated recordings that had originally been released on cassette-only boxed sets and individually released vinyl albums of official and bootleg status. Long out of circulation, the new releases sparked a renewed interest in the band.

Throbbing Gristle were scheduled to play a live show in May 2004 at the RE~TG festival, but the festival was cancelled due to poor ticket sales, rising costs and scheduling complications. They decided to play anyway and set up a show at The Astoria in London on Sunday May 16th 2004, which was the same day they were to play at RE~TG. The show was free but open only to those who had tickets to RE~TG, whether they had obtained a refund or transferred the ticket to a later concert at All Tomorrow's Parties, in December 2004. The show was filmed by the band, and was released as part of the DVD box set TGV. It was Throbbing Gristle's first live performance in nearly 23 years to the day.

The reformed band (with all four original members) then played a concert in Italy in June 2005 and two concerts at the Volksbühne, Berlin, Germany on December 31, 2005 and January 1, 2006. The first show was a live performance and the second an improvised live soundtrack to Derek Jarman's film In The Shadow Of The Sun. On December 29, 2005, an exhibition entitled 'Industrial Annual Report' opened at the KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin-Mitte. It was a major retrospective exhibition of artworks and historical documents produced by Throbbing Gristle, curated by Markus Müller, in collaboration with Cosey Fanni Tutti.

Date (Year-Month-Day) Country-Province-City Venue Event Release status
1976-08-21 UK-England-London Air Gallery IRC3; TG24
1976-07-06 UK-England-Winchester Attic Theatre Hat Fair IRC3; TG24; "No Two Ways" on Live Volume 1
1976-10-18 UK-England-London I.C.A. "Prostitution Show" IRC2; TG24; "Slug Bait" on The Second Annual Report; "Industrial Introduction", "Very Friendly", "Dead Ed" on Live Volume 1
1977-02-11 UK-England-High Wycombe Nags Head IRC4; TG24
1977-03-26 UK-England-Brighton Polytechnic IRC5; TG24; "Slug Bait", "Maggot Death" on The Second Annual Report; "Last Exit" on Live Volume 1
1977-05-07 UK-England-Southampton Nuffield Theatre IRC6; TG24; "Slug Bait", "Maggot Death" from The Second Annual Report; "Forced Entry", "National Affront" on Live Volume 1
1977-05-22 UK-England-London Rat Club IRC7; TG24; "Maggot Death" from The Second Annual Report
1977-09-29 UK-England-London Highbury Roundhouse IRC8; TG24; Live at Roundhouse; "Hit by a Rock" and "Blood on the Floor" on D.o.A: The Third and Final Report
1977-11-11 UK-England-Winchester Art College IRC9; TG24; "A Nod And A Wank", "Feeling Critical" on Live Volume 1
1977-12-17 UK-England-London Rat Club IRC10; TG24; "Tesco Disco", "Knife In My Side", "Urge To Kill", "Assume Power Focus" on Live Volume 2
1978-02-28 UK-England-Brighton Polytechnic IRC11; TG24
1978-03-03 UK-England-London Architectural Association IRC12; TG24
1978-05-18 UK-England-London Goldsmith College IRC13; TG24; "IBM", "It's Always The Way", "Hamburger Lady", "D.O.A" on Live Volume 2; "Dead on Arrival" on D.o.A: The Third And Final Report
1978-07-01 UK-England-Wakefield Industrial Training College IRC14; TG24; "Mother Spunk", "Cabaret Voltaire" on Live Volume 2
1978-07-06 UK-England-London London Film-Makers' Co-op IRC15; TG24; "New After Cease To Exit Soundtrack" on Live Volume 1
1978-11-11 UK-England-London Cryptic One Club IRC16; TG24; Special Treatment; "Introduction", "Whistling Song", "Industrial Muzak", "Weapon Training" on Live Volume 3
1979-01-21 UK-England-London Centro Iberico IRC17; TG24
1979-04-12 UK-England-Derby Ajanta Cinema IRC18; TG24; Thee Psychick Sacrifice, Sacrifice
1979-04-25 UK-England-Sheffield Nowsoc IRC19; TG24
1979-05-19 UK-England-Manchester Factory IRC20; TG24; Live at the Factory; "See You Are", "Convincing People", "His Arm Was Her Leg", "What A Day" on Live Volume 3; "Five Knuckle Shuffle", "Wall of Sound" on Live Volume 4
1979-05-26 UK-England-Northampton Guildhall IRC21; TG24; "Ice Cool Down", "They Make No Say" on Live Volume 3
1979-08-03 UK-England-London Y.M.C.A. IRC22; TG24
1979-12-23 UK-England-London Butlers Wharf IRC24; TG24; "Wet Weird & Smeared" on Live Volume 3
1980-02-24 UK-England-Leeds Fan Club IRC25; TG24
1980-02-29 UK-England-London Scala Cinema IRC26; TG24; The Kill
1980-03-13 UK-England-London Goldsmiths College IRC29; TG24; "Russ" on Live Volume 4
1980-03-16 UK-England-Peterborough Oundle School IRC30; TG+; "Wall of Sound" on Live Volume 4
1980-06-10 UK-England-Sheffield Sheffield University IRC33; TG+; "Introduction", "Punished", "Heathen Earth", "Tortured Smiles", "We Said No" on Live Volume 4
1980-11-07 West Germany-Berlin SO 36 Club TG+; Funeral in Berlin; Editions... Frankfurt... Berlin...; "An Old Man Smiled", "Trained Condition Of Obedience" on Live Volume 4; Blood Pressure
1980-11-08 West Germany-Berlin SO 36 Club TG+; Funeral in Berlin; Editions... Frankfurt... Berlin...; "Discipline" on 20 Jazz Funk Greats
1980-11-10 West Germany-Frankfurt Kunsthofschule TG+
1980-12-04 UK-England-Manchester Rafters TG+; Rafters; "Auschwitz", "Devil's Gateway" on Live Volume 4; "Discipline" on 20 Jazz Funk Greats
1980-12-23 UK-England-London Heaven TG+; Funk Beyond Jazz
1981-02-08 UK-England-London Lyceum TG+; Once Upon a Time; Destiny
1981-05-22 USA-California-Los Angeles Veterans Auditorium TG+; Dimensia in Exelsis
1981-05-29 USA-California-San Francisco Kezar Pavilion TG+; Mission of Dead Souls
2004-05-16 UK-England-London Astoria TGV
2004-12-03 UK-England-Sussex Camber Sands Live December 2004 A Souvenir of Camber Sands
2005-06-29 Italy-Turin Traffic Free Festival (2 sets performed) "What a Day", "P.A. Destroyer" from second set on untitled 3" CD; "Convincing People" on Brainwaves.
2005-12-31 Germany-Berlin Volksbuehne (unreleased)
2006-01-01 Germany-Berlin Volksbuehne In the Shadow of the Sun - live soundtrack (unreleased)
2007-04-29 Austria-Krems Donaufestival (unreleased)
2007-04-30 Austria-Krems Donaufestival In the Shadow of the Sun - live soundtrack (unreleased)
2008-06-06 France-Paris La Villette Sonique 2nd Annual Report re-interpretation (limited release TBA; audience bootlegs already exist)
2009-06-19 Denmark-Copenhagen Statens Museum for Kunst The Sky is thin as Paper here - |live soundtrack (2 sets performed) soundtrack + concert (unreleased)

References