Laibach - Electric Ballroom, London, 16/12/2004

  by Dave Toynton

published: 5 / 1 / 2005

intro

Laibach have just celebrated a quarter of a century of making music. At a recent London show, Dave Toynton watches them turn a performance into visual art

Laibach was the German name for Llubijana, the Slovenian capital which was used by the Nazis during the occupation in 1943-45. Often seen controversially to have fascistic connections, it must be made clear that Laibach are nothing of the sort, preferring instead to put a question mark on the whole issue of politics. At the beginning of Laibach's recent London gig the empty stage at the Electric Ballroom began to submerge with dry ice as an orchestral choir boomed from the sound system. Just as the crowd was beginning to get restless, the band walked on to stage to a great cheer, and began to play an extended musical introduction. They all wore black trousers with knee length boots, black shirts with sleeves rolled up to the elbows and belts with the Laibach emblem of a cog in the middle. The group's members have always remained anonymous, and, as the introduction came to an end, the the singer walked on stage wearing a leather cap similar to that of a medieval blacksmith's, no top, a leather kilt and in a deep gravelly voice proceeded to sing 'Mama Leone'. The audience watched in fascination as during the second number a film projector snapped into life and played as a backdrop an assortment of images from Laibach's videos including snippets of marching feet and gymnasts, all made to look as if they were archival footage. At the same time two girls marched on stage holding drum sticks and again wearing black trousers, T-shirts , knee length boots and the Laibach belt. The girls looked almost identical except one had blonde hair and the other auburn. They walked up to two snare drums set up on either side and began to beat them in complete synchronisation with each other which was really something to see. The music shunted along like a giant locomotive, building up to orgasmic proportions as the last song came to its end. The two girls marched off stage followed by the band and then after about six or seven minutes the girls marched back on stage followed by the band. This time, however, the girls wore skirts and, looking very sexy, rather than having their hair rolled up, had let it down almost to their waist. The band played another four numbers of covers, including those of Queen's 'One Vision', and the Rolling Stones' 'No Satisfaction' . It was a great end to a fantastic gig and what I can only describe as a brilliant piece of visual art.

Picture Gallery:-