May 24 marks the 35th anniversary of the performance by Einstürzende Neubauten in Vancouver at the Xerox International Amphitheater as part of Expo ’86. The group was booked for the appearance thanks to the involvement of members of Skinny Puppy in the planning committee for these shows. They were also responsible for getting Test Department to perform shortly after this. This day was my first visit to Expo and it was an incredibly memorable day from start to finish.
Expo ’86 was a massive event for the city of Vancouver. With it’s theme of transportation, it was an invitation to the world to come and discover this “world in a city”, as the winning slogan promoted the event. A massive area of the downtown was reconfigured and custom built for the fair. This included a new rapid transit system, stadium and convention center. It was intended to showcase the city’s attractions and ultimately succeeded in putting Vancouver on the international map of destination cities. For me, however, being a 23 year old Industrial Goth hipster, it was all commercialism and corporate consumerism and I looked at it primarily as a bizarre collection of expenditures designed to illicit investment and immigration. What I wasn’t expecting was to have one of the world’s most extreme Industrial bands show up to do a show in the middle of it all.
My plans for that day were simple. A close friend and I procured some good blotter LSD and we dropped it shortly after arriving on site in the early afternoon. I’m pretty sure we had a booster blotter for the evening when it would be show time. For the day, we planned to explore the fair and the pavilions and see what was there to see. As we started to check out some of the main exhibits, we soon realized that standing in lineups for an hour or so per pavilion was not going to be conducive to good tripping. We made it through 2 or three of those before we ran out of ways to amuse ourselves while in line. It was fascinating, briefly, to see the methodology of line management that had been implemented. It’s something I’d never seen before, the way lineup size was concealed by wrapping it or folding it into zig-zags hidden by foliage and fencing. There was also the presence of roaming entertainers who would work lineups to try to distract patrons from their fatigue and boredom.
After a few of these lines, we strategized a bit on how to make the most of our time there while avoiding this obvious pitfall. I theorized that there must be an “underbelly” to this place. That there must be unpopular exhibits from small, poor countries which were being ignored and overlooked and that they may have a kind of appeal in their D-grade execution that could offer some fun and amusement. This indeed turned out to be the case as we started to explore the outer periphery of the grounds, into the less desirable lots where the big boys stayed away due to lack of exposure. So we whiled away the rest of the afternoon trolling the underclass booths, tents and pavilions and enjoying the neglected sights.
Throughout our time exploring the grounds, we began to notice the presence of a certain anomalous sort of people mixed among the throngs of families and tourists. You’d see them sticking out in the crowd like invaders - hair sticking up on end, black clothes, garish eyeliner and pancaked white skin. Something was definitely afoot in this crowd. Something didn’t belong here and you could see them infiltrating the space with greater frequency as the day went on.
The second clue to this unusual day was a noise. We were getting a late afternoon bite to eat at the giant floating McDonald's barge when we noticed it. Apparently Neubauten were doing their sound check at the theater and all you could hear was this massive groaning metallic moan echo across the site as they tested some unfathomable industrial noise maker. It sounded like some kind of iron dinosaur rearing its head in the distance. As the sound continued, the excitement of what was ahead began to really take hold.
When it was finally show time, people began to assemble in the outdoor theater and the incongruity of the audience became very quickly notable. The majority of the crowd were decked out Goths & post-punks in black with frizzed out hair and shock-horror makeup. Mixed in among them were the families who would wander in, clueless as to what was about to happen. They’d have a seat and then you’d see the smiles drop from their faces as they looked around to see what was surrounding them. Over and over, you could see the look of anxiety sweep over their faces as their eyes caught a glimpse of the weird collection of freaks that this event had attracted. Some were brave and stayed while others quickly took stock of the situation and opted to abandon ship.
Once the show started, the line between tourist and aficionado was quickly established as the remaining looky-loos were driven out by a barrage of feedback, metal clanking and nightmarish screams from Blixa. I was in the perfect state of altered awareness and the sound system for the show was magnificent. As loud and aggressive as it was, it didn’t hurt to listen to. The equalization and tonal balance was so spot on, you could decipher every sound and nuance, from the loudest thunder crash, to the smallest shopping cart squeak. The band played a set that was heavily weighted with material from their most recent Halber Mensch LP, opening their set with the choral title track. By the time they got to the finale, they had set the entire front of the stage on fire and my LSD addled brain pretty much exploded with the spectacle. It was a profoundly moving experience and gave me a new appreciation for the band and their ability to deliver a performance with such a clear sense of deliberation.
I attended the fair 2 more times after this: once for the Test Dept. show and a third time just to hang out and look around. I didn’t enjoy the TD show as much as the EN one, mostly because the TD show was much more politically focused and emphasized labor strikes and unrest with the UK miners strike in full swing at the time. At that time in my life, I didn’t really identify with that content very much, whereas the EN show was much more visceral and emotional and seemed to be more metaphysically driven that political. It just had a deeper resonance for me. The EN show and the entire day that lead up to it still stands as one of the most amazing days of my life. It’s a memory that constantly reminds me of how wonderful Vancouver was during those years.
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