We played at the Rock Garden (London) the day before we left. Met ACR at the
Harwich ferry terminal on the night of 23 October 1980 just in time to catch the
boat.
Played at Eindhoven (Holland) the next day and someone from a Dutch paper
interviewed us and took photos. He promised to send us a copy but didn't. The
gig was good and everyone went down well. Upstairs they had three video monitors
playing the Factory video all night.
Next day we packed up and went off to Nijmegen, a two hour drive. The gig was a
converted school with a cafe and a little shop which sold dope. Got little or no
reaction that night. Anarchy and Crass slogans all over the place, and the van
was graffitied - things like 'Go Home Brits' etc.
Three or four hour drive to Groningen the next day. This gig was like a private
house from the outside, but was in fact another commune type place with cafe and
shop, assorted literature etc. Not a very good turnout that night. Seemed to
play well but got zero response again, which bothered us a little bit since it
was two in a row. Later on, back at the hotel, we heard that Matchbox had
refused to play that night because not enough people turned up. Then we found
out they were in our hotel, but we learned to live with it.
The next day, and by this time the strain was showing on nearly all of us.
Luckily we then had three days off! For these days we spent in Rotterdam,
relaxing, sightseeing, cultural interests, shopping. Alan Erasmus treated us all
to a Chinese meal, and we got to know some of the locals who had interests in
music and Factory.
The next gig was a massive disused waterworks called Utopia. The hippies had
taken over the main building and set up carpentry/ printing/general workshops,
the place was well organised. The gig was a very large hangar-like place, and
the PA was supplemented to cope with this. Good gig that night.
Up until now we had been treated very well by the people running each venue.
They all fed us and gave us drink and there were very few problems, despite the
fact that Vini Reilly was booked to appear at all the venues and only played
three. The organisers soon forgot about it when everyone got stuck into
playing.
Brussels was next and proved very memorable. We were given a very warm
reception, and video recorded into the bargain. After the concert at the Plan K
we met the guy who designed our Benelux cover and watched a slide show in his
studio.
On to the Hague the next day, November 1st. The manager of the place was an
ex-film maker who took a great interest in the whole show. He enjoyed it all so
much he came to Amsterdam the following night.
That was a night to remember for different reasons. The Amsterdam gig was a
venue called Melkweg (Milky Way), another hippy-run concern, only this time very
efficient. They had a theatre, cinema, restaurant, coffee shop, bookshop, and
they held all manner of events and functions. The Factory gig was just one of
the events that night.
The audience was heavily stoned and it was packed. Hecklers in the audience
tried in vain to put ACR and us off. We learned later that one of them goes to
all the gigs to disrupt them. Fairly heavy psychic bunch, strange and powerful
personalities came backstage to suss. We had our projector nicked and ACR had
a trumpet stolen. Still...
Off on the long trek to Berlin. Twelve hour drive across Holland, East Germany
and into Berlin. Border guards, snow, watch towers. The feeling in Berlin is the
wisdom that comes with insecurity, an island, the first to go if anything
starts. A strong sense of World War Two.
Went to see the Wall, an anti climax for me. Lots of buildings immediately on
the east side look as though they've been left empty since the end of the war.
The gig was a long cold hall (SO36), though there was a sense of occasion about
it and this fired us with enthusiasm.
We left Berlin about ten the next morning in good spirits. During the return
drive through East Germany we saw lots of tanks and army gear moving around,
playing war I suppose. Anyhow, Jez, Terry and myself in the gear van managed to
get separated from the others in the minibus. We went to the wrong border post,
then eventually found the right one. Alan was there, but the others had gone to
catch the boat, so we stayed another night and caught the boat the next
morning.
Throughout the whole thing everyone got on okay and there were no real tantrums
from anyone. What's the point? No-one takes crap like that seriously anyway. So
we finished up tired but all the better for what we'd done.
Larry Cassidy, 1980.