Wasn't there but I'd be happy to say I regret it. Seeing the pics / vids I don't.
I dearly love almost all of their music but I'm tired of all this situationist s**t.
RANT ALERT!
Contrary to some comments ("the people that didn't like this vid, haven't a clue of KLF and didn't share the 23 year wait") and judging from the videos and twitter / fb accounts it was mostly a hipsterfest aimed for the post-90's/2000 Pitchfork / Quietus /
hashtag crowd and they lapped it up. Most of them weren't around first time and if they were, they've just written off The KLF as crap. I know at least one journalist over here who did and now hails them as living legends who did no wrong EVER. Suddenly everyone's
been a fan from day one. Of course, some really hardcore K-heads attended the event as well and I'm sure (or hope so) that some of them genuinely enjoyed it.
If I wanted to be rude, I'd say that B+J has made pay everybody just to be a part of a meet & greet flashmob (in which the volunteers were both the audience and the spectacle), then buy their books, shirts and mugs.
It's a bit cynical coming from the same guys who wanted to say something about the nature of money by burning a cool million (and since I also hate that the Jura bonfire eclipses all the good things they've done, I don't care about their intentions with it).
I understand that they're "old" but all this death fascination / self-funeral is just bleak (Drummond is on this trip for quite a while). Tricking others into participating in an occultish ritual (magick + voodoo + mass psychology 101) may or may not be that
much different from today's brainwashing, overtly negative pop agenda.
I also do "get" the stuff with the ley lines, C. G. Jung's dream, I've read Bill's chapter about Liverpool (plus Copey's books to get another view of the man). I even got the references to Hugo Ball, Ken Campbell et al. BUT:
-The Badger Kull "track" is just unlistenable (both the youtube and soundcloud versions). Sorry. If the volunteers' aim was to make something that sounds like it was thrown together in a few hours on a laptop they succeeded, just don't compare it to Chill Out
or White Room (or even IGUN).
-The book (from the few available pages) is a mash-up of Illuminatus!, 1984 and others. You can do the same by downloading a text and replacing words with the Ctrl+H command. It doesn't have the wit of The Manual or the insight of Bill's 45. Sorry again (but
I'll buy 5 copies anyway :P).
-Painting over a fan's Timelord IMHO was just rude (or rather idiotic, watching the vid again). There is a fine line between being "Zen" with your followers and just trolling them, of course the hashtag crowd loved this one too, I guess the car's owner wasn't
a true fan enough to get the joke...
-To my knowledge the "signing" was only stamping and according to the rules they would confiscate and destroy any CD or memorabilia given to them to actually sign (I tend to believe this after seeing the Jamsmobile incident). If they hate their past so much,
why milk it - especially without doing anything worthy (music)?
Speaking of which I heard that some volunteers were asked to moan in the social media about the "lack of new music". I don't want new music, I want the old, but intact and full.
For those 3 days I've been listening to their CD's randomly and thinking about how much does it still means to me (for more than 2 and a half decade, ffs). Chill Out, The White Room, the SH Trilogy still sounds good and inspiring. I don't have a KLF tattoo
but I want to hear the Chill Out demos and all others in CD clarity. It's about time.
If they'd really care about their fans, they'd re-release their back catalogue with all the rare stuff, demos, videos, etc.
They still have the rights, and with crowdfunding it wouldn't be a problem. I'd part with my hard-earned money gladly even if they purge the copyright infringing parts.
But that wouldn't fit into their current puppetmaster image, I'm afraid. That would be "fan service", so instead they present something new and we get the same old "quality" bootlegs on eBay with inflated prices. At least the list members were gentlemen enough
not to ask a fortune for copying the unavailable stuff, in fact most of them did it for free.
To me the raving reviews show only one thing: if somebody _wants_ to believe, they will. More power to them, then. I think that if you have to explain a joke / act / art piece then it's just too smart (i.e. sh*te) for its own good.
RANT OVER and out, ignore it. I feel better already just by typing it.
Keep Listening Forever!