Music / live review
Review: Gong, The Fleece
“How was it? Did he play I’m a Teapot?”
“It was great. I presume you mean Flying Teapot. No he didn’t play that, largely on account of the fact that Daevid Allen died in 2015. As a bonus, nobody mentioned the Bloody Football all evening!”
It’s incredible to think that there are young hippies out here who never saw Gong with Allen and Gilli Smyth, or perhaps don’t even know of their existence, so successful has the band’s reinvention been under Allen’s anointed successor Kavus Torabi. With four albums under their collective belt, the current no-original-members incarnation of Gong have successfully ditched the ‘space whispers’ and rather tiresome pothead pixie whimsy in favour of their own distinctive brand of driving prog-psychedelia, without losing sight of the unique vibe that made Gong so popular in the first place. We’ll be seeing a lot more of this sort of thing as ‘legacy’ acts continue to age, but it’s a safe bet that few will pull it off as elegantly as Gong.
They ease us in gently with tracks from new album Bright Spirit, all accompanied by the traditional retina-scorching projections. Then it’s back to the (recent) catalogue for an extended selection, highlights of which are the splendid My Guitar is a Spaceship and the wonderful multi-part Tiny Galaxies. Songs flow into one another organically, and they pay tribute the their past with Allen’s valedictory Rejoice!
There’s probably a fair bit of muscle memory involved, but it’s remarkable how well-drilled modern Gong are on stage, with the seemingly effortless rhythm section of Dave Sturt (bass) and Cheb Nettles (drums) driving the propulsive grooves, while Torabi and Fabio Golfetti’s guitars mesh brilliantly and Ian East provides subtle but essential colour on saxophone.
Only during the encore do they dig into the band’s illustrious history with a great Master Builder (aka The Glorious Om Riff) which has the assembled hippies, young and old, grooving wildly. Rumour has it that Gong will be taking a break to allow the members to cultivate their other endeavours. They’d be foolish to do so for too long given that they’re currently on such fine form.
Read more: Bristol’s month in Metal and Prog: July 2026
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