Date: Fri, 28 Jun 1996 15:07:54 -0500 
     From: Neil Solomon (neilsol@SKY.NET) 
     Subject: COCTEAUS KC DISASTER


Reporting from Kansas City  the site of yesterdays disasterous  Lolopalooza
I bring this  report with deep regret and consternation. The Cocteau Twins
performed to a crowd of hate mongering Mettallica fans and were jeered off
the stage with mudballs and verbal abuse.

Let me first aploligize to the Twins for this heineous reception, the music
was great guys. Beautiful Job. I love you music and to have this be my
first live preformance was to be a rare treat for me not a reenactment of
the ritual abuse of Artists so commonly practiced in Kansas City's banal
and lifeless cutural vvoid. Thank you for coming and thank you for leaving
when you did. Take care of youselves and keep working your musical magic
because there are some of us here that are listening.

The set started out great. Pure Cocteau all the way, heavenly. I recognized
and loved all the songs yet am poor with the names.

The Crowd was hostile from the beginning of  the show, waving "the Finger"
and shouting "fuck you you suck get off the stage". Then the mud throwing
ensued. At first there were only a few losers engaging in this practice and
I was able to accost one and make him stop. He later apologized to me with
a smirk on his face,  "hey sorry about the show, man". The abuse of the
Twins went on untill Liz was hit in the face with a mud soaked lemon. She
curtly responded, "Thank you, Good Night." The show was over afeter about a
half hour of wonderful swirling music that was very openly emotional and
fresh.

I tried to talk to someone, anyone, backstage to let the Cocteaus know the
sincere and deep regret that I felt about the crowd's behavior but to no
avail.  I talked to one "guard" and then to his "supervisor" and finally
resorted to discussing my need to apologize to a police officer who was
backstage. The police officer informed me that the Twins were in their
trailer and had "requested police sequesterment" and that I should try to
get a message to them later.  This is that message.

The crowd was not admonished for their actions but the Bands requested that
the beer be cut off, which it was. There was no general remorse shown. I
sat in the chill out tent till it was closed by the show "authorities".
The Chill Tent sucked anyway. No one save one carnival worker and a couple
of african american hipsters with dreds was willing to share in any way.
Not drugs. Not conversation. They were all getting ready for Metallica.

Mettalica was, in my opinion,  a group of lame lifeless losers of moderate
musical talent who were content with sucking the blood out of the rotting
corpse of their own future. Wake up, guys. Anger is valuable as Liz showed
when she confronted you, her perpetrators. But anger is not and end in
itself and your skill at being angry alone is not worth attention. Grow up
and make some music.

The next Cocteaus show I see will be in a safer place. If you do come back
and perform again, perform your next show in a more receptive venue, I'll
come to hear you. But, after living here for 32 years I am finally
considering moving. Good luck guys, blessed be you.

And note to 4ADers everywhere. Keep on listening. Be bold individuals. Fuck
the noise.

Signing off from the "Wholsome American Grain Belt,"

Neil Solomon,
Lurker, Wanderer.



         Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 15:27:20 +0100 
         From: Andrew Norman (nja@LEICESTER.AC.UK) 
         Subject: Re: The great Cocteau purges

                   Jul 22, 96 02:03:41 pm

      Simon Hughes  wrote on Mon, 22 Jul 1996
      (Subject: The great Cocteau purges)
      >
      > I gotta move the subject on.  There was an article in the second
      > section of The Guardian (UK newspaper) dated 12/7/96, written by
      > Simon Raymonde about The Cocteaus' experiences at the Lollapalooza
      > gig.  It was very interesting though I do think Simon shoots
      > himself in the foot a couple of times.  Has anyone posted anything
      > about that? Mail me privately if you'd like me to post a few
      > extracts to this list (I don't think I can commit to typing the
      > whole lot).

      I felt he had gone into the situation with about as much
      understanding of metal fans as they had shown for his music - he
      adopted a fairly snooty tone about a stupid joke by the Ramones ("We
      are not the cocktail twins") - for heaven's sake, the Ramones are
      *supposed* to be a stupid joke.  I had the impression from the net
      that they were bottled off immediately, but according to Simon they
      had played a few numbers before succumbing to a barrage (which had
      also greeted the other support acts).  He felt rather surprised to
      meet some dumb-looking US metal kids afterwards who were big Cocteaus
      fans.  That's about all I remember - I think that according to
      Simon's account, the blame for the debacle must rest as much with the
      Cocteaus for their not realising how the Lollapalooza audience would
      react as it does with the people who booked them (requested and
      introduced by the headlining act, remember).

     --
     Andrew Norman, Leicester, England 22/07/96
     nja@le.ac.uk, http://www.engg.le.ac.uk/staff/Andrew.Norman/
     Durutti Column



         Date: Wed, 24 Jul 1996 13:05:01 BST 
         From: Simon Hughes (tcssph@AIE.LREG.CO.UK) 
         Subject: Simon Raymonde's Guardian article

                   <10469.199607221427@hawk.le.ac.uk>

     I got a few requests to type in some quotes from Simon Raymonde's article
     that appeared in the 12/7/96 tabloid section of The Guardian
     (UK national newspaper).  There was some interest in what I meant by "Simon
     shoots himself in the foot a couple of times" so I'll just explain that I
     wasn't commenting on the decision to play Lollapalooza as such.  I'll come
     back to it below.  My comments are in {}.  Basically I think that Simon
     expressed a good deal of po-faced intolerance (though any anger about the
     mud throwing is of course justified).

     "Metallica, Soundgarden, the Ramones, and Rancid.  I think it would be fair
     to say that these groups are at a certain end of the rock spectrum. ... I'm
     all in favour of the occasional burst of Ace of Spades, but en masse this
     kind of music is frankly ugly."

     "The thought of being bottled off every night for a whole month was too
     hideous to contemplate, but the challenge of just the one show seemed quite
     appealing, in a perverse sort of way."

     "I can imagine that the ticket for the show states: `Metallica and
     Soundgarden cordially invite you to witness their startlingly original
     brand of rock at Longview Lake.  Bring a bottle (to throw).  Dress: shorts,
     crap T-shirts and baseball caps compulsory."

     {In the attached picture, shorts are common, but I can only see one T-shirt
     and one baseball cap.  Security must have been lax.}

     "The political bias of [Rancid's] music seems strangely in sync with the
     white, right-wing attitudes of most of [the audience]."

     {Erm Simon, what d'ya do, take a poll?!!.}

     "Today, however I find [the Ramones] offensive.  At the end of one of their
     songs, Joey Ramone ... says `... we are the Ramones, *not* the Shrimp
     Cocktail Twins!'"

     "When I sit down at the piano to play Half-gifts, an extremely slow
     melancholic ballad, I'm laughing hard at the absurdity of this moment ... I
     think back to Joey Ramone and wonder if he's ever taken a musical risk this
     big."

     {Maybe not, but so what!!  I found this comment, which seemed to me to be
     both critical of the Ramones and self-congratulatory, quite ironic given
     widely held opinions around here that The Cocteaus ceased to take risks in
     their recorded output some years ago.}

     "Then Liz catches one full in the face, yet with great style and aplomb
     despite the huge cake of mud in her gob, says a very polite "thank you",
     turns and walks off.  We eagerly follow."

     {Simon goes on to describe his meeting with three Cocteaus fans (10-12
     years old).  The way Simon describes them, they sound like they've watched
     too much MTV.}

     "Just when I was ready to dismiss a whole generation, along come those
     three boys to confound my expectations."

     {I might give the benefit of the doubt and guess that Simon is being
     flippant when he talks of dismissing a generation (my, obviously
     uninformed, guess is that only a small proportion of the Lollapalooza
     audience were involved in the mud throwing).  But to change his mind just
     because he meets three otherwise unappealing lads who like The Cocteaus
     seems daft!}

     Simon Hughes