Gong Tickets

Enjoy Old and New Favourites with Gong

From the summer of love and the age of the three minute pop song sprung Gong. With energy, imagination and psychedelia abounding, they developed a cult following that thrives to this day. Now, with their long awaited new album I See You imminent, Gong fans will soon be granted a long awaited treat.

Schedule

Gong are known for their heavy touring schedule. With upcoming dates in France and England, the band will be playing at the Manchester Academy and also at The Garage, in London's Highbury.

Trivia

Few bands can claim to have been born in such an intercontinental and eclectic manner as Gong. Founding member Daevid Allen was born in Australia and moved to Europe as a young man, in search of the great writers of the beat generation. In 1967, visa issues led to Daevid Allen, then a member of the Soft Machine, meeting with Gilli Smyth, then a professor in Paris, and Gong was born. Fleeing Parisian riots, the pair found talented saxophonist Didier Malherbe residing in a cave in Majorca. These three musicians have formed the backbone of Gong throughout most of its 47 year existence.

Band

Gong have been through many personnel changes throughout nearly five decades of making music. The current line-up is a voracious bunch of accomplished musicians from around the globe, itching to show off their new material.

If you are a Gong fan, you will be more than familiar with the Gong mythology that permeates their music in such a strong way that they have been referred to as a 'conceptual continuity.' If you are new to Gong, be prepared for a strange new world that features Zero the Hero, a man who is thrust into a world of propeller headed pixies and fish and chip feasting felines, as he prepares to host the great melting feast. The great tangle of tales that are told through the music of Gong are often based on real-life events and characters, making a Gong concert an immersive progressive rock experience in which to set your mind free.

Breakthrough

The band's big breakthrough came when they played the second ever Glastonbury Festival in 1971. A chunk of the performance appeared on the festivals 3-LP record release, and this performance took up an entire side of the LP. This led to a deal with the newly formed Virgin Records, where the band found themselves in high regard. At that point, their musical juices really began to flow.

Hit Albums

During 1973 and 1974, Gong recorded and released three iconic albums known as the Radio Gnome Trilogy. These albums were extremely well received by fans and critics alike, and they remain mainstays in progressive rock collections all over the world. It is within the complex and imaginative music and lyrics of the Radio Gnome Trilogy that the Gong mythology took life, and it has continued through many more decades of classic progressive albums, attracting generation after generation to their music.

Show Experience

A Gong concert is layered with convention defying aural assault. Hearing the melodies and themes, feeling the atmosphere and watching the characters come to life is all part of the experience. You can expect far more, though, than just a listening experience. Costumes, projections and light shows add to the band's aura. The show exudes energy and intensity. A Gong concert truly is a tour de force. The band is as fresh and fantastically vivid as they have always been, and for those who can get their hands on Gong tickets, this is an experience not to be missed.