Whitehouse - " Live actions 21, 22 , and 24 " (Come Org) 1985-ish

As the jury's out on the merits of Whitehouse as non-musical unit, there can be no disputing the impact that the live version of the group can have on 'the big society'. Rarely did any 'Action' last longer than twenty minutes. Usually curtailed by the Police or some other member of the moral majority.
This is a force for good is it not?
There are several superbly confrontational moments on these tapes. Mainly, the hilarious Police raid at Action 22 at the Roebuck, London, july '83; and at the end of Queen Myra in Action 21, when they challengingly play a recording of 'Where's Your Mama Gone?' to finish. You should be questioning your reaction,whatever it is. This is great art in my book, as it challenges your own conscience.....if you have one?
And i'd probably defend their right to do this tasteless racket, 'cus it gives even the most apathetic drone a rocket up the arse.

(please note, I managed to get live action 22 and 24 mixed up,so you may have to edit the titles....sorry,but i can't be arsed to change it myself).

live action 21
   
21jun83
   
musicians co-op - london, uk

william bennett, kevin tomkins, philip best

notes: whitehouse were the advertised ‘mystery guest band’ of the equinox event (featuring performances by coil, nww, etat brut, club moral, john murphy, dave tibet’s dogs blood order, test dept. and others) organised by mary dowd / however, whitehouse were banned on the eve of the event after philip best had a fight with mary dowd

special biographical note: This was to be the first live action with the new ‘super-powerful’ line-up of Philip Best (15 years old) of Consumer Electronics and Kevin Tomkins of Sutcliffe Jugend.

live action 22
   
01jul83
   
roebuck - london, uk

william bennett, kevin tomkins, philip best

right to kill, bloodfucking, anal american

notes: audience 80 / support groups are ramleh and bushido (featuring glenn michael wallis and gary levermore) at low volume / steve stapleton gets arm cut after flying glass during whitehouse performance / police raid in large numbers midway through anal american / many arrested in chaos / whitehouse manager jordi valls spends night at police station for barring access to police

review:
Wasn’t the half-hour wait for Whitehouse worth it? Yes, it was. Philip Best, the king of the nasties, walked on programming his tool of ultimate power: sound. Next walked on Kevin Tomkins who fiddled with the oscillators so harshly, he was torturing his own machinery! Then the brainiac of the Come Organisation, William Bennett, flitted along the floor, dictating and screaming "Kill" like Hitler never could! gesticulating "louder", a helper, I think, persuaded the public address bloke that more power was needed, with the sound ultimate violent playing, the anger was brewing. A fag butt directed at the audience, a glass of beer, beer glasses, the boys took over, objects were flying like a testing range, one bloke who decided that a beer glass cutting his arm was not very social got on stage and kicked the equipment over. William seemed to direct his anger to Phil by "come on" gestures, the doors were barricaded and officers of the law kicked the door down and literally dragged an angry man down the stairs in not the most polite fashion. Was that a Whitehouse performance, total anger, rage and violence? I mean, all their lyrics are "Fuck", "Kill", "Shitfun", "Buggerfuck", now what are you meant to think? Is it pretending of a warning, a sign of sheer dominance and then sheer fascism and sexism? Well, I don’t know, but if it is, fight it, if not, we should support the noble cause.

live action 24
   
27aug83
   
mermaid - birmingham, uk

william bennett, kevin tomkins, philip best

rapemaster, weapon power, anal american, cock dominant, queen myra, tit pulp, right to kill

notes: audience 80-100 / chaos during right to kill prompts venue managers to call police - whitehouse subsequently have to flee the venue / support group is family patrol group

DOWNLOAD live action 21 HERE!
DOWNLOAD live action 22 HERE!
DOWNLOAD live action 24 HERE!