[no subject]

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Was anyone else at the ARS electronic Rastermusic evening last night? What a 
joke!
 
The ARS electronica webpage had listed all 12 contributors to the 20' to 
2000 series (including elph) as appearing live at the event. (the page has 
previously listed that only some may appear, but this was changed late last 
week)..
 
So.. off we went to Linz..
 
We got there and paid 250 ATS to get in, and saw a board with the times of 
each act. Elph were listed at playing last at 1:00pm
 
Toward the end of the evening we'd heard from someone who had played earlier 
that Peter and John hadn't turned up, and instead of  letting people know 
that they weren't appearing, they planned to get stand ins to mime to the 
CD!
 
So we waited, and lo and the final act appeared. A lone figure in a hooded 
sweater walked on stage and stood with his back to the audience, while the 
Elph CD played...
 
Many of the people there believed this was Sleazy (or John) until a few 
people started shouting "This is not Elph!". After about five minutes 
someone jumped up on stage and went up to the guy and pulled his hood off 
and tried to pull him towards the audience to show that this was just a 
stand in, the guy was promply removed, while the Sleazy impersonator 
remained on stage.
 
By now, people were wondering what the hell was going on. People all along 
the front were taking photos of what they believed was Elph, until a woman 
from the festival organization, went round telling people to stop filming 
and photographing the performance!
 
More and more people were realising what was happening, some were just 
staring in amazement, others just didn't care. When the performance (i.e. 
the CD) finished. Some of the audience applauded, others booed and shouted 
"Fake"..
 
Talking to some of the other artists at the end of the evening, it seems 
that Pita Rehburg (the organizer of the evening) knew they wouldn't play, 
but didn't want to announce they weren't there. This would be bad enough, 
but to DELIBERATELY attempt to deceive the audience by using a hooded figure 
on stage during the performance is outrageous!
 
This might be his idea of a joke, but for the people who had driven for 
hours to Linz (not to mention the people who arrived from Germany and 
Hungary) especially for a chance to see them were not happy.
 
This morning revealed another twist, it seems the organisers must be a 
little worried about last nights little fiasco. They have replaced the web 
page which listed all bands as playing (it now says it's a "CD 
Presentation"), and they have COMPLETELY removed all contact details and 
email addresses for the staff and management of the festival!
 
I'm in no way blaming Coil/Elph for this, it's possible they never intended 
to play anyway, but the ARS electronica organizers deliberately lied to the 
public by stating they would play, taking their money, and then duping the 
audience into thinking they were by using a stand in..
 
Sorry if I'm rambling, but am I over reacting to this? Or are we just 
expected to be fobbed off, ripped off and then quietly go home........
 
t3TM
 
 


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