These days it's hard to work out what Gong are. They are not really a cover band but there are no original members in the band these days. So I headed up the Lewes fighting against the weather and Southern Rail excuses to find out.

I had hoped to catch all of the support bands tonight, instead by the time I got to the venue it was half way through the second bands set. Mandragora were actually one of the first live bands I saw in a venue, way back when they were supporting Hawkwind. They split up many years ago and have only recently started playing together again. Apparently they are even going back into the studio soon to record new material. Off the back of what I saw tonight it might well be worth checking out. The music sounded good and everyone was dancing.

I have to start the Gong review talking about their video back projection. This was one the most impressive projections set up I've seen. It was two very high quality projectors each covering half the stage with the images mirrored down the middle. The video content, unsurprisingly, was bright colours, trippy images and totally captivating.

As far as the music goes the band did a great job of recreating the old material. They also have a new album and the songs from that fitted well against the older songs. So despite the fact the band have no original members they do seem to be great at carrying on the spirit of Gong.

The charismatic singer was humble enough to continually remind people that it's not the original lineup by often saying, "thank you for letting us be Gong". Which was quite apt really. It may not be the original, thought there are quite a few other bands that only have one token original member but you have to say they seem 100% dedicated to putting on an awesome Gong performance and they hit the nail on the head. It was great fun and a totally enjoyable evening.
Jonski Mason

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