Gig Review: Saul Adamczewski

Fire and brimstone had been blessed upon a hush-hush netherworld Brixton venue, packed full of The South London Scene’s most familiar faces - Saul Adamczweski orchestrates the most nefarious night of Beelzebub worship.

Photography By: Neil Thompson

Organised by South London filmmakers and artists, there was a deliverance of back drop art of the finest calibre, which completely amplified the tone - far from diluting the themes of desolation and eternal damnation.  Emblazoned behind the Goliath orchestra, maelstrom and chaos erupted.  This augmented the diabolic nature of events unfolding, the percussion rising and not acting as a fully fledged drum kit wouldn’t allow the audience to grip onto something more familiar and as a safe haven.   

The dog day afternoon heat exaggerated the element of pressure and intensity throughout the venue, unfamiliar settings for many through music and location only encouraged a level of indulgence into the atmosphere.  The hidden railway arch played its role perfectly for an avant gard experience, nothing could be presumptuous from the notes heard throughout, this was a step away from Insecure Men and Fat White Family and would be an enthralling experience to relive at the likes of Windmill, only as the gates of hell beginning at this moment from Saul Adamczewski and The Drone orchestra, sins can be duly paid for eagerly at forthcoming expanding venues.   

A 20-piece orchestra ensemble, including resident members of The Fat White Family and The Children of The Pope (to name just a few), pinpointed a fine example of what really goes on in Adamczewski’s creative mind.  Adorned with a BDSM mask that would make Marquis De Sade turn, he lashed for a barraging uproar from the well rehearsed orchestra. The crowd were stunned - some in awe, some in fear, but all in excitement.   

The triumphant brass sections paired with the screeching bowed guitar emulsified the personification of demonic peril, often hard to follow aside from Adamczewski’s signature direction, limbs flying in unison with the possessed aura of the night paired with cacophonous vocals, bellowed as a pure driving force - you could be at one with the concentration and apostolic nature the orchestra have for Adamczewski. 

The burlesque performance paraded over the strobing lights, cutting through the darkness to provide a momentary bliss - a lull in this heinous act of war, like coming out of the trenches to envisage total madness. It was quite hard to comprehend how quickly an hour had passed by.  From being literally taken to hell and back with dissonance and atonality, and again the reaction had not been associated with being completely in the room with what was happening before each pair of eyes.  This being the clear mission statement, every crescendo becoming a station of Christ at every rise and fall of the orchestra, leading us directly to Golgotha right in the heart of Brixton. 

The overall reaction was overwhelmingly positive, the uncertainty only adding to the forthcoming debates, congratulations and post-approval grins which confirmed that this hellish, almost criminal act was a truly groundbreaking experience shared by the secular community in attendance.

It would be an honour to see more from the organisers after the incredible performances from Lou Smith’s homemade gas pipe organ, black metal outsiders Whitby Bay, the exotic and eerie Aloha Dead, and of course, Saul Adamczewski and his disciple-esq drone orchestra.  A pleasurable and beautiful sight to behold from a true night, drawn straight from the depths of hell.  Repent your sins, the end is nye and hail forth - the sentence is awaiting a further trial of nights like these.