The Young Gods. TYG.
Swiss industrial rock band TYG, playing industrial rock since 1985, played the first of their two planned Prague concerts on Tuesday, December 3, 2019. The venue was the club Palác Akropolis, which with its capacity of several hundred spectators matched the current scope of the trio of musicians performing under the brand The Young Gods. The only permanent member of the ensemble, singer and guitarist Franz Treichler, together with Cezar Pizzi (keyboards, samples) and drummer Bernard Trontin played a basic set of about eighty minutes. At first, the audience, which was relatively quiet and only slightly swaying from side to side, gradually became louder and appreciated the individual songs, which were almost intertwined and did not give much opportunity for reactions. The opening act of this year's tour usually caters for Entrée en Matiere from the current Data Mirage Tangram (2019). From the same album comes the later-played Moon Above with its chaotic percussion sounds and dominant harmonica. Treichler shows off his instrumental skills not only by playing the mouth organ, but perhaps also by using slide guitar. Well-managed individual player performances forming a superstructure of rhythmic and tempo-wise well-chosen samples enlivened the main part of the performance. The emotionally charged L'eau Rouge (1989), from the album of the same name, was a great treat, as was Tenter Le Grillage from Everybody Knows (2010). TYG got called up for two encores, but for technical reasons, they no longer featured live guitar. Although the samples were perfect and logically fitting into the industrial sound, the guitar was a bit lacking. The very end was provided by hits of older date. The audience responded delightedly to Gasoline Man and Skinflowers, both from the 1992 album T.V. Sky,. The Swiss "young bozos", who were once an inspiration for David Bowie, brought to Prague pulsating rock, the basis of which is formed by computers and enriched with pre-recorded and subsequently modified sounds. Although this characteristic sounds a bit cold and dry, the final impression was exactly the opposite. The Young Gods' vibrant musical production is thought provoking and manages to evoke an atmosphere in which the outside world seems to be non-existent.