Psychic TV

Live At Thee Marquee is the complete Psychic TV concert at the Marquee Club in London on 20 May 1986. The show was part of a benefit for the revived underground paper International Times, first launched in 1966. Before Cold Spring issued it on CD in 2013, it had circulated only on a 1988 cassette from the band's own Temple ov Psychick Youth network.

The line-up that night was Genesis P-Orridge on voice and Alex Fergusson on guitar, with Mouse on bass, Matthew Best on drums and Philipp Erb on keyboards and synthesizer. By 1986 Psychic TV had moved from the ritual tape music of their first years toward the hyperdelic pop of their singles. This set leans further still, toward a rocky, psychedelic sound.

After an intro of metal beats and looped tapes, the band launches into a forceful Ov Power, driven by Mouse's bass and layers of keyboards. It ends in a guitar overload and runs straight into She Touched Me. Just Like Arcadia jangles and rocks through a rowdy interruption from the crowd, and the band powers through I Like You and Riot In Thee Eye. A loose reading of Pink Floyd's Interstellar Overdrive nods to the 1966 launch party of International Times, where Pink Floyd had played. Unclean trades its usual strummed guitar for synth stabs and free-form guitar. Godstar is dedicated to Mick Jagger, and the encore runs from a quiet We Kiss to a rowdy Roman P. before the short closing IT.

Reviewing the CD with its two companions from the same release batch, Compulsion found the Marquee set “much rockier than the other two discs”, powered by Best's drumming. The magazine also noted that each disc “has a real bootleg cassette feel”, with this one carrying the most audience noise and participation. It catches the band a year after Godstar had brought them close to the charts.

Released by Cold Spring (CSR189CD) in December 2013 in an edition of 1000 copies. CD in a clear-tray jewel case with an 8-page booklet of unseen black and white photographs by Simon Woodgate. Mastered by Martin Bowes at The Cage, Coventry.