I've missed so many things, but this one was impossible. This was my first trip to Vienna and what really struck me was the cleanliness of the streets and places, and the newspaper kiosks on the street. If they tried this back home, they'd break open the box and steal all the newspapers that very day.

We (Árpi & Broci & Erika & Misi & I) arrived at the venue a little early. We heard some banter from the hall so we peeked in. And what does God give? What else would God give, while the soundcheck is going on. We listened for a while and were amazed. As long as I live, I'll never forget: one of the technicians suddenly turns to us and asks if we're B-Shops For The Poor. We said no and we took the city by storm.

The concert was held in a theater and if there were 60 people, I'm saying a lot. How many would've there been in Hungary? B-Shops For The Poor is a 5-piece English band. A lady and four gentlemen on alto and soprano saxophone, bass and guitar. The female member even sang sometimes. They played very wild free jazz. They were highly skilled musicians, but I was absolutely not impressed by what they did. Of course there were those who would buy them, each to their own.

God took the stage with the following line-up: Kevin Martin-vocals, saxophone, Tim Hodgkinson-saxophone, Russell Smith-guitar, Niko Wenner-guitar, Tom Prentice-electric violin, John Edwards-double bass, Dave Cochrane-bass, Gary Jeff-bass, Scott Kiehl-percussion, Lou Ciccotelli-drums. After three songs, two black drummers came in and they continued this unique, incomparable music. This man is a bit of a legend, believe it or not. The legend of God goes like this: the band is playing and if one of them feels that it's not loud enough, they signal to the mixer, who turns up the volume and then someone else feels that it's not loud enough and signals... Well, now I've come face to face with the legend, I only saw a signal once, but the volume kept increasing. I really felt this when a song ended and the silence really cut into my ears, sometimes so much that it almost hurt. Their 10-minute-plus numbers gave me—without any exaggeration—the greatest concert experience of my life so far. After about two hours, the band left and took their instruments with them. This also meant that there would be no encore. There wasn't one. Despite the whistling, shouting, and applause from the audience, the band remained unyielding for about a quarter of an hour.

There's a billboard that says "The atmosphere of Vienna is seductive," and it really is. Very seductive.

https://archive.org/details/straight-edge-04-1994/page/n12/mode/1up