Prime Objective Blog :: Plastic People of The Universe in London!

Plastic People of The Universe in London!

Influential Czech psychadelic rock group the ‘Plastic People of The Universe’ perform at the Southbank Centre this coming Wednesday 24th Jan. This is the first UK show by the only rock group to have altered the course of European history.

From their formation in Prague in 1968, the Plastic People of the Universe were harassed, intimidated and imprisoned by the Communist authorities in Czechoslovakia and became a symbol of dissident resistance. Recently celebrated in Tom Stoppard’s new play Rock’n’Roll, and hailed as harbingers of the Velvet Revolution of 1989, they fought the law and won. If their story is extraordinary, their music is truly revolutionary – extreme, intense, by turns dreamy and ecstatic, informed by Zappa, free jazz and roof-raising rock’n’roll. The concert marks the 30th Anniversary of the Charter 77 human rights petition, a movement inspired by the arrest and subsequent imprisonment of members of the Plastic People of the Universe band in 1976. Established in January 1977, Charter 77 represented the only opposition to the Communist government in Czechoslovakia for a long time. It would be another 12 years before the Velvet Revolution brought an end to the communist regime in 1989.

I’m shall be heading down on a mission with cameras… as I’m currently working on a project based around the PPU and their influence on Czech society. This will be an awesome gig and recommend anyone who has as interest in music and political history get themselves to what is set to be a historic event.