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Faceless Forever

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Faceless Forever (subtitled 50th Anniversary Dog Stab Tour) was a performance tour by The Residents, celebrating their 50th Anniversary and promoting their hardcover encyclopedia of the same name. As suggested by its subtitle, the show originated from the delayed Dog Stab! tour, which was originally planned to begin in America and Canada in April 2020, before being subject to a string of delays and cancellations following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.[1]

The Residents ultimately performed a truncated run of three Dog Stab! shows in California in September 2021. After further postponements, the retooled tour underwent further development and resumed as Faceless Forever with a special preview performance at the Mill Valley Film Festival in October 2022. On January 14th 2023, The Residents performed a "secret" 50th Anniversary show at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, featuring appearances from guests including Les Claypool of Primus, David J of Bauhaus and composer Ego Plum.

After three years of delays, cancellations and postponements, Faceless Forever officially commenced on January 26th with a show in Bourges, France, and concluded with three shows at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco from April 17th through 19th. Most shows on the tour were preceded by a screening of The Residents' 2022 feature film, Triple Trouble.

History

Dog Stab!

Announcement, delays and further development

Dog Stab! promotional graphic, 2019

The Residents' Dog Stab! tour was announced on November 21st 2019, with dates in America and Canada in April and May 2020. The tour was intended to promote the release of the group's then-upcoming studio album Metal, Meat & Bone, as well as a number of selected songs from the 1978 album Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen.[2]

Beginning in late 2019, the COVID-19 coronavirus began to spread across the world. In March 2020, it was officially declared a global pandemic. The planned Dog Stab! tour dates were postponed until further notice.[3] On April 1st, rescheduled American and Canadian dates were announced for April and May 2021.[4] These shows were cancelled only a week before the tour was scheduled to begin, with the tour then being rescheduled to August and September, with a run of European shows announced the following month.

With the repeated postponements and delays, the start of the Dog Stab! tour had been pushed so close to The Residents' 50th Anniversary in 2022 that it was decided the show would evolve in order to spotlight this as a theme. To this end, the show was split into halves dedicated to Metal, Meat & Bone and Duck Stab!, with an added encore featuring material from the 1976 album The Third Reich 'n Roll,[5] designed to further emphasize the "50th Anniversary" aspect of the show.[6]

With these changes to the set list, Homer Flynn of The Cryptic Corporation noted that the show had changed so substantially from its original concept that, had it originally been conceived as such, it likely would not have been titled "Dog Stab!", but since a great deal of promotional material had already been created and released, it was decided (for the time being) to continue the tour using this title.[6] The Residents premiered the Duck Stab! portion of the show in June 2021, with the airing of the live-in-the-studio TV special Duck Stab Alive! on the streaming platform Night Flight Plus.[7]

Californian mini-tour and further delays

The Residents at curtain call on the first night of the tour, September 15th 2021 (photo by Richard D. Eckart)

On August 11th 2021, fans who had purchased tickets to a number of shows on the American leg of the Dog Stab! tour were notified that the tour would be cancelled. Shortly thereafter, the cancellation of all but the last three shows on the North American tour was confirmed through messages posted on The Residents' official website.[8][9][10] The Residents ultimately commenced the truncated Dog Stab! tour with a show at the Regent Theater in Los Angeles on September 15th 2021. The mini-tour continued with a second show at the Castro in San Francisco on the 17th, and concluded with a third show at the Rio in Santa Cruz on the 18th.

Dog Stab! was then expected to continue in January and February 2022 with a string of dates across Europe and the United Kingdom. In December 2021, however, it was announced that this leg of the tour had been postponed by 12 months due to increasing COVID-19 restrictions.[11] All dates on the leg were then rescheduled to take place in January and February 2023. An additional German show at the Kampnagel in Hamburg on February 7th was added in August 2022; this addition followed the cancellation of a short residency of God In 3 Persons in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Faceless Forever

On September 9th 2022 The Residents announced a preview performance of their 50th Anniversary show, now titled Faceless Forever, as part of the Mill Valley Film Festival at the Sweetwater Music Hall on October 13th, in anticipation of the Californian premiere of the group's feature film Triple Trouble two days later.[12] At the end of the month The Residents released promotional poster art for Faceless Forever, with the subtitle "50th Anniversary Dog Stab Tour", reflecting the new show's origins in the earlier, planned Dog Stab! show.

The show's new title also matches that of a hardcover encyclopedia about The Residents written by Jim Knipfel and Brian Poole (among others), released through mail order by Cherry Red Records on December 9th. On December 8th The Residents announced a new string of American dates. On January 14th 2023, two weeks prior to the official debut of the tour, The Residents held a "secret" 50th Anniversary show at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, featuring several guest performers including the San Francisco Girls Chorus, pianist Sarah Cahill, Conspiracy of Beards, Les Claypool, Ego Plum, David J, and many others.

After three years of cancellations and delays, The Residents successfully commenced the first European leg of their 50th Anniversary tour, with a show at Conservatoire de Bourges, Bourges, France. The European leg concluded on February 21st with a show at the Savoy Theatre in Helsinki, Finland. The new version of the show offered a wider retrospective of The Residents' work, with less emphasis on Metal, Meat & Bone and Duck Stab! than had been seen in the earlier Dog Stab! shows.

The American leg of the Faceless Forever tour began on March 16th 2023 with a show at the Wonder Ballroom in Portland, Oregon, and continued throughout America (with one show in Canada) over the following month, ending with three shows at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco from April 17th through 19th. The set list of the American leg of the tour featured two songs not performed on the European tour, "She Called Me Doggy" and "When We Were Young".

At "the stroke of midnight" on April 20th 2023, immediately after the conclusion of the tour, The Residents parted ways with their long-time collaborator, guitarist Nolan Cook.[13][14] Although Cook was planned to join the group on a UK/Europe mini-tour of their theatrical show God In 3 Persons - Live! in April 2024,[15] those shows were ultimately cancelled, leaving the last date of the Faceless Forever tour as Cook's final performance with The Residents.

Set list

October 13th 2022 preview

Although the exact set list for the Mill Valley Film Festival preview performance has not yet been publicly recorded, audience members have described the October 13th show as "45-50 minutes" (half the length of the September 2021 shows) with "lots of stuff from Duck Stab".

Specific songs said to be featured in the set include "Hello Skinny", "Semolina," "Constantinople", "Blue Rosebuds", "Moisture", "Picnic Boy", "Walter Westinghouse", and "Die! Die! Die!";[16] "Picnic Boy" and "Walter Westinghouse" were not performed on the later tour.

European tour (January - February 2023)

American tour (March - April 2023)

Set list from the show in Tucson on April 12th

Dates

The Residents live in Bourges, France, January 26th 2023; photo by Philippe Perreaudin

Preview performance

50th Anniversary secret show

First leg (Winter 2023, Europe)

Second leg (March - April 2023, US and Canada)

See also

  1. ↑ "The Residents @ Lincoln Hall CANCELLED" - email sent to ticketholders, August 11th 2021
  2. ↑ "Dog Stab! Tour!", The Residents' News Machine, November 21st 2019
  3. ↑ "North American Tour Postponed", The Residents' News Machine, March 13th 2020
  4. ↑ Post on The Residents' official Facebook page, April 1st 2020
  5. ↑ Homer Flynn Interview with KFAI (September 9th, 2021)
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Homer Flynn, "Homer Flynn (Spokesperson for The Residents) on WZRD Chicago 88.3FM" on Mixcloud, August 5th 2021
  7. ↑ Homer Flynn Interview with KFAI (September 9th, 2021)
  8. ↑ Live & Preserved, residents.com, August 11th 2021
  9. ↑ "Dog Death!", The Residents' News Machine, August 12th 2021
  10. ↑ "WHAT IS REAL?", The Residents' News Machine, August 13th 2021
  11. ↑ Post by John M. Key, The Residents unofficial Facebook group, December 10th 2021
  12. ↑ Post to The Residents' official Instagram page, September 9th 2022
  13. ↑ Post by Nolan Cook in The Residents unofficial Facebook group, February 20th 2024
  14. ↑ Homer Flynn, post to The Residents' official Facebook page, February 20th 2024
  15. ↑ Comment by Nolan Cook in The Residents unofficial Facebook group, February 20th 2024
  16. ↑ Post by Don Schuerholz in The Residents unofficial Facebook group, October 14th 2022


Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen
(1978)

Side A: Duck Stab!
"Constantinople" · "Sinister Exaggerator" · "The Booker Tease" · "Blue Rosebuds" · "Laughing Song" · "Bach Is Dead" · "Elvis And His Boss"

Side B: Buster & Glen
"Lizard Lady" · "Semolina" · "Birthday Boy" · "Weight-Lifting Lulu" · "Krafty Cheese" · "Hello Skinny" · "The Electrocutioner"

Personnel
The Residents · Snakefinger · Ruby

Related works
Duck Stab! EP · "Soulful Sax" · "Ow Boutthat" · "When Johnny Comes Marching" · "Unlisted" · "Santa Dog '78" · "Guylum Bardot '78" · Duck Stab! film · "Hello Skinny" video · D*ck S*ab - 35th Anniversary · Dog Stab! · Duck Stab! Alive! · Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen Notebook · "Duck Kosmische"

Related articles
Ralph Records · The Cryptic Corporation · Grove St. studio · Pore No Graphics · Graeme Whifler · Bridgit Terris · The Rick & Ruby Show · "Satisfaction" · Not Available · Eskimo‏‏‎

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