Fuck The Millennium - Performance

Performance

"1997 (What The Fuck's Going On?)" was performed by 2K as a one-off event at London's Barbican Arts Centre on 17 September 1997 with Acid Brass, the Liverpool Dockers, the Viking Society, and Drummond's creative associates Mark Manning and Gimpo, who appeared, respectively, as "an axe-wielding "salvationist" in a vicar's collar and gold lame suit, and a shop steward character in a white coat with a megaphone". The performance began with a screening of This Brick, a short 35mm film of a brick made from the ashes of the K Foundation's million-pound bonfire. Following an introduction by Factory Records founder Tony Wilson, Drummond and Cauty were then unveiled as pyjama-clad, wheelchair-using pensioners with grey hair and, strapped to their foreheads, prominent horns that had been used regularly in The KLF's promotional videos. Drummond was also seen plucking feathers from a dead swan. According to a press release issued by Mute/Blast First (Acid Brass' and 2K's record label), "Two elderly gentlemen, reeking of Dettol, caused havoc in their motorised wheelchairs. These old reprobates, bearing a grandfatherly resemblance to messrs Cauty and Drummond, claimed to have just been asked along." The duo wheeled around the stage to the sound of Acid Brass' "What Time Is Love?". They were supported variously by a male choir's rendition of "K Cera Cera", joined by opera singer Sally Bradshaw; the Viking Society in costume as lifeboatmen; and the politically topical Liverpool Dockers chanting "Fuck the Millennium". Following the performance, every audience member received a "Fuck the Millennium" T-shirt, poster, and bumper sticker in a carrier bag.

In a comprehensive assessment, The Observer rationalised the spectacle: "They did what they always do: too many things at the same time. Their points are lost along with the plot. So, just to explain: ... Bill and Jimmy were dressed as old men as a comment on elderly pop groups making a comeback. The brass band playing house music tunes was organised by Jeremy Deller as a comment on class culture (working-class band playing working-class music). The dockers were asked along because their cause is important." The Guardian called the performance "a glorious, jaw-dropping mess", and The Times commented that "the strongest point in its favour was its brevity". Select said, "There was no press furore the next morning—merely the anticlimactic aftertaste left by 40-year-old men miming to a seven-year-old song.... 2K was unquestionably a failure."