Jellyfish Projections

My foray into psychedelic light shows…

Ok, I’ll be completely honest here; this whole escapade was all the fault of the Ozrics, or rather their “go to” light show crew from the 1990’s - Fruit Salad Lights. The first couple of times I saw them I was blown away by the projections that were as much a part of the show as the music. The only real recording of this period is the Brixton Fridge video, which is a bit ropey but gives you an idea of the sensory overload .

All of the 90’s Fruit Salad gear was analogue - proper old kinetic lighting, predominantly Optikinetics. So I thought to myself, “I’d like a go at that” - for no other reason that it was bloody cool. Anyway, I love live music but hate performing myself, so why not hide behind the lights?

So with a few Opti 250’s and an LED projector I started touting myself around, and managed some interesting gigs over the years I went out as Jellyfish. It was also handy living next door to a live music pub, because I became an in-house light show for the more interesting psych-tinged bands.

Personal highlights for me were the first Gong Unconvention at Glastonbury Assembly Rooms in 2004 - admittedly I was winging it a bit at this one. I loaded up my camper van with everything I had and took Tom Ayres along for backup / lifty heavy things. This was pre-smoking ban, so as you can imagine some of my memories are a bit hazy - much like the atmosphere in the room. If anyone has photo’s I’d love to see them, I was a bit busy and I think Tom spent most of the evening wondering how some people could be so incredibly stoned and still manage to move about.

Another highlight were the gigs I did with Dream Machine, a collection of former Thunderdogs and Ozric Tentacles musicians, one of which ended up on DVD - “the professional colorful trippy lightshow makes this gig an extraordinary experience”, thank you very much whoever wrote that.

Happy days.

www.nicktoone.com

cheers

Nick Toone - June 2020