Concert for Peace: Hiroshima and Nagasaki Memorial Day 6 Aug 1982

HELL NO WE WONT GLOW

When Salvation Jane were asked to perform at Canberra’s 1982 Concert for Peace to commemorate Hiroshima Day they decided to add a multimedia dimension. This was a highly innovative concept for a Canberra rock band at that time.

Their set involved showcasing 9 anti-war and anti-nuclear songs and projecting a series of anti-war images onto the wall behind the band as they performed.

In this pre-digital era, visual effects of this type were becoming known within music TV but not used in local pub rock gigs. The band did not have access to sophisticated technology. They used a simple but highly effective concept using two slide projectors with attached slide carousels.

STAGING FORMAT AND RUNNING ORDER

The songs were juxtaposed with 40 photo slides set up in two slide carousels attached to two slide projectors.

The projectors were positioned at the back of the venue. The slides were cued one left, then one right, and advanced manually in that sequence.

The slides were beamed on to wall spaces stage left and stage right of the band set up. The slide carousels “click clacking” sound was a deliberate rhythmic inclusion as the sequence of slides links each song.

END sequence: 

• Lights down. Band quietly departs stage as two final slides remain. 
• Dona Nobis Pacem music by Mozart plays as the band exits.
• Music to fade and lights up in the auditorium.

SETLIST

1. What Have They Done To The Rain. Malvina Reynolds. [Anti-nuclear devastation.]
2. Johnny I Hardly Knew You. Composer unknown. [Anti-war Irish Folk song.] 
3. Medley: Lili Marlene/D-Day Dodgers. Norbert Schultze/Hamish Henderson. [WW11 popular music.] 
4. Political Science. Randy Newman. [Global nuclear annihilation satire.]
5. Riverbank. John Cale. [Interpreted as an anti-Vietnam War comment.]  
6. Yellowcake. Anti-nuclear lyrics by Cascade Leggett sung to the melody of Yellowbird.  [Original Song. Choucoune. Michel Mauleart Monton.]
7. Bridget Evans. Judy Small. [UK Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp protest.] 
8. After Glow. Cascade Leggett. [The Doomsday Clock re-visited.]