Fresh off announcing a new book, English rave provocateurs the KLF today shared news of a mysterious five-day event in Liverpool this summer. Taking place from the exact times of 00:23 (12:23 AM) on August 23 to 23:23 (11:23 PM) on August 27, a poster for the event says they will be “unearthing aspects of the 2023 trilogy across Liverpool.”
2023: A Trilogy is the name of their forthcoming book to be released by London publishing house Faber and Faber. In the initial poster announcing the KLF’s return as the Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu back in January, it was announced that they were “currently at work” on something that “will not be made public” until August 23, 2017.
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No further details about the event besides a bare bones Twitter announcement have been released at this time.
The KLF shared the news via the enigmatic entity K 2 Plant Hire Ltd, which previously confirmed the duo’s 2017 return. Faber and Faber also say in their official book description that 2023: A Trilogy was “REMEMBERED – TOLD – TRANSCRIBED for K 2 Plant Hire Ltd.” 20 years ago, the KLF used the K 2 Plant Hire Ltd moniker to promote their 1997 single “Fuck the Millennium.”
The number 23 continues to play a recurring role in the KLF’s recent activities, although it is unclear exactly what it symbolizes for the band. Along with appearing both in the just-announced event dates and in the book title, it has also recurred throughout their history. For instance, when the duo infamously burned one million pounds for a performance piece in 1994, they said they wouldn’t talk about it for 23 years, in 2017. On top of that, when the band briefly reformed in 1997 for a one-off performance, they only played for 23 minutes. The number also figures prominently in the band’s lyrics for “Always.”
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