Having a flat-mate who works for in the world of gig promoting/tickets/organising etc. means that I occasionally get invited to gigs that I probably wouldn’t have bought tickets for had they been offered to me for money.
Last night was one such gig, going to see Erasure at the Albert Hall. Before going I thought, ‘ah well, it’ll be fun in a night out at a gay club kind of way, and I’ll know about three of the songs’. How many Erasure hits can you name off the top of your head? But I found I knew about 3/4 of the set – loads of great songs I’d forgotten even existed! And I mean REALLY great songs. I’d forgotten what a pop genius Vince Clarke is, and how great Andy Bell’s voice is. It was pop in it’s most condensed, distilled, honed form – Pure Pop as Art. Not throw away or disposable, just immediate, hook-laden, crafted, every bleep and drum machine hit exactly where it should be. Vince Clarke looked a little like he was working at a checkout, stood behind a small podium with a laptop and a largely unused mini-keyboard in front of him – he was probably reading wikipedia or something during most of it, but it didn’t in anyway mess up the gig… it was just that kind of gig.
One lovely touch was that during the costume change, the screens played a scrolling comedy monologue about what they were up to. Kept everyone interested while they changed into ever-camper gear. it was a fabulously gay night out, and SBJ and I had much fun.
Musically, the highlight for me was ‘Ship Of Fools’ – I’d forgotten what a great song it is! Have a listen –
If you get a chance to see them, and fancy a very gay very fun lots of arms-waving-in-the-air dancing night out, jump at it! :o)