Jun 03
Elkland played three songs including “Find Me,” and then left the stage abruptly. It was a fun twelve minutes, but disappointing after seeing a much longer set of theirs in New York. The chunky drummer, Jesse Pierce, looked like he lost weight, and his brother, lead singer Jon Pierce, was in pretty good form even through a short set.
Jun 03
06.03.2005 Erasure Avalon, Boston, MA
Opener: Elkland
Avalon met my expectations for the Erasure show. We piled on to Lansdowne Street along with sixty thousand fans or so that were heading across the street from Avalon to Fenway Park for the BoSox vs. the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Fortunately, on the way out, the game hadn’t ended yet, so we weren’t mobbed on the subway getting home. The sound in Avalon was better than Irving Plaza and the vocals were distinct and loud – all good. Erasure played an identical set minus a few songs, but everything sounded crisper tonight and I noticed more vividly the spotlights and color that changed throughout the set. The backdrop simulated an enchanted forest, but the stage was really only fifteen foot tall plastic trees and some shiny aluminum carpet. The girls started the show in fairy wings with Andy Bell standing behind them dressed as an angel. The first four songs were for fans only. Awesome versions of “Hideaway” and “Knocking On Your Door” but you won’t find those on a greatest hits package. Then they switched it up to the first single from the new album, “Breathe” which I thought sounded good but now we are half a dozen songs in and not one radio hit.
If you are asking why that’s important, to me it’s not. There is not a song Erasure will play that I have not at least heard before. But the crowd is populated by hardcore fans as well as many, many more hardcore fans – from 1989. It is usually very obvious who’s who and only the singles of The Innocents and Chorus really get the entire crowd into a rythmic groove. The new single, “All This Time Still Falling Out of Love” is making the rounds as the supposed best dance hit of theirs in ages, and the buzz has to be strong because that song was treated like an old favorite.
Andy was talkative tonight. He spilled a story about being unrecognized in a Boston bar and he claimed to be a member of the crew to a couple locals who unkindly suggested that Erasure’s songs were better fit for the archives, who to which Andy then told us said, “This song is definitely in the archives,” and launched into “Drama!” circa 1989. He talked about the art of holding the microphone and that his hand continually slid further up the microphone closer to the head. (I’ll let you figure that one out on your own.) For “Blue Savannah,” he came out in a glittery gold hot shorts and held two fans made of feathers that he played with about his body during the chorus, then used to wipe his armpits. Twice, he sang the wrong words coming out of an instrumental bridge and he almost slipped and fell during the seduction scene they put together during “Love to Hate You.” It was good fun though, and for whatever reason, when Andy came out to sing solo “Ava Maria” more people got out their cell phones to take his picture and record the vocals than any other time during the show. The only feasible explanation was that was the only time he was standing still…
Some of the new tracks, “I Broke It All In Two” and “I Bet You’re Mad at Me” have grown on me after seeing them twice in the live setting. We had a good view from our spot of Vince contributing live instrumentation on the guitar and keyboard, something that’s hard to tell from most vantage points in the audience. The girls on backing vocals, Valerie Chalmers and Ann-Marie Gilkes, got into the fun with a Marilyn Monroe moment and the vent air blowing up their dresses. Bizarrely, during “I Broke It All In Two” there was a third, pre-recorded harmony that sang behind Andy Bell and the two girls. It had to require pretty precise timing to make sure the recorded vocals coincided with the live vocals, but no one missed a beat.
Setlist
Mr. Gribber and His Amazing Cat
No Doubt
Hideaway
Knocking On Your Door
Breathe
Ship of Fools
Drama!
All This Time Still Falling Out of Love
Stop!
Rapture
Ava Maria
Breath of Life
A Little Respect
I Broke It All In Two
Chains of Love
Chorus
Love to Hate You
Blue Savannah
Always
Oh L’amour
Encore
I Bet You’re Mad At Me
Sometimes
by Andrew Marx and Dara Shifrer
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