For quite some time the EDITORS enchant me with their last two records, regularly rotating in my player. I like their wild mixture of Indie, Rock, Pop, Wave, Post, Punk and Electronica. They are always very emotional, occasional highly energetic, sometimes soft and then again gruff and brutal, all of a cool aesthetic. Though, I have never seen them live so far.
A couple of days ago, EDITORS have released their sixth full-length to date, Violence, which now wants to be presented live on stage across Europe. I was waiting for a long time but finally I got the chance to see them live. Much better, to do so they came to my hometown :)
The first venue, the Jovel Music Hall, was sold out within the first week of ticket sales. Shortly after the organizers upgraded the venue to the :: Halle Münsterland :: over the road. Since this hall is not that beautiful beautiful and quite clinical, many fans were disappointed and some even sold their tickets again. However, the parquet floor was packed but the galleries were partly closed. I would guess 4000 fans were eager to see the EDITORS this night. Not sure, if a sweaty and jam-packed sold out Jovel Music Hall would have been the better situation. Doors opened very early, which I think was a good decision as there were meticulous security checks but no queues and no stops at the entry.
:: pics :: PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING ::
Expectations were high and almost palpable, while everybody was peering at the stage for the support act :: PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING ::. Time passed by but nothing happened. From announced 7.30 pm, we came close to 8 pm when the trio finally the trio entered the stage and lights went out. Yeah. But… nothing happened. Lights went on again, stage hands came to do some stuff and ran off. Now the band got sound and finally kicked off the show.
PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING presented kind of an instrumental show with many sequences from TV news and broadcasts, mostly taken from the 60s. And that’s exactly what the trio looked like: like anchormen from such 60s TV news broadcast. Funny.
Musically, they also borrowed some melodies and beats from that era, blended with modern sounds and various instruments, such as guitar, bass, banjo, trumpet, headless tambourine, and others. J. Willgoose Esq. and JF Abraham were busy switching the instruments. It was easier for drummer Wrigglesworth. Funny pseudos by the way ;)
At the beginning, nothing wanted to match properly. Sound, lights, amplifying were all unbalanced. Disappointed my attention switched over to what the paramedics had to do. Hardly to belief: first band, first couple of songs and the first girl passed out. It were the last two tracks, Gagarin and Everest, which turned my attention back towards the band and could thrill me. Back home I listened to the songs again and finally PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING got me hooked.
Setlist: People Will Always Need Coal, Progress, Spitfire, Go!, Gagarin, Everest
:: pics :: EDITORS ::
Okay. Here I am now to embrace the experience of my very first :: EDITORS :: show. A must-see I was told. Impatiently I thumped my fingers on the barrier next to the photo pit, while observing everything that happened on stage. After all, I not only wanted to see the band but also deliver some good photos.
Once again, the beginning was delayed of approx. 15 minutes before the curtain fell and the band came onto stage, which was bathed into bloody red lights. EDITORS kicked off their set with their most recent single Hallelujah (So Low). Unfortunately, the sound was not as harsh and brutal as on CD, displayed some weaknesses but was fixed later on by the sound engineers and then appeared to be as powerful and clear as expected. A huge construction of (probably) aluminum (or something alike as steel would have been too heavy) replaced a backdrop and looked just incredible. Too bad, the view from the photo pit was too limited and the construction too much shrouded in smoke to grasp its entire beauty and work within the lights.
Singer Tom Smith played and sang off his soul, died suffered and jubilated, pulled faces and was full of gestures, movements and even more filled with passion. It was kinda poetic to watch him performing. There ain’t many bands with such a charismatic and expressive frontman, with a voice changeable like a chameleon and not shy to show all the feelings he connects with the songs on stage. It is his voice that brings the EDITORS close to bands such as Coldplay, Radiohead and Muse. Though, they have so much evolved and matured and, especially with the new album Violence, created a sound that stands for its own.
EDITORS played 8 out of 9 tracks from Violence, along with a myriad of favorites from the past. The songs were cleverly compiled, spanning across all six albums that differ in style and thus kept up a high dynamic range, much variety and thrill. Violation followed by No Harm was surely one of those goose bump moments, the double feature Nothingness and Belong was another. Latter one is such an epic masterpiece.
The band did not waste time with announcements and introductions. Communication was limited on “thank you’s” and Tom saying: “how great it would be to see so many people on a Saturday night”. Yes! ;)
Although I’m not familiar with the old material it was clearly to hear out how much the songs have changed. While the older ones are simpler and rougher, the new ones are much more complex, multilayered and sophisticated. Interestingly, it were the older ones that brought the crowd to life. Hm. I actually liked all facets of the band and was dancing through the night elated.
The EDITORS played for almost two hours and delivered a 4-song encore after a brief moment off-stage. It then became even more emotional when Tom Smith played No Sound But The Wind all alone as an acoustic version, and right after got the audience into full swing again with Cold, Magazine and Papillon to ultimately conclude the evening with the anthemic Marching Orders. Wow! What a show, what a band, what beautiful noise! Surely not a flawless show but one that gets you hooked. Guess what… I want more ;)
Setlist: Hallelujah (So Low), A Ton Of Love, Darkness At The Door, Formaldehyde, Violence, No Harm, Lights, Blood, Munich, An End Has A Start, In This Light And On This Evening, Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool, Nothingness, Belong, Sugar, The Racing Rats, Ocean Of Night // No Sound But The Wind, Cold, Magazine, Papillon, Marching Orders
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