Catching up: Thursday, 5/11

[d_trektone_w]

To follow up the release of acoustic versions of some non-hits, "Union Street," the concert tour included a San Francisco stop. Last time Erasure was in town they did five shows at a small venue. A year ago. Yeah.

I like the album and there are a few songs that I think are lovely in their new settings. Not that Erasure acoustic was totally new. On other tours or "B-side" recordings I enjoyed acoustic-guitar-only performances of "Spiralling," "A Little Respect," "and "Oh, L'Amour." And of course I did a chocolate-related filk of "Blue Savannah."

(Getting the ticket was extremely annoying. Ticketmaster online kept giving back "no tickets available" but I kept trying and finally got one. Nice box seat, too. Bad online experience. Bleah.)

As the show date approached I was thinking more and more about last year. The first of the two SF concerts I attended was on the first day of my family medical leave for my dad. I remember how both shows were exciting, high energy and a temporary relief from dad rehab and other family stuff. So I was a weird combination of sad and happy that week.

Before the concert I met up with several Erasure fans for dinner, which was fun. I'd met one last year in line (he went to all five shows!), but most of them seemed more interested in seeing another Erasure show than being interested in the acoustic updates of the old songs. We were all curious, despite reading Erasure forum posts, the look of the show and Andy Bell & Vince Clarke. Met up with other forum fans in front of the venue and talked for a while before going in.

I'd seen various performances at Herbst Theatre in the Civic Center area of San Francisco. Stephen King interview, Tori Amos concert, SF Gay Film Festival presentation. Got t-shirts (sigh, yup) and went to my seat. Wonderful view, elevated and direct line-of-sight. The concert-goers around me were men and women, straight and gay, and all had seen Erasure live at five times!

1. Boy
2. Stay With Me
3. Victim Of Love
4. Love Affair
5. Oh L'Amour
6. Alien
7. Breathe
8. Blue Savannah
9. How Many Times?
10. Spiralling
11. Sometimes
12. Tenderest Moments
13. Ship Of Fools
14. Love to Hate You
15. Against My View
16. Piano Song
17. Rock Me Gently
18. Stop
19. Chains Of Love
Encore:
20. A Little Respect

Clarke played a variety of instruments (acoustic guitars, melodica, drum) over the course of the show. He was in the back off to the side most of the time, next to the main guitarist and drummer. In front of him were the two vocalist (including Valerie from last year). The other female singer also played autoharp and pennywhistle (very nice on "Ship of Fools). The dobro player spent most of the time on pedal steel guitar, but was the foot-stomping energy on banjo on "Chains of Love." The stand-up bass on the right side of the stage completed the band.

Mr. Bell. Despite claiming to be tired, he sounded excellent. The acoustifying of the songs made many of them mid-tempo and right in Andy Bell's vocal power zone.

(An aside. mat_t, was it you who observed recent Erasure albums didn't have the high-energy -- or at least quickly sung -- vocals and rhythm numbers? With this tour it definitely seemed like it, though I'm sure the song choices were based on how them might sound with certain acoustic instruments in mind. Maybe next album? Still, Andy sounded great most of the time.)

The only song I wasn't crazy about his singing was "How Many Times" where he was in a low baritone. He was scraping the bottom and the usual richness of tone was missing. "Victim of Love" and "Blue Savannah" were honky-tonky, with typical, if restrained, Bell posturing. "Love to Hate You" was almost a ... tango or something latin like that. One of my favorites! "Rock Me Gently" had the most singers -- delicious harmonies where the only ones who didn't sing were the guitarist and Vince -- another favorite that wistfully made me think of dad for some reason. "Spiralling" though made it for me, with beautiful singing and only acoustic guitar back-up. Swoon. Sigh.

The fans were fairly respectful, pretty much staying in their seats, but by the end of the concert (that had no intermission) many of us (yes, me!) were jumping up and down to "A Little Respect." Another memorable Erasure show!