Adventures in the Mouse House

I can't believe I wasn't going to go! That was all kinds of awesome.

It was an evening of Bauhaus tunes. Including Boys, the first Bauhaus song I was ever exposed to. He's a wonderful performer (and very self deprecating, he kept saying "I can't believe people are still coming to see me") and his band were very, very good. Bassist is cute, but not as sexy as the fretless bass he was playing.

I didn't get there early enough to be right down the front, but was really close- both times I've seen him/ Bauhaus previously were in even bigger venues and it was impossible to get anywhere near.

Though the performance was spot on and the material (obviously) some of my favourite stuff, it didn't have the emotional impact of seeing Mark Burgess do Chameleons songs last year.

He has a new album coming out in the autumn. They played clips from it before he came onstage. It sounds really good. And I haven't taken any notice of his solo work since Deep.

Lots of other thoughts which I can't articulate today.

Neil Gaiman and Peter Murphy in one week! Life doesn't get much better. Except, of course, that I'm going to see Dead Can Dance for the first time since 1993 on the 2nd.

So much to catch up on, I'll start with one of the more recent things.

This was yet another gig that I almost didn't make it to because I'd been feeling fluey all day, but I knew I'd be fine once I got there, and I was.  I didn't arrive early enough to get down to the front, but I managed to find a spot about 1/3 back, and as it was a proper Bristol crowd (ie, I was just about the tallest person there), I had an excellent view.

I've only seen the Furs live once before, Leeds University in (I'm practically certain) the autumn of 1990.  As I recall they were good, but it was a huge venue and I was way at the back.  I've somehow managed to miss every single reunion tour they've done since, and would have missed this, but the day tickets went on sale, the only post Facebook would show me was one of the Bristol goth DJs announcing that tickets were selling swiftly, so I logged on to Bristol Ticket Shop immediately and got myself a ticket.

They came on stage as a six piece - vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, drums and sax.  Richard Butler has held up really well, despite the awful glasses.  Most importantly, his voice is still amazing.  The whole performance was flawlessly tight.  Extra points to the saxophonist for switching off between soprano and tenor sax in one song.

I can't remember that much of the set list; sadly for me no Heartbreak Beat or All that Money wants (which I get are minority favourites at best).  I have a terrible time with song titles anyway.  Highlights for me were Heaven, Love My Way, Pretty In Pink (it took me a decade to get past it being used in a John Hughes movie, but mixed in with all their other stuff it's clear why it was their biggest hit).  What really made it for me was that they closed the encore with an interesting arrangement of President Gas - it took me longer than two notes to work out what song it was - which is my all time favourite.

Did I mention the voice?  It held up pretty well throughout the whole set.

As did the sound - the Fleece is definitely better kitted out than the Tunnels, no doubt about it.

There's an obvious comparison to seeing the Chameleons last month.  While I had the time of my life being 2 feet away from Mark Burgess, I now feel the Chameleons were let down by the crappy sound that went to hell by the end of the set.  Both were excellent gigs in different ways - the Furs are a lot more polished and have more of a performance element, but the Chameleons are - well, the Chameleons.  Both bands hold a very important place in my heart.  There's a lot more women down the front at a Furs gig though.

Went along to see Amanda Palmer at the Thekla last night.

The first act was some guy with an accordion with a Kurt Weil/Brecht thing going on. I have to find out who he was, because he had the best t-shirts I've seen in a long time, but not the money to buy one.

Middle act was Amanda's cell player doing some solo stuff - I think there was a Muse song in there, but mostly it was pretty minimalist & arty. Which didn't suck, but also didn't work in the context. It might have worked if she'd gone on first, but completely didn't work after the accordion guy.

Amanda, predictably, rocked. She played a mix of her new solo stuff and Dresden Dolls material, including a stunning rendition of Half Jack with strings. (Half Jack and The Jeep Song are my favourite Dresden Dolls tracks). She had a lovely quartet of Australian performance artists making the stage show more lively (Amanda is one hell of a performer, but a girl and her piano have a limited visual range). The new material is, not surprisingly, a lot like the Dresden Dolls stuff, but may be different on CD as she said that they had more instruments in the studio. Sadly, acquisition of album has to wait till I get paid.

I'm feeling distinctly post viral (ie the cold is gone but I still feel like I've been hit by a truck) and nearly didn't go; but I'm really glad I did, because it was a great deal of fun.