Generally, I do not like surprises. However, there are exceptions to that assertion. For example, when I come across last minute
concert tickets at a wonderfully low price.
Such was the case with Erasure’s recent performance at the Beacon Theatre
in NYC. Erasure is one of those acts I
never thought I’d see live. I have
remained a faithful fan of theirs, continuing to purchase each new album and
regularly listening to their classics from the 80s and early 90s. World Be Gone, their most recent, was a slight
departure from their earlier work with more down tempo tracks but still has
that electronic Erasure magic. They
announced their World Be Gone Tour in 2017 in support of the new album and I wsa thrilled when we managed to get a
really good deal on tickets just a few hours before the show at the Beacon.
However, the tickets were not without some Drama! (see what
I did there). The tickets were on StubHub’s
mobile app but did not show a bar code or QR code, which meant that we could
not be admitted to the venue. We
contacted the StubHub help centre and a very friendly and efficient person
informed us that the ticket seller had made an error when posting the tickets. As a result, he immediately sent us two new tickets with the
barcodes displayed. We subsequently
found out that the tickets were way better seats, five rows from the stage in
fact! So a big thank you to StubHub for
the great service and for ensuring that we got to see the show from such amazing
seats.
They opened with Oh L’amour – Andy Bell, wearing a black
jacket, oversized sequins Thrasher shirt over a patterned body suit, and a
string of pearls, sounded as good as ever and had the audience on their feet
from the opening note. A reserved Vince
Clarke and his equipment were positioned on top of a square scaffolding
bordered by neon tubes that changed colours throughout the show. Two fierce and fabulous backup singers stood
in frames, also bordered by neon lights, on either side of the centre scaffolding.
Soon Andy’s jacket and shirt came off to reveal the full
body suit, which left little to the imagination. And the audience loved it! I must applaud Andy’s confidence – proudly putting
his body on display, acknowledging its shape, with no fucks to give. His charisma and unapologetically camp stage
presence made for a captivating and super fun show which featured most of
Erasure’s early hits, including Who Needs Love Like That (their first major hit),
Sometimes, Victim of Love, Chains of Love, Stop!, A Little Respect (which was
their encore and which saw Vince and his guitar move to the front of the stage
for the first time) as well as some of the tracks from the World Be Gone album:
Love You to the Sky, Just a Little Love, Sweet Summer Loving, Take Me Out of Myself and World Be Gone. They also
performed a killer version of Blondie’s Atomic which the audience went crazy
for. I must admit, I was hoping to hear something
from Abba-esque or perhaps one of the songs from Other People’s Songs. But with a career spanning four decades and a
string of hits, it is not possible to perform every audience favourite. If I
had to choose a favourite, Always would be it which I was so happy and moved to hear live.
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