Peter Murphy
Thursday 3/30/00, Deep Ellum Live - Dallas, TXI've been a fan of Bauhaus for a good 12 years now but for some reason I'd never delved into Murphy's solo work post-Bauhaus. When I heard that he was touring and with whom, I decided it was time to see what Murphy is about. I decided rather than getting the new best of compilation "Wild Birds 1985-1995" (which this tour is promoting) I'd go ahead and get the entire back catalog and a ticket. "Deep" and "Cascade" are my favorite albums and I listened to them for several weeks before the show to familiarize myself with the songs ...
The ticket said 8 pm and since there was no opening band (good!) I figured I better show up near that time just in case they actually started on time. They didn't, of course. 2 hours later ... 2 hours of standing and tolerating most of Delerium's "Karma" and various run of the mill drum 'n bass tracks through the pa ... they hit the stage just before 10 pm. Murphy was sporting a zip up black leather, um ... jacket/dress thing that I'm pretty sure he borrowed from one of the Hellraiser guys. He shed that about 2 or 3 songs in to reveal one of the grooviest psychedelic swirled velvet shirts I've ever seen. Very sharp. There were a few more shirt changes for the encores. He looks great, especially considering the 20 year gap between present and the Bauhaus-era pictures and video I've seen, older but not all that much different really. He's the Dick Clark of goth! And he's still 1 part Bowie, 1 part Iggy, 1 part Bela and 1 part Murphy ...
The band:
Peter DiStefano - guitar, backing vocals. Ex-Porno for Pyros and has a solo project at mp3.com.
Eric Avery - bass. Ex-Jane's Addiction, Ex-Deconstruction and (ex?) Polar Bear.
Doug DeAngelis - keyboards. Ex-Love and Rockets keyboardist, programmer and producer.
Kevin Haskins - drums/percussion. Ex-Bauhaus and ex-Love and Rockets.The set list (courtesy of the 3/30 page at the Bauhaus site):
Final Solution
The Scarlet Thing In You
Wild Birds Flock to Me
Mirror To My Woman's Mind
Subway
Disappearing
Deep Ocean Vast Sea
I'll Fall With Your Knife
Crystal Wrists
The Sweetest Drop
Hit Song
Big Love of a Tiny Fool (acoustic)
Marlene Dietrich's Favourite Poem (acoustic)
Strange Kind of Love (acoustic)encore 1
Surrendered
Roll Call Recallencore 2
Cuts You Up
encore 3
Huuvola
The show:
I stood dead center about 20 feet from the stage. The sound, as usual for Deep Ellum Live, was very good. In fact, I'd say for this show it was perfect ... I could clearly hear everyone in the mix since the levels for everything were just right and there were only a couple of very minor bits of feedback. Murphy sounded as great as he looked. His voice was perfect from start to finish, the British accented deep baritone resonating through the music. He's quite melodramatic but fun to watch ... striking several poses, slowly flapping his arms like a bird, playing with a hand held stage light, spinning like a top, jumping up and down, interacting with the band members, etc. He definitely enjoys what he's doing very much. DiStefano is always a joy to watch. He was much like he was when I saw him with Porno for Pyros in 1996 (also at Deep Ellum Live) ... extremely mellow, smiling frequently with eyes shut or, on the harder songs, an energetic fireball. He exudes happiness, plays so fluidly and effortlessly with some very nice violin bow work on several songs. Eric is 100% business ... shirtless, eyes closed in deep concentration, very in to it. Kevin is also 100% business ... it was cool to finally
see/hear him live. I love his acoustic & electronic setup. One hell of a rhythm section between Avery and Haskins. Doug 'rocked out' on keyboards rocking the stand back and forth. He had some really nice piano work on several songs (and you could actually hear it!). The combined experience of this band makes them almost *too* talented ... they provided completely glitch free version of the songs. And oh my were the songs goods, all given the extra live 'ooomph' they needed. There's no need to pinpoint any particular songs because they were all done so well. The 3 songs at the end of the main set were performed solo by Murphy on acoustic/electric guitar. These featured several minutes of playful, goofy and cocky in-between song bantering with the crowd, such as: "y'all looove meeee" (in faux-southern drawl), "I'm a STAAAAR!" in an uber-falsetto (Murphy suggesting that this was his *real* voice) and when a fan yelled out he should move to Dallas, he went into a short rant on the evils of American TV and how he would never let his children watch it, etc. Doug rejoined Murphy near the end of "Strange Kind of Love" to play the clarinet part via synth. The encores included seriously rockin' versions of "Roll Call" and "Cuts You Up" and a beautiful bass line led "Huuvola". Murphy introduced the band and thanked the crowd numerous times ... he might have seemed cocky or pretentious throughout the set, but he's also very appreciative. Altogether an hour and 45 minute set that gave me a whole new appreciation of the studio versions of the songs. The crowd (sold out?) was very respectful and responsive. I didn't hear a single person yell out a Bauhaus song title much to my surprise. The vibe was just right ... it seemed like everyone felt about the same as I did ...Merchandise:
A couple of short and long sleeve T-shirts that were way overpriced, per usual for Deep Ellum Live as they always jack the price up, at $27 and up apiece. No thanks. Hopefully they will be available on the official Bauhaus web site someday ...
The bottom line:
I've seen hundreds of shows over the past decade with only a handful of 'perfect' shows. This was one of them. It blew my expectations away and I thoroughly enjoyed myself ... well worth the $22 and every one of the 350 miles I drove to see it. I really hope Murphy retains this band for his next album and/or future tours. I'm going to see a lot more shows next time around ...
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