great name – competent classic rock and 80s hits cover band

More than anything, the current Erasure tour is about lead singer Andy Bell’s vocals. Every single song allowed Bell to stretch his voice to the rafters. In fact the new tracks, including the stunning I Lose Myself and the club-ready A Whole Lotta Love Run Riot, seemed custom-designed to showcase that voice.

Erasure have a back catalog spanning twenty-five years, and they reached way back for the b-side Push Me, Shove Me and the crowd favorite Oh L’Amour. The new songs fit right in but somehow it was the older tracks where Erasure truly found their groove. It wasn’t just a function of being familiar. The songs from early in their career, like the frenetic Drama and bouncy singalong Sometimes, just worked better tonight. Those songs found that balance between allowing Bell to roam wild and Vince Clarke’s intense love affair with the soundscape of Erasure’s songs.

Blue Savannah is consistently one of my favorite live tracks (nothing beats Clarke in a cactus suit playing guitar on an acoustic-tinged Blue Savannah during the Cowboy tour), and the backing vocals tonight were layered brilliantly behind Andy Bell’s soaring lead vocals giving the song a fresh new feel. Twice, Bell favored the lower register for a song, including Tomorrow’s World lead single When I Start To (Break It All Down). He must have been saving his voice for other tracks because A Little Respect was belted out with an intensity that sent waves of energy through the crowd.

The sound mix was a little muddy in the House of Blues, and it was distinctly noticeable on the ballads. Alien was just a sonic mess. The acoustic elements were completely lost and the backing vocals smothered Bell’s. A similar problem affected Always and Ship of Fools. But for whatever reason, the dance tracks didn’t suffer the same sound issues.

Erasure knows how to get people off their feet, and they had the crowd hopping from the pulsing intro to Love to Hate You straight through to the last note of Stop. Once again, Andy Bell sounded fantastic. With the new album’s release still a month off, it is always good to hear from them again.

Erasure setlist
Sono Luminus
Always
When I Start To (Break It All Down)
Blue Savannah
Fill Us With Fire
Drama
You’ve Got To Save Me Right Now
Ship of Fools
Chorus
Breathe
Victim of Love
Alien
Push Me Shove Me
Love To Hate You
I Lose Myself
A Whole Lotta Love Run Riot
Breath of Life
Chains of Love
Sometimes
A Little Respect
Encore
Oh L’Amour
Stop!

as the name would suggest, they mix zydeco with punk – Rockboy foresaw Pogues and I foresaw gypsy punk, and that’s about exactly what we got – they were terrific – very Gogol Bordello – lots of passion – they’d played a show until 3am the night before and were at this show by mid-morning – this was the best venue of the whole festival, just a field – no bureaucracy, tons of good food stands, and everybody mellow in their little fold out chairs – we started feeling like locals once we picked ourselves up some of those chairs and settled in with the middle aged folks – this band inspired some truly creative dancing from the audience – the kind of band you’d want to have at your wedding, even if you’re not Greek or Jewish

Rockboy saw this band the day before and raved over their zydeco fantabulousness – I think zydeco is the ugliest music in creation but turns out it’s the danciest music in creation – they were just a bunch of fugly guys in the tackiest bar EVER but everybody wanted to be at their party – appears I’ll need to look into zydeco a little bit more

[Brooklyn, NY] girl on keyboard – ah ah harmonizing between a girl and boy – pleasant dance rock – they weren’t an intentional see but they were good

[Austin, TX] nooo!!! – if I’d known they were local, I wouldn’t have allowed this stop – as it turns out, they were one of my top three bands of SXSW 2011 (yay Austin!): everything good about the 70s – and they must have emerged from the womb arena rockers, because I swear the lights got brighter the second they came on stage – they started with a slow southern rocker but pretty quickly shifted into very very exciting disco rock – they were slick and sexy – kind of remind me of Chili Cold Blood now that I think of it, though bigger and prettier – ThinLizzyLover: “I hate them and like them”

[Queensland, Australia] they were exciting right from the start with their 3 excruciatingly pretty boys (guitars and drum), 1 gothic-looking two-dimensional female fiddler, and 1 three-dimensional Hawaiian-looking female vocalist with a pom pom on her shoulder – the vocalist ruled the stage as did her bad-ass fiddler pal – she fiddled like the she was trying not to make a deal with the devil – they were some crazy mix of indie rock and dance music – they made me think of The Gossip and The Eurythmics – they’re kind of 80s synth pop too – I’m definitely not one to dance but this band made me wish I was in a room alone with a gay boyfriend – ThinLizzyLover is mad for them

[New York, NY] skinny white man on an acoustic guitar with a butter voice – accompanied by an electric bass, trombone, drums, and sometimes a sax – but then he was more soulful angsty as was the music – and then they were a band for children (“I don’t want to go to the candy store anymore”), sure, it was about how at least he’s addicted to candy instead of auto asphyxiation, etc., but as far as the me and the kids in the audience were concerned, they were one of those bands musicheads go to once they have kids and can’t stay out late – the two really little boys at the next table to me were loving it – the one who was about 5 was all rapt attention and shiny eyes, obviously in total agreement about the lure of candy stores – the other one, maybe 8, was practicing piano scales with his fingers on the table – Rockboy liked this band a lot more than I did, but they were high quality and diverse at least

I don’t necessarily follow this band but they definitely stood out amongst the masses of current indie bands – two effortlessly remembered songs (“Cowbell” and “In Houston”) … and Rockboy was made to go… and they happily turned out to be much better than I expected – all krispy flaky guitar and bass: crisp, fast, and rich – they’re less indie and more dance-y southern rock funk – they’ve got character and soul – guess I will have to be a follower now

I’d been hearing about this band as long as I’ve lived in Austin (a pretty long time now) and had never seen them so I was excited – they did not disappoint – I would like to credit DetroitRockGirl for her 50% success rate: Grand Champeen – yay!, Centro-Matic – nay… they were electric and I’m not talking about their guitars – they took to the stage and were immediately in sync and in animation – it was organized chaos and joyful pogo-rock power pop – plus they all seemed like guys you’d want to hang out with: genuine, smart, and nice – I think the Soul Asylum comparisons are because of the main vocalist – when the bassist sang (also a very nice bartender at the Hole in the Wall), I was taken back to 90s indie rock with that atonal falling-down feeling – both singers were good and the diversity was nice – there was also notes of country rock and maybe some Weezer for a second there – we also happened to stand next to their #1 fan, who was completely beside himself at finally getting to see the “#1 live band in Austin” after a long hiatus of no shows – he was also completely sober and spent many minutes discussing why I should love this band – we’re both hoping they keep having shows

[‘France’] “Those, those beautiful boys / Those, those beautiful boys / Born illegitimately / To a whore, most likely / He became an orphan / Oh what a lovely orphan he was / Sent to the reformatory / Ten years old, was his first glory / Got caught stealing from a nun / Now his love story had begun” – those lyrics are pretty much why I went to this show – and because I think their general sound is pretty remarkable – [on a side note, you’ve got to hear how they sing the song to really appreciate it, and, as usual for me, it was not played at their live show which I sadly realized was because it features Antony from Antony and the Johnsons who was not touring with them] – it ends up I may have been more enthused about the crowd than the band, but the band deserves a lot of credit for the crowd – so the crowd was fantastic – some mix of neo psych hippies, ravers, plain old burners, steam punks, and some unfortunate ones in renaissance garb – the common theme was iridescent eye paint or painted-on pencil moustaches on girls, which I came to find out was part of the whole CocoRosie cult I didn’t know existed – surprisingly, at least to me, there were also lots and lots of lesbians – I’m always confused as to how the lesbians unite and figure out which bands they love but turns out one of the sisters is a lesbian plus the band promotes drag, androgyny, etc. – there were also an awful lot of young females falling out, e.g., being carried out because of excess consumption – not sure if it’s because the crowd was pretty young or if the band attracts a druggier crowd – anyway, the band is comprised of 2 sisters who are artistes in every sense of the word – one had long romantic hair and sang in an operatic voice (properly trained) and plucked a harp – the other one with the squeaky baby voice that defines CocoRosie (at least to me) strutted around with male attitude and had a baseball cap on top of a feminine doo-rag on top of long brown hair – I much preferred her – there was a keyboardist guy and then a little unassuming guy who did a human beat box solo that was amazing and referenced actual American hip-hop songs – their music is a lot more diverse than I was aware of before the show – they manage to incorporate electronic, hip-hop, classical, and pop into a sound that ends up being pretty distinctly theirs – many bizarre instruments come into play – I think the thing I liked most about their sound is that they play childhood innocence off of the dark realizations of growing up and seeing stuff – especially with the two sisters interplaying their vastly different attitudes and sounds (think Enya intermixed with ghetto dance rap), it’s a bizarre but beautiful marriage of cultures (which I am always a fan of) – so I thought they were from France and assumed their inclusion of rap and the bad sister’s headdress was a nod to the French Muslim outcasts – I also assumed their air of hipster superiority was a product of general French superiority… but turns out, they’re American, and the superiority is a product of New York – the good sister moved to France early on to study opera but the bad sister moved to Brooklyn to party at Kill Whitie parties – those parties are a whole other conversation, but the sisters are worth looking up in general because of their interesting backgrounds – other notes of interest: 1) Rockboy overheard a couple mating in the outhouse bathrooms, 2) the most shocking girl was the one in a modest dress with granny panties that clearly shone through (a lesson to the young girls) , 3) the bad sister moistened her clarinet in her beer like the bad ass she is, 4) Rockboy happily gave up all claims of being a hipster once he realized that hipsters are now parting at the back of their skull and combing their hair forward, and 5) there is a series of really interesting photos of the sisters that do a nice job of expressing their artistic vision

also a 2nd wave ska band from the late 70s on the 2 Tone label– more recently noted for the song playing as Ferris Bueller runs through backyards and houses to beat his family home – so we were optimistic at the start – the lead singer had a cute British accent – the band was good – it was pretty quickly clear, though, that there was something lacking … that energy… the quick pick-up of ska – it finally became clear that they just weren’t playing ska – maybe some sort of pop-rock inspired by ska but not ska – the early part of the set reminded me of The Talking Heads, kind of – the pop-rock became decreasingly ska and increasingly soul-pop – like a mix of 90s artists Soul Decision and Shaggy – by the end, it was full-on reggae – I preferred the reggae to the watery rock – reggae would have been okay if I hadn’t come expecting ska – 2 hours of unska was not okay – Rockboy insists they were playing poorer versions of their recorded material and/or the worst of their recorded material – I insist this band is not for me

we thought he was going to be the first band and he should have been the first band – it’s not that he was bad but he was a ska-pop (which sounds remarkably like afro-pop) lone singer on a guitar…– he sounded like an acoustic Matisyahu… Vampire Weekend… – would have been great if you chanced upon him in a coffeeshop – big deflation in crowd energy but luckily he only played for about ½ hour

we were immediately biased by one of the band member’s girl friends who informed us the musicians were accompanying the singer in hopes of saving a sorry performance – according to her, the musicians play with several local bands and are well respected (which seemed reasonable given the performance), while the singer gets around but not with a lot of respect, kind of like some girls we know – unfortunately, this reminded me that his myspace page quoted a review that said “these guys aren’t bad” and then tried to say that the reviewer is hard to please… best not list that review – he wasn’t awful by any means but he didn’t really redeem his reputation by only playing covers, and pretty obvious covers at that (Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, etc.) – if he were your friend and you didn’t live in Austin, you’d think he was great

Cyndi Lauper put together a blues band for her tour and stuck to all but a handful of new songs on the setlist. She was fiery onstage (even with the choice of toxic-red wig) and she was clearly enjoying herself.

The opener Just Your Fool was a good example of why Lauper is a fuckin’ pop star no matter what she’s singing. It was a barn burner. The best tracks from the new album, Memphis Blues, shone onstage when they allowed her to use her vocal range. Down so Low and Don’t Cry No More were the best examples, uplifting anthems as powerful as anything from her past catalog.

The show was divided into an hour long set of songs from her blues album, closing with the non-album track Wild Women Don’t Get the Blues (available on digital editions). The second set was a mere five songs deep, but she delivered them with a blues-touch and jammed out for a full forty minutes. Starting with the weepy ballad Who Let in the Rain and then leading into Change of Heart, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, and Time After Time, that was it for a run-through of the hits. The songs were fantastic, given a blues treatment and transformed into sing-a-long crowd-pleasing extended jams.

For one last song, she emerged on stage with just her guitarist for a tearful take on True Colors wrapped in a bit of John Lennon’s Power to the People.

Cyndi Lauper setlist
Just Your Fool
Shattered Dreams
Early in the Mornin’
Romance In The Dark
How Blue Can You Get?
Down Don’t Bother Me
Down So Low
Rollin’ and Tumblin’
Wild Woman Don’t Get The Blues
Break
Who Let The Rain In
Change Of Heart
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Time After Time
Don’t Cry No More
Encore
True Colors

[Stockholm, Sweden] out of all of the many female-vocalist semi-retro bands we saw (thanks to the Rockboy), this was my favorite – Miss Li had a genuine edge and sang creatively and enthusiastically while pounding on her little keyboard – she didn’t seem like she was acting but like she was really just that passionate and that much fun – they’re really less retro revival and more indie pop inspired by retro jazz and blues – she was backed by a guitar, drums, a sax (I think?) and an upright bass, but we particularly enjoyed the two very Swedish looking gents – oddly, we’d tried to see her earlier at an outside stage, even willing to brave ridiculous 40 degree weather, and been told she’d gone home due to the weather

[Baltimore, MD] I wanted to see her badly because she’s 1) a female rapper, 2) from Baltimore, home to Spank Rock and The Wire (I know), and 3) features M.I.A. in several songs – the last reason was the only one that convinced Rockboy to join me – so her DJ was too repetitive and simple to compare her to M.I.A. but she was fast and cute – hard dance rap as you’d expect from Baltimore – best part was the two matching MALE dancers flanking her all elbows out and knees up, seemed more inspired by traditional African dancing (super sped up) than hip-hop dancing – really liked the dancing – the 2nd floor bar was filled to capacity but with everybody crowded into 1/2 of the bar to see the 2nd stage – when the floor started bending and shaking, Rockboy and I made plans to save ourselves by jumping on the bar when the floor collapsed

[Memphis, TN] thin graceful boys singing that looked like magical kids singing saccharine sweet happy pop – reminded me of 60s jangle pop and the 60s in general – they were pretty good and a nice change from the same-old indie sounds – lead singer had a jean jacket with ‘Punk and his hunx’ painted on the back

[Colorado] best rap show I saw – a tall lanky black guy with a bowtie tattooed around his neck – incredible dynamism and demand of the crowd, coming right to the end of the stage with a habit of bending from the waist to sing in two halves – he charmed me by switching off the intensity to smile uncertainly and kind of giggle or to lean down and ask the white punk in the front if the sound was okay – brought two pals up to do a hardcore number and then went solo to do a booty-shaking dance rap number ‘for the ladies’ – it was clear he was odd in a very intelligent way – lots of diversity, lots of intensity, and lots of quality

[New Orleans, LA] a band Rockboy discovered in SXSW research that led us to Jay Reatard’s tribute – they were described as an inspiration for Jay in the little pamphlet memorializing him – they were not Reatard-punk but totally illuminated his sound – they were perfect power pop with a punk edge and I mean perfect – they were a terrific band – the lead singer was a non-shirt wearing sweaty large man and it didn’t even matter – they were loud and fast and hard but had perfect melodies and lyrics and hooks – a top show

[Alliance, OH] lite alt-rock – anthem rock with big sound like Coldplay – boring

[Richmond, VA] all I wanted to do was see The XX but somehow everything was a mess and I was watching some slick emo band – I appreciated their musical prowess and their confidence but just not my style – the best part was the free Taco Bell tacos offered by women walking around with them in original wrappers on upheld trays – a lame but tasty attempt by this venue trying hard to pretend it was elite

[Copenhagen, Denmark] the music was good (disco pop rock) but they were remarkable because of the lead singer – she was a gorgeous tiny blonde girl with a neon pink outfit and about 100 necklaces and a knowing sneer of a smile and she actually could sing – maybe a modern Debbie Harry – they had two horns, keyboard, guitars,…

[New York, NY] queer culture band – I kind of loved them – so odd looking I thought they were clueless foreigners but I think that’s their intention – crazy lyrics like how it’s really expensive to buy babies so s/he’s just going to ‘fuck all her friends’ until she has a little baby – it sounds crass but s/he made it cute – electronic disco punk

[Long Beach, CA] three small boys playing indie psych pop with vocals that were high-pitched like Bright Eyes – they were complicated and good but maybe overshadowed in the sea of harder and more exciting live shows

[Montreal, Canada] repetitive lite indie rock band with psychedelic touches – I was unmoved but may have been the setting because they’re pretty easy on the ear as per myspace

[Dublin, Ireland] big sound pop rock that sounds fiercer live – I really liked their tight performance but Rockboy thought they were boring

[Sydney, Australia] a sassy vixen with a big red flower in her big blonde waves – she sang with the attitude of Amy Winehouse and the voice of Macy Gray and she danced like a little jogging train throughout the whole show – her backing band was sort of special, incorporating little jazzy bits

[France] her song “I’ll Kill Her” is indescribably cute and hilarious but she didn’t play it and mocked it when I asked her to – despite that, I enjoyed her show – her little-girl voice bends and curls and then she’s screaming – the one consistency in her sound is a sort of hippie ethic but otherwise it was something of a spoken performance… with a backing band – Rockboy only saw the tail end of her show and immediately declared her pretentious, disingenuous and annoying… all of which are true as well – for example, there was a long period of time when her MySpace tagline was “Soko is dead.” which prompted cries of adoration form her fans and pleas to come back… which she did… of course

it’s still surprising to hear beautiful noises come out of a person you’ve only heard speak so far – but I wasn’t surprised that Karen sings with the heartfelt passion that I always suspect is under her cool calm collected non-singing demeanor – I liked that the passion seemed more genuine than showmanship, as if her songs were about things she had actually experienced – her voice is rich and even, with a cool elegance that is soothing – interesting and smart lyrics and well-crafted songs – she plays with her voice at times and she used some sort of beat-recorder to add rhythm to one song – I especially liked that she’s brave enough to pause and give the song room to breathe – and she managed to play guitar well with half-frozen fingers!

Another fantastic local band. Jangle-pop garage punk with all three male members harmonizing sweet vocals. Reminded me of The Strange Boys. Seemed like they achieved a nice consensus of sound from a diverse range of influences from the band members. Extremely danceable. Some of that stop-start groove guitar like the Gang of Four. I had lots more to say about this band that escapes me now. You should see them. Great live show.

The B-52′s continue to put on a dance party despite being on the circuit since 1979. Sticking to a nice mix between their latest set Funplex and their classic material like Love Shack and Rock Lobster, they kept the audience dancing with every transcendent note. Their music translates well in the live setting and even the cavernous hall of the House of Blues couldn’t dull their energy. Fred Schneider introduced Strobe Light as a love song, “of the 7,000 written, this is the one we recorded.” He stumped for Obama before Channel Z “8 years of shit is enough” and generally kept up the wise cracking between songs.

The beginning of the set, Mesopotamia and the new track Ultraviolet, highlighted their vocal harmonies at their best. The night’s best was the rare party mix track Give Me Back My Man, with Cindy Wilson on vocals. Wilson constantly mixed it up with her vocal contributions, and used her sex appeal on stage to full effect. The B-52′s have definitely entered the realm of bands that take breaks in between songs more for their own benefit than for that of the audience, but they kept up the banter and did a good job of keeping their reputation as the preeminent party band intact.

The B-52′s setlist
Pump
Mesopotamia
Ultraviolet
Private Idaho
Give Me Back My Man
Funplex
Strobe Light
Quiche Lorraine
Juliet of the Spirits
Roam
Party Out of Bounds
Love in the Year 3000
Hot Corner
Channel Z
Love Shack
Encore
Planet Claire
Rock Lobster