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

hippie extreme setting: barefoot, dreadlocks, doing rope tricks – Rockboy was very bothered by this but I was more bothered by the lackluster music – a woman and a man trying to kill whatever life was left in singer/songwriter music – she whispered along to her dull guitar strums – he livened things up a bit with some nice backwalking riffs – I’d like to say it was because the sound was bad but I’d be lying- we left before their set ended

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!

old school banjo from a very old man – stoic

We were pretty skerred to see our first music in Gunnison but they weren’t too bad – of course, the dobro player is our neighbor and a potential coworker – band consists of him (in his 40s) and four college kids – two sweet girls and two bored-looking (or cool-trying) boys – they played Americana of all sorts – their first song was a cover of a song from an Austin band sigh