imagine your grandpa climbing up on the picnic table and singing a slutty version of "happy birthday to you", and you loving it. this is the experience of seeing the psychedelic furs in concert today.
somehow, i've waited almost thirty years to see psychedelic furs play live. thirty years of really, really liking their records. i wasn't so aware of them when talk talk talk was first released, but when they hit it big with "love my way" off the next album forever now, and then really hit it big with mirror moves ("the ghost in you", "heartbeat", "heaven", and "here come cowboys"), i was in full-fledged fandom. midnight to midnight made me think they'd last forever, which of course meant that they would immediately slide into something a considerably more popular than obscurity.
at their peak, i had tickets to see them at san diego state university, but a stroke of bad luck that week, as i had emergency surgery to get my wisdom teeth pulled. you know how every emotion seems dreamily heightened on painkillers? i was seriously saddened that weekend.
but, back to last night: this year's tour commemorates the thirtieth anniversary of talk talk talk's release, so the first half of the show was playing straight through that album, which included the original version of "pretty in pink". if you haven't listened to talk talk talk recently, give it a shot, as it holds up extremely well. talk talk plays live well, too.
the furs took a short intermission after wrapping up talk talk talk, and then came back out to play a round of hits, the surprising highlight of which seemed to be "heaven". surprising, because when the single originally came out, it wasn't HUGE, though like apparently many other san diego fans, i took it in as a favorite single from the band.
a short note about the band themselves: they appeared happy, even thrilled, to be playing for us. good actors? maybe, but they looked to be genuinely enjoying themselves, and the crowd. richard butler would often crouch down to eye level with us as he sang, having no problem with cameraphones snapping in his face. his brother tim (the bassist), and the sax player, mars williams(? - that's the name on wikipedia), also engaged the audience by playing directly to individuals in the first few feet of the stage. plenty of energy for a group of 50-60 year olds, and we ate it up.
they tour a lot...seems almost an annual thing. next time they come to your town, buy a ticket. it's a completely satisfying event.
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