A special night, and not just because the band got to support their musical heroes R.E.M. again. Contained within this performance is a little moment of Editors' history that wouldn't make any sense until approximately 1 year later when ITLAOTE was released. At various points throughout their touring life, the band have occasionally dropped little things into the setlist that are tantalizing in their vagueness. Early in the campaign to promote AEHAS Tom would sing "Red Rain is coming down" during Spiders, in reference to the Peter Gabriel song. At other times we were treated to a brief snippet that seemed to be him singing "Dance Fucker Dance", which later turned out to be the chorus to Life as A Ghost....although we didn't know it at the time.
This show has one of those special moments right before Racing Rats kicks off, and if memory serves this was always discussed on the now sadly deceased official forum as "The Soldier Bit". It's beautiful in its simplicity and in its brevity, only lasting for 30 seconds, but it still sounds as though Mr Smith means every word. If you hear it now you then know exactly what this eventually went on to become, albeit with slightly altered lyrics and some serious electronic wizardry added. That's the exciting thing about seeing the band live, you can never be totally certain of what you'll end up hearing on the night.
For a stadium show in a really large arena, this is a superb quality recording. I don't have any taper details but it has the feel of a GaryUK recording about it. If I'm right and this was you, then thanks again sir. The setlist is fantastic, with Open Up getting a chance to shine out on stage once more. Grab it using the links below, you'll be really glad you did.
The Setlist
Bones - download here
Blood - download here
All Sparks - download here
Escape the Nest - download here
An End Has a Start - download here
Bullets - download here
You Are Fading - download here
Munich - download here
When Anger Shows - download here
Smokers - download here
Open Up - download here
The Racing Rats - download here
Fingers in the Factories - download here
stream it here
brought to you with lots of lemming-love :) x
