Amsterdam Melkweg 6th June 2007 (video/audio)

Of all the shows I have from 2007, this is probably one of my absolute favourites. It was a wonderful time to catch the first lineup of Editors live, as they continued the campaign for An End Has a Start. The album was released a couple of weeks later, and so both the audience and the band were getting used to hearing these new songs in the live arena. Plus, the fatigue resulting from having to play the songs hundreds of times in a row had yet to manifest, so there's still that freshness in the performance. 

Mr Smith is absolutely wired throughout the show. If you're somebody who's watched a lot of interviews with the man, as I certainly have,  then the juxtaposition between his persona as an interviewee and a singer in Editors is striking. Offstage he appears to be very quiet, reserved and softly spoken but put him in a gig situation and a whole new side of his character is revealed. There's lots of little instances of this during the Melkweg performances if you're watching carefully. Note how he begins punching himself in the chest during Escape the Nest (careful with that rib, sir), or the scream at the end of Lights. What about the way he abandons his guitar and microphone as Fingers draws to a close, before falling onto his belly to thank the crowd?  There's a real sense of him being lost in the moment more than he's present, which of course makes for an even better spectacle. 

Chris' guitar has the effect of a blowtorch cutting across the surface of some of the tracks here, none more so than during Bones, Escape the Nest, An End Has a Start and You Are Fading. It actually feels like there's a controlled aggression present in all four Editors at the Melkweg, something that they are able to channel into the songs to almost give them a sense of desperation when they're executing them. It's never sloppy, though. I've seen bands play live and be angry and it can often go awry because of a loss of focus, but not here. 

Here's some trivia before I go; some of the crowd shots show small, rising clouds of tobacco smoke. This would change shortly thereafter when the smoking ban in public spaces would come into force just one month later in July 2007. Sadly, if you were a non smoker, this meant no more coming home at the end of the night unable to speak because your throat was blown out on second hand smoke, as well as your clothing and hair smelling like an ashtray. Plus, you wouldn't be waking up the next day finding out that someone had caught an item of your clothing with a lit cigarette, burning a hole and ruining it forever. I'll bet you mourn those golden days even now. Enjoy the music ;)

Video - stream it here

MP3s

Bones - download here
Blood - download here
Bullets - download here
Escape the Nest - download here
The Weight of the World - download here
Lights - download here
All Sparks - download here
The Racing Rats - download here
Fall - download here
An End Has a Start - download here
Munich - download here
You Are Fading - download here
Smokers - download here
Fingers in the Factories - download here

All in a Zip
download here or download here

brought to you with lots and lots of lemming-love :) x