Recorded on the night by doublec, this is the set form the show in Italy that Editors played with The Cult at Pistoia Blues Festival, on the 6th July 2017. All the files have been kept in their original FLAC format in accordance with the taper's wishes, thanks very much to you for making your work available. It's appreciated ;)
If you're an Italian Pop Kid then you've been on the right side of lucky during this run of shows, which has seen the band do 3 stops in Italy so far with one more this Thursday. And if that wasn't enough, they also dropped a familiar new song back into the mix again on this particular night along with Cold, Magazine and Hallelujah (So Low). Ladies and gentlemen, The Pulse has returned from hiding.
The first thing we can see from just perusing the setlist is that there's actually a handful of songs returning to the running order for this full length Editors gig. The majority of the stops on the festival campaign have had truncated sets to make sure that allotted times were adhered to, including that 20 minute revolving stage showcase a Primo Maggio in May. Pistoia allowed them to expand things and dip into their back catalogue. More than half of the songs are from the era spanning TWOYL through In Dream and right up to the Oxfordshire recording sessions that were originally labelled as "Band Practice" on Instagram by the band (Lies, sirs! Lies!). More and more they're beginning to rely on the material that all 5 members put out rather than the past glories of Editors Mk1. Those tunes are still there, but while they continue to acknowledge their history they seem to be most comfortable with both feet in the present. They seem to be exploring that whole loud/quiet dynamic that was pioneered by The Pixies way back when with the unreleased material. I love the way that both Magazine and Hallelujah (So Low) just...end. No fade outs, just an abrupt halt after a minor tornado of melodic sound. This is usually the point where I hit replay and listen to them all over again.
From an outsider's perspective, they've been more obviously animated when delivering their most recent compositions lately. Which is great because it's suggesting a confidence in their material that seems to say:-
"We're going to play at least three brand new songs at every show now, even during those smaller sets. Not only that, we'll start the gig with a song that most of you have never heard. That's how much we believe in what we have."
And rightly so. Watching the crowd react to Magazine and Hallelujah (So Low) has been a real treat, because they're so immediate. Of the older songs in the selection, they reintroduced Two Hearted Spider, which was sung with the old lyric that got changed from from 2012:-
"The long distance call, as our shadows fuse"
The mighty Nothing (yeah!) reappeared, All the Kings and NSBTW were also back but it was The Pulse that I was most interested in hearing from this gig. When it vanished from the festival running orders, there was a question mark left in the space that remained. Would they trim it down from its 6 minutes plus lifespan? Would the lyrics be altered? Would they get Clint Mansell to do a string arrangement of the track, thus angering the faithful and giving rise to endless online complaining and sulking (it could still happen, E6 hasn't dropped yet so never say never)? Who knew? As it happens, the song is still over 6 minutes long and it sounds identical to when we last heard it. This would possibly indicate that it's settled in its current form but with this band, you just never know.
Enjoy the music ;)
The Setlist
Cold Intro - download here
Cold - download here
Sugar - download here
Munich - download here
Blood - download here
Hallelujah (So Low) - download here
ERM=BD - download here
Life Is a Fear - download here
An End Has a Start - download here
Smokers - download here
Two Hearted Spider - download here
Magazine - download here
No Sound but the Wind - download here
Ocean of Night - download here
All the Kings - download here
The Racing Rats - download here
Nothing - download here
Encore Break - download here
The Pulse - download here
A Ton of Love - download here
Marching Orders - download here
Papillon - download here
All in a zip - download here
Bonus Materials
Two clips from Mari, the original Italian Pop Kid of The Pulse and No Sound But The Wind. Thanks again Mari ;)
The Pulse - stream it here
NSBTW - stream it here
brought to you with lots and lots of lemming-love :) x
