Here's another one of Sven's audio documents from the 2018 German dates that were the ongoing VI OLENCE campaign. Once again, thanks very much for sharing your work with us all, Sir. The world is smaller and more accessible thanks to your kindness. I should point out that Sven had some fader issues while taping and feels that it wasn't recorded in as pristine quality as he would have like. However, and as I suspected, he clearly set very high standards for himself because as bootlegs go this is still several degrees better than most. Files are being shared in their original FLAC format in accordance with the taper's wishes.
This was another solid set from Editors as they continued their seek and convert mission across Europe in support of E6. By this point the band had clearly hit their stride and were delivering the songs without the initial awkwardness of everything feeling so new. I love the the way that people are singing along to numbers like Violence, Darkness at the Door and Cold, whereas only a year before this they'd never actually heard them before. As time advances it becomes hard to remember when the VI OLENCE album was a collection of songs we weren't familiar with.
It got me thinking about the time just after The Weight of Your Love was released when tunes like Sugar, Formaldehyde and A Ton of Love were still (unfairly) viewed in some quarters with a certain amount of dismissive prejudice because of the disastrous events that preceded them. Almost as if some of the crowds that attended that album 4 tour had reverted back a state that Editors first experienced during their early gigs of performing to new audiences; arms folded and expectant with an accompanying air of deep scepticism.
Elsewhere on the set list, it's always nice to hear the music that may have carried a scarlet letter for a little while being embraced re-evaluated, possibly by a crowd who may have became fans around the time of The Weight of Your Love, and to whom the history prior to that isn't as precious as it is to some of us. Mr Urbanowicz shouldn't ever disappear or be discounted as an enduring part of the band's legacy (yep, I still miss him playing and it grieves me that we don't get to hear his ideas anymore), rather we should celebrate his creativity and those he collaborated with for 3 great records. To that end, all those songs that the hardcore fans among us love from the way-back which featured his talents are still being played.
There just seems to be a state of equilibrium which has been reached, where the old and the new are now being assessed on equal terms. Maybe some people really are viewing Editors' music as single body of work rather than two pre and post split collections? Sometimes it really is all about just concentrating on what you hear and how it affects you, forgetting all the accompanying baggage that only acts as a barrier to that joy.
One thing to listen out for here is the beginning of Marching Orders. Sven reports that Tom was sitting at the piano preparing to start singing when he realised that he had no microphone in front of him. Facing the prospect of the song being an instrumental with him contributing a silent mime of the lyrics, he apparently jumped up and grabbed a mic from elsewhere on the stage, before making it back to his piano stool without missing a beat. Ninja Smith. The whole event obviously tickled his funny bone because, as you can clearly hear on the recording, he chuckles his way through the first two lines. Enjoy the music ;)
Setlist
Intro - download here
Hallelujah (So Low) - download here
A Ton of Love - download here
Formaldehyde - download here
Darkness at the Door - download here
Violence - download here
No Harm - download here
Lights - download here
Blood - download here
Munich - download here
An End Has a Start - download here
In This Light and on This Evening - download here
Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool - download here
Nothingness - download here
Belong - download here
Sugar - download here
The Racing Rats - download here
Ocean of Night - download here
No Sound but the Wind - download here
Cold - download here
Magazine - download here
Papillon - download here
Marching Orders - download here
All in a zip - download here
brought to you with lots and lots of lemming-love :) x
