Credit for this one goes to GaryUK who is, of course, the man with the mic in the crowd supplying the
Archive with all kinds of goodies. He very kindly made his recordings
of the Birmingham Institute concerts available for us to hear, which
means that we get to experience 2 very important nights that would define the version of the band we all know today. Thanks again, Gary. It's awesome work.
Paradoxically, this is the exact point where both the death and birth of a band occurred simultaneously. Even though Werchter made it something more permanent, Editors as we knew it was over on the 27th June 2012 and its new life had begun.
If you had to find a word to describe what it was like to be an Editors fan in June 2012, when these two shows happened, it would be "uncertainty". These two dates were a big deal at the time, and with the advantage of hindsight it's obvious why. At this point the band were only 2 months removed from Chris' departure in April, and all the drama that was involved therein, and they had 2 new members in Justin and Elliott (who I believe had actually contacted Chris for his blessing before joining the band). With new personnel also came the tricky matter of road testing new songs, two of which were unmistakably touched by the hand of Urbanowicz in their original forms (The Sting and Two Hearted Spider). Add to that the location and venue for the gigs, 2 homecoming shows in Birmingham, and you have all the ingredients for a potential disaster in the making.
Collectively as an audience for this concert, I think we were all still dealing with the shock of Chris being gone, and it's significance is something that still occasionally resonates even today. There was a degree of grieving going on among those of us who'd followed the band for a while. At this point it was still viewed as an amicable split, as per the official statement, a story which would change and develop into something far darker the closer they got to releasing TWOYL (and the more journalists continued to pry). There were rumours and counter rumours circulating that these shows would perhaps signal the end of the line for the band, that they were going to bow out in the city that had become their adopted home. It was no surprise then, that they'd added a second date to accommodate all those who wanted to see them play for possibly the last time. Or so we thought.
Of course we know now that this was no swansong, just the beginning of a new band. However, at the time they were indeed on the verge of splitting, almost abandoning their plan to play at Werchter just under 3 weeks after these shows (see this post for all the gory details surrounding that show). So in a way, we weren't wrong in fearing the worst. Things were in fact very bad, almost catastrophically so, but they weren't quite done yet. We should also note at this point that almost 3 years had elapsed since ITLAOTE, and it would be a further year before The Weight of Your Love arrived. This would be the longest time between any of Editors' albums.
The first thing to note is that they walk onstage to the sound of white noise, which is in itself a fairly intimidating way to start a rock 'n' roll event. It was an ominous beginning the proceedings, but appropriate given the gravitas surrounding each of these nights.
These shows saw the debuts of the extended version of Papillon, courtesy of Elliott, as well as Nothing, Two Hearted Spider and Sugar which would later appear on TWOYL. The musical arrangement of Nothing had yet to be fully realised, and you can hear that from the very beginning. The first "Every conversation within you.." is missing, and there's as chugging guitar line throughout the initial stages, as opposed to the very delicate interplay between Justin and Tom on the keys in future performances. In most fans' mind there are actually 2 versions of Nothing co-existing anyway; the studio version with the strings and the live version that makes you want to bounce all over the room.
Sugar is also a markedly different composition, with more input from Elliott on keys and vocals and it actually runs a little longer than usual, with later performances averaging around 4 minutes or so. There's also no descending guitar line from Justin at the very end before Tom comes back in with the "Don't leave..." line.
Note that in this run through of Two Hearted Spider, there's a lyric change that was dropped shortly thereafter:-
"The long distance call, as our shadows fuse."
The Weight of The World is also reformatted, in a way where Chris' guitar lead is noticeably absent. It's a tricky situation, to remove an element that made Editors what they were and then decide to carry on without it. You're left with a very simple choice; do you change the name and start over as a new band or do you keep going under the same moniker? If you choose the former then you have to consider that you need brand new material to play or record, and you need it quickly. Go with the latter, and you can either remove the prior contributions from Chris altogether or just play them as if they were essential to the song structure. They seem to have opted for option 2, but found a balance where Chris' guitar/electronic materials are still present (Bones, Munich, ITLAOTE etc). Only the unrecorded numbers that Chris participated in during the initial writing stages prior to TWOYL were free of his sonic signatures when completed (Two Hearted Spider, The Sting etc).
Of the two new songs that Chris was a part of, the changes made are obvious. The earlier version of The Sting had a definite malice about it, something really ominous and unsettling in the same way that The Big Exit feels. Two Hearted Spider was more of a disco number in the style of Papillon. I feel like the new arrangements showcased at these gigs still manage to highlight the dynamic between Mr Smith and Mr Urbanowicz in their songwriting styles, something I've already gone into here. However, once the necessity of compromise between those opposing styles within Editors was gone, it seemed to allow the songs to retain and settle into their greater pop sensibilities. To have some of the more obvious edges smoothed over.
I wonder if it was Editors' prolonged residence in musical purgatory at this time and being unable to get E4 on track, that demanded a break with the claustrophobic atmosphere of those early versions of the songs? That they had to cast a little bit of sunshine on them just to make the process of creating music fulfilling again? From the post-split interviews it was clear that they weren't enjoying being in a band at all, which isn't going to make for the best creative outcomes. If the year 2012 was definitely all about being uncertain as a fan, it was also a process of rejuvenation for the group.
One last thing to listen out for is Tom's beautiful intro to You Are Fading which sounds remarkably like the kind of dreamy playing Greg Gonzales of Cigarettes After Sex would come up with. Spookily, CAS would go on and sign to PIAS and become labelmates with Editors a few years later. Small world.
Enjoy the music ;)
Paradoxically, this is the exact point where both the death and birth of a band occurred simultaneously. Even though Werchter made it something more permanent, Editors as we knew it was over on the 27th June 2012 and its new life had begun.
If you had to find a word to describe what it was like to be an Editors fan in June 2012, when these two shows happened, it would be "uncertainty". These two dates were a big deal at the time, and with the advantage of hindsight it's obvious why. At this point the band were only 2 months removed from Chris' departure in April, and all the drama that was involved therein, and they had 2 new members in Justin and Elliott (who I believe had actually contacted Chris for his blessing before joining the band). With new personnel also came the tricky matter of road testing new songs, two of which were unmistakably touched by the hand of Urbanowicz in their original forms (The Sting and Two Hearted Spider). Add to that the location and venue for the gigs, 2 homecoming shows in Birmingham, and you have all the ingredients for a potential disaster in the making.
Collectively as an audience for this concert, I think we were all still dealing with the shock of Chris being gone, and it's significance is something that still occasionally resonates even today. There was a degree of grieving going on among those of us who'd followed the band for a while. At this point it was still viewed as an amicable split, as per the official statement, a story which would change and develop into something far darker the closer they got to releasing TWOYL (and the more journalists continued to pry). There were rumours and counter rumours circulating that these shows would perhaps signal the end of the line for the band, that they were going to bow out in the city that had become their adopted home. It was no surprise then, that they'd added a second date to accommodate all those who wanted to see them play for possibly the last time. Or so we thought.
Of course we know now that this was no swansong, just the beginning of a new band. However, at the time they were indeed on the verge of splitting, almost abandoning their plan to play at Werchter just under 3 weeks after these shows (see this post for all the gory details surrounding that show). So in a way, we weren't wrong in fearing the worst. Things were in fact very bad, almost catastrophically so, but they weren't quite done yet. We should also note at this point that almost 3 years had elapsed since ITLAOTE, and it would be a further year before The Weight of Your Love arrived. This would be the longest time between any of Editors' albums.
The first thing to note is that they walk onstage to the sound of white noise, which is in itself a fairly intimidating way to start a rock 'n' roll event. It was an ominous beginning the proceedings, but appropriate given the gravitas surrounding each of these nights.
These shows saw the debuts of the extended version of Papillon, courtesy of Elliott, as well as Nothing, Two Hearted Spider and Sugar which would later appear on TWOYL. The musical arrangement of Nothing had yet to be fully realised, and you can hear that from the very beginning. The first "Every conversation within you.." is missing, and there's as chugging guitar line throughout the initial stages, as opposed to the very delicate interplay between Justin and Tom on the keys in future performances. In most fans' mind there are actually 2 versions of Nothing co-existing anyway; the studio version with the strings and the live version that makes you want to bounce all over the room.
Sugar is also a markedly different composition, with more input from Elliott on keys and vocals and it actually runs a little longer than usual, with later performances averaging around 4 minutes or so. There's also no descending guitar line from Justin at the very end before Tom comes back in with the "Don't leave..." line.
Note that in this run through of Two Hearted Spider, there's a lyric change that was dropped shortly thereafter:-
"The long distance call, as our shadows fuse."
The Weight of The World is also reformatted, in a way where Chris' guitar lead is noticeably absent. It's a tricky situation, to remove an element that made Editors what they were and then decide to carry on without it. You're left with a very simple choice; do you change the name and start over as a new band or do you keep going under the same moniker? If you choose the former then you have to consider that you need brand new material to play or record, and you need it quickly. Go with the latter, and you can either remove the prior contributions from Chris altogether or just play them as if they were essential to the song structure. They seem to have opted for option 2, but found a balance where Chris' guitar/electronic materials are still present (Bones, Munich, ITLAOTE etc). Only the unrecorded numbers that Chris participated in during the initial writing stages prior to TWOYL were free of his sonic signatures when completed (Two Hearted Spider, The Sting etc).
Of the two new songs that Chris was a part of, the changes made are obvious. The earlier version of The Sting had a definite malice about it, something really ominous and unsettling in the same way that The Big Exit feels. Two Hearted Spider was more of a disco number in the style of Papillon. I feel like the new arrangements showcased at these gigs still manage to highlight the dynamic between Mr Smith and Mr Urbanowicz in their songwriting styles, something I've already gone into here. However, once the necessity of compromise between those opposing styles within Editors was gone, it seemed to allow the songs to retain and settle into their greater pop sensibilities. To have some of the more obvious edges smoothed over.
I wonder if it was Editors' prolonged residence in musical purgatory at this time and being unable to get E4 on track, that demanded a break with the claustrophobic atmosphere of those early versions of the songs? That they had to cast a little bit of sunshine on them just to make the process of creating music fulfilling again? From the post-split interviews it was clear that they weren't enjoying being in a band at all, which isn't going to make for the best creative outcomes. If the year 2012 was definitely all about being uncertain as a fan, it was also a process of rejuvenation for the group.
One last thing to listen out for is Tom's beautiful intro to You Are Fading which sounds remarkably like the kind of dreamy playing Greg Gonzales of Cigarettes After Sex would come up with. Spookily, CAS would go on and sign to PIAS and become labelmates with Editors a few years later. Small world.
Enjoy the music ;)
Night 1 - 26/6/2012 - stream it here
FLACS
0.Intro - download here
1.Sugar - download here
2.Racing Rats - download here
3.Bullets - download here
4.Smokers - download here
5.Fall - download here
6.The Sting - download here
7. Blood - download here
8.All Sparks - download here
9.ERM=BD - download here
10.You Are fading - download here
11.Weight of the World - download here
12.Bricks and Mortar - download here
13.Bones - download here
14.An End Has A Start - download here
15.Fingers in the Factories - download here
16.Nothing - download here
17.ITLAOTE - download here
18.Encore Break - download here
19.Munich - download here
20.Two-Hearted Spider - download here
21.Papillon - download here
+71bittersweet.mp4_snapshot_00.59_%5B2012.07.01_13.11.59%5D.jpg)
FLACS
1.Intro - download here
2.Sugar - download here
3.The Racing Rats - download here
4.Bullets - download here
5.Smokers - download here
6.Fall - download here
7.The Sting - download here
8.Blood - download here
9.All Sparks - download here
10.Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool - download here
11.You Are Fading - download here
12.The Weight Of The World - download here
13.Bricks And Mortar - download here
14.Bones - download here
15.An End Has A Start - download here
16.Fingers In The Factories - download here
17.Nothing - download here
18.Encore Break - download here
19.No Sound But The Wind - download here
20.In This Light And On This Evening - download here
21.Munich - download here
22.Two Hearted Spider - download here
23.Papillon - download here
brought to you with lots and lots of lemming-love :) x
