As Editors fans we are lucky, lucky people.
There's not many bands nowadays that have the kind of die-hard following that Editors have, the kind of people who will travel not only the length of their own country to see them play but who will go abroad to do the same. Even more rare are those individuals who do all of that with the sole purpose of taping what they hear so that others who missed out can benefit from it. Once again, The Archive's chief supplier of high quality live performances has come up with the goods. Thank you, Gary. We appreciate this ;)
Birmingham is of course the city that shaped the sounds of Editors' debut album The Back Room. Because of that, every time they play there it's going to be a special night, even if it sometimes goes awry...
The show ran like clockwork all the way up until around Cold, where a microphone onstage was accidentally knocked over. No problem with that, until we get to Racing Rats. The microphone cuts out as Tom begins singing, and what's odd about it is that you get a sense of how the mic also amplifies the crowd as well as the performer. So as well as Tom's vocals diminishing, the audience gets slightly more quiet as a result. Even so, you can still hear them singing along regardless of the fact that the song is now virtually an instrumental. So everything stops, the band go offstage and the tech side of Team Editors springs into action. Wires are tested, frowns are worn but ultimately the show gets back on the road shortly thereafter. Editors reappear and then it's the final sprint to bedtime.
There's a wonderful mood of mutual celebration running through these last few gigs on the UK tour, almost like old friends finally getting a chance to reconnect in a cathartic raising of voices. All the waiting between the last full tour here and this one is finally released, and this is when live music is at its most effective.
As a side note, and definitely going off on a tangent, I was thinking about the origins of Editors' albums. The usual disclaimer that I'm just emptying my head onto the keyboard and then sweeping it off into cyberspace applies. There seems to be a pattern with the band in that every two records they draw direct inspiration from their environment and distill it perfectly (and obviously) into the sounds and words therein. It seems to be at its most powerful as an effect on the odd numbered records; 1, 3 and 5 (so far). From what's been said in interviews over the years, The Back Room was in part constructed by the vibes and cityscapes of Birmingham. For E2 they relocated to Grouse Lodge in Ireland but it didn't overtly establish itself as a theme that you could point out as a confirmed inspiration. That couldn't be said for In This Light, which was apparently profoundly shaped again by their location:-
London's become the most beautiful thing I've seen - ITLAOTE
I feel like the Nashville sessions for The Weight of Your Love played a part in the sound of that album, but not necessarily its themes and subject matter (that was more or less taken care of by the near implosion they experienced at the time as a band). However, on E5 it was the isolation and geographical location of the studio in Crear that really focused them and sharpened their skills as songwriters and producers of their own work. The lyric in Ocean of Night was apparently written after watching a storm rolling off the sea towards where they were staying:-
Inhabit the calm of the storm - Ocean of Night
On VI OLENCE I don't feel like you can hear any markers for the region it was created in. We know they spent some time in Oxford putting things together but there's nothing on that record that screams "South East of England!". If anything it sounds more like a Berlin nightclub. If these speculative musings are true and there is indeed a pattern, then that means we are due for another round of soaking up the moods and scenery of wherever they record next, meaning that E7 will be shaped primarily by environmental influences that will be easy to discern. If there's a pattern. I know it's a little premature to be contemplating the next record while they're still actively pushing the current one, but that's the thing about fanatics; we're always wanting more. Enjoy the music ;)
The Setlist
The Boxer - download here
Sugar - download here
Hallelujah (So Low) - download here
All Sparks - download here
An End Has A Start - download here
Someone Says - download here
Darkness at the Door - download here
Belong - download here
Violence - download here
No Harm - download here
Bullets - download here
A Ton of Love - download here
Formaldehyde - download here
Nothingness - download here
Ocean of Night - download here
Blood - download here
Papillon - download here
Magazine - download here
Encore - download here
Cold - download here
Racing Rats (false start) - download here
Racing Rats - download here
Munich - download here
Smokers - download here
stream it here
All MP3s in a Zip - download here
brought to you with lots and lots of lemming-love : ) x
