These Streets are Still Home to Them
Up next is the full set from This is Tomorrow Festival in Newcastle, 25th May 2019 by everybody's favourite beat trapper, Mr GaryUK. This was passed along to me after he attended the show and once again we owe him a sizeable debt of gratitude for the travelling and the work in putting it together. He could have gone home and at least got some sleep, but instead he's emailing these gems out into the world for the rest of us to enjoy in double quick time. Thank you, Gary. It's appreciated.
Everyone still thinks of Editors as a Birmingham band, and rightly so given their origins in that area, but the more time continues to march forward taking all of us with it, it's become easier to forget that their recorded output began on a little label in Newcastle called Kitchenware. So this was a surrogate homecoming show in some respects, and the North East provided some welcoming weather to make the experience a special one. It was actually blazing sunshine until the day of the gig when everything took a downturn and black clouds deposited gallons of rain on everyone. It happened almost exactly as Editors rolled into town, which I'm sure it's pure coincidence.
A significant show for two reasons. The first is that they gave a new song its second public airing, and we found out if Barricades would ever be played live (it was) and whether or not it would be full band or solo acoustic (full electric, baby). There's a warm, familiar feeling to the way we're hearing Frankenstein. When Editors were still a small band making their lonely trek around the smaller clubs of Britain and abroad, the only way you could initially hear new songs like Bones or The Weight of the World was to hope somebody somewhere taped them and shared them, so you could pass them around your fellow obsessives. Luckily we have Gary to thank for this one, but the whole way Frankenstein was introduced to the world was so typically Editors-like, and it reminded me of those early days. They debuted it at a small festival with no streaming of the set and a limited access to the wider fanbase, and they also made it the set closer. That's a brave move and most bands wouldn't take that risk, probably preferring to premier it at Werchter or Pinkpop, placing it in the middle of the set with a big announcement and making sure that lots of people saw it and heard it. Not Editors. They are still using that smaller band mindset of "We have this new song, let's go out and play it" which is at odds with the standard record business procedure of trying to attract maximum attention. As a result it's now a song that being devoured by the fanbase as we all digitally distribute it between ourselves, just like its unreleased predecessors. Like the song says, we're the freaks getting high on sorrow.
Now that you have a live recording of Frankenstein, you have a dilemma. If you listen to this version too many times then you're going to find yourself in the position of having it imprinted on your brain. Is this is a problem? Maybe, because when the recorded take finally appears you're going to be programmed with this one and you'll be endlessly comparing and contrasting. This is what usually leads to the claim that Editors always sound more forceful live that on record. So if this bothers you, you can ignore this post entirely and just go on with your life waiting for the eventual studio version.
Tee hee.
In the interest of transparency there were some sound issues during Papillon, mostly due to the fact that Gary was recording this while standing in the damp and rain, as well as having a drunk imbecile behind him later in the set. In spite of that, he got the gig and us hardcore's will always appreciate that. Enjoy the music ;)
stream it here
MP3s
Intro - download here
Violence - download here
Blood - download here
Papillon - download here
Hallelujah (So Low) - download here
Munich - download here
Barricades - download here
An End Has a Start - download here
Darkness at the Door - download here
All Sparks - download here
Magazine - download here
Smokers - download here
Racing Rats - download here
Frankenstein - download here
All in a Zip - download here
Frankenstein
stream it here
brought to you with lots and lots of lemming-love :) x
