This was the final date on the 5 venue string of engagements that brought Editors home to the U.K., and reminded selected areas of the country of their capabilities as a live act. Present in the crowd in this light on this particular evening was the Archive's own cadence capture expert, GaryUK and this is his recording of their show at Glasgow Barrowlands on the 3rd March 2020. Thank you, Gary. For the travel, for the work and for sharing. It's appreciated ;)
Right now there are only 10 dates left on the Black Gold greatest hits tour, with February being by far the most concentrated month in terms of the amount of dates done (16). As yet, there's still no sign of the song Black Gold and I fear this may be another addition to the folder labelled "The Things We Wish That Were". Also included in that slowly-growing container of wistful woes would be Dream Dark as Your Heaven (nope, still haven't forgotten), live duets with La Goswell and some demo session or other they did with Flood and that Chris fella for their fourth album. All of these things may seem trivial to the more casually minded fans among you, but to those of us who occupy the extreme end of the dedication spectrum they scratch the black surface of our lost souls, making us even more sad than we already are as Editors fans. Which, let's face it, is pretty darn sad.
Considering they're constrained by the format of it being a greatest hits tour and must therefore include the singles, there have been some lovely surprises from the past along the way. One of the best things for me about this campaign has been having fans get in touch to say how happy they are to have finally heard one of their favourite songs. Fans who showed up later in the day and missed out on being able to experience tunes like Spiders or Escape the Nest in person. On that note, here's something to mull over.
There are over 20 days between the Barrowlands date and their next appointment in Greece. Obviously, they need to return to being civilians for a while but I wonder if some of that time will be used to rehearse any other material from their history for future presentation? Other numbers that we may have already considered as spirits in the bootleg graveyard, accessible in virtual reality (and without a ouija board) but never within reach of our hearts as they gracefully pass the borders of our personal space. We all have our own list of Editors tracks that we secretly covet and cross fingers, toes and maybe eyes to have back again. What if one of them shows up down the line?
It is my belief that the current gigs are both a celebration of the most mainstream aspects of Editors' accomplishments, and a chance to hear them again, but maybe also a marker that we will look back on as the time that some of those same songs got retired...at least until the second greatest hits tour happens somewhere in the future. I'm pretty sure I've proposed this on the blog before but it's not utterly irrational to me that we eventually get a concert by the band that doesn't feature anything from the first three albums. Now to some people that would be completely unthinkable, because there is still that compartmentalization of Editors as two definite bands with and post Chris. As I've said before, though, this is all about amassing a body of work without personnel boundaries. It is of course a war that is doomed to be lost on all fronts, because there will always be somebody who is beyond annoyed that they didn't hear (insert song title here) at an Editors gig. Luckily for all of us who are content to enjoy the ride and see where they decide take us, these past 15 years or so have shown that the band are only ever going to do what they want to do anyway. Fan directions and opinions are indulged at worst and discarded at best in the interest of being true to their own musings and inspirations.
Finally, we should acknowledge that beyond the last dates of the Black Gold tour we don't know what's next. The doubt that bedded down and became a daily companion a few months ago is waiting by the road like a bedraggled hitch-hiker to be pickup up again. The Smith and Burrows album is imminent, but aside from that there's only wondering and guesswork. It would be strangely appropriate if, on the final date of the tour which is the 4th of July, they arrived at a place of having no concrete plans in place. Freedom. Hopefully only temporarily. Enjoy the music ;)
MP3s
An End Has a Start - download hereBullets - download here
Bones - download here
Escape the Nest - download here
Magazine - download here
Sugar - download here
Upside Down - download here
Violence - download here
Frankenstein - download here
Papillon - download here
Ocean of Night - download here
The Weight of the World - download here
Spiders - download here
A Ton of Love - download here
Formaldehyde - download here
All Sparks - download here
Blood - download here
Fingers in the Factories - download here
Walk the Fleet Road - download here
You Are Fading - download here
Distance - download here
The Racing Rats - download here
Munich - download here
Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors - download here
All in a zip - download here
brought to you with lots and lots of lemming-love :) x
