"You can do better than that..."
New equipment, same dedication to the cause. This is Gary's latest special message from the front of house, capturing Editors live for their homecoming show in Birmingham on the 27th February 2020. Huge thanks to you for your work, Gary. I would agree that those drums really are popping on this one. I'm amazed again that you managed to get such a clear recording in such a shed of a venue.
The 27th February 2020 is a love letter filled with fondness to a city that assisted the development of the band, and acted as a sounding board and support network for their early endeavors. Consequently this was the one date on the Black Gold Tour that was always going to carry significance and emotion equally. Editors returned to Birmingham on the 27th February 2020, and listening to it is like celebrating the return of a friend that left town years ago to find the world (and possibly themselves).
The boys done good.
15 of the 24 songs in the setlist are from the first 3 albums meaning that, as with the other shows that preceded it, more than half the evening's content tilts in favour of those formative years. That's not to say that this is just a simple case of presenting the old classics exactly as they were, more of an occasion to expand and inject some new personality into them. The extra vocal backing on Bullets and Escape the Nest for example, or the acoustic to full band intro on Spiders. They aren't treating their music as if it's the final revelation of some divine creator. The studio takes will always be there, so why not have some fun with the material? This certainly isn't a new idea, having been a tactic they've employed since they started out. Listen to a composition as old as You Are Fading on record and then any live version from 2005 onwards and it's clear that every Editors song has a twin, but they are by no means identical. It also suggests that the creative process that begins with the song being written and then recorded doesn't end. There's a third stage which, appropriately, takes place in front of a live audience. There's no stagnation if movement is still present.
During the musical breakdown on Sugar before the chorus you can hear Tom say "You can do better than that", as he baits the crowd, and it struck me how that represented a complete reversal of position for the band. I imagine that their first shows during 2002-2003 where they played to nobody and poured everything into their efforts regardless, must have been a test of will and endurance in the face of indifference and cynicism. Uttering that phrase then would have rang hollow. Now they find themselves almost 20 years later in a position where they command the crowd in such a way that the dynamic has flipped completely. It reminds me of when Oasis first began, and in particular their song Rock and Roll Star. Those lyrics:-
"You're not down with who I am, look at you now you're all in my hand tonight"
That must have seemed ludicrous to anyone listening when they were playing to 20 or thirty people in a half full toilet on the gig circuit of England during 1994. From the stage at Wembley in 2008, however, not so much. Longevity and commitment to the idea (whatever that may be) meant that the context had changed, with the situation now making a different kind of sense. They earned it, as I believe Editors have. "You can do better than that..." at Birmingham is a knowing acknowledgement of the shift from understudies to principal players.
MP3s
An End Has a Start - download here
Bullets - 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
No Sound but the Wind - download here
Spiders - download here
A Ton of Love - download here
Formaldehyde - download here
Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool - download here
All Sparks - download here
Blood - download here
Fingers in the Factories - 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
All in a zip - download here
brought to you with lots and lots of lemming-love :) x
