Once in a while, a recording surfaces that you hadn't been previously aware of. This is one such instance. Here, for the first time at the Archive is Editors playing at the Olympia in Dublin, 21st February 2008, as part of their promotional campaign for An End Has a Start. It was captured by Chalkey, who very kindly gave the go ahead for this to be made available here at the Archive. Many thanks to him for that. As well as the full set in FLAC form, in accordance with the taper's wishes, there's also some photographs and artwork included.
The first thing to note is that this was a loud one. The crowd were rowdy, the band were turned up to 11 ( © Spinal Tap ), that's the kind of experience you're in for here. Just saying.
To give you an idea of just how intense their schedule was at this time, they opened 2008 with a run of 29 shows across the United States and Canada. Then, there was exactly 1 week allocated for rest and relaxation before they started the process of touring the UK and Europe at the Olympia in Dublin. That would be the beginning of a live odyssey that took them through until September, meaning they virtually lived on the road for the majority of that year. This commitment to converting the masses town by town, country by country is what they built their reputation on, but it almost managed to rob them of their ability to create. That's not to throw any unnecessary shade on the process, because a lot of bands that reach a certain level of achievement seem to have similar stories when it comes to referencing their early years. Those times when it was literally just them in a van or a bus, on a restricted income and collectively engaged in combatting the indifference of unconverted audiences night after night, possess something magical.
At the start of Bullets you can hear Tom reference the band missing out on their Brit Award nomination for Best British Act that year, with the trophy going instead to Arctic Monkeys. I'm torn on this one, because part of me wanted to see them receive recognition on a large scale, of course. I'm not from that old school of indie snobbery that dictates success equals selling out. On the other hand, I wonder if they'd have gotten away with making In This Light and on This Evening had they actually won this? It was, after all, an experimental record at its core. After attracting the approving nods of the mainstream establishment with a Brit Award, there's a chance that ITLAOTE would have jettisoned all the more fair-weather fans they may have picked up as a result. It could have been a similar situation to the one R.E.M. found themselves in after Automatic for the People; a lot of the folks that found them from that record were subsequently turned off by the louder more alternative sounds of Monster. When a large collection of people that includes both your audience and your label are telling you "we love this", but your desire is to pursue something different, how easy would it be to remain true to your instincts?
If you'd like to check out all the material I have covering Editors at the Brit Awards 2008, go here.
Enjoy the music ;)
The Setlist
1. Camera - download here
2. An End Has a Start - download here
3. Blood - download here
4. Bullets - download here
5. The Weight of the World - download here
6. Escape the Nest - download here
7. Lights - download here
8. When Anger Shows - download here
9. Spiders - download here
10. All Sparks - download here
11. Munich - download here
12. Push Your Head Towards the Air - download here
13. Bones - download here
14. Smokers - download here
15. The Racing Rats - download here
16. You Are Fading - download here
17. Fingers in the Factories - download here
Tape Specs - download here
Photos and Artwork - download here
brought to you with lots of lemming-love ;) x
