This month, there was really only one story that mattered.
On Sunday the 20th March 2022, Editors took a dormant but ready pilot-light and turned it into the early flames of a new campaign. Obviously in a world where what is viewed as traditional has been altered, there is no record to promote yet. I think this was a chance for the band to take an opportunity to play in public, to test-kick the wheels of the machine and reactivate the collective synapses that enable them to function as a unit.
The last time Editors made the walk to the stage to play their music in
public was at Barrowlands in Glasgow during March of 2020. That was just
over 2 years ago, and you don't need reminding of the circumstances
that kept them away. In that time, the world has undergone a process of
forced adaptation to a way of living that now includes an almost
permanent, pronounced sense of uncertainty. It's a feeling that seems to
attach itself to everything, and this show was not an exception.
Candidly, until I actually heard the first notes being played on the night I
was half prepared for it to be cancelled. Such has been the behavioural
conditioning resulting from The Covid Years. That's not to say that my
innate but weakened optimism had completely deteriorated into hopelessness, it's just
that it now comes with a side-order of deep scepticism. Sometimes,
however, I delight in being proven wrong. I should also add that the delight at hearing them play again was short-lived, more on that in a second.
As fans, there was always the question of whether or not we'd be graced with new music, but it wasn't to be on this occasion. To be fair, Ed stated as much in an interview given to M80 radio four days earlier but there was always the hope he was bluffing. Not this time. If this really was just a chance to get back into the groove of being a live band again, then it makes sense they took the safer route of giving the public the more familiar material. Speaking of M80 radio, they were responsible for a major disappointment on the night.
Having promised to broadcast Editors' set as it happened, I was tuned in and ready to record. The DJs did a long intro, got to the point where the band hit the stage (you could actually hear Sugar starting up behind their wall of chatter) and then they immediately cut away to start playing records instead. I stuck with it for two more hours and even though they went back to the show for a few minutes during that time, they talked over the top again before quickly returning to playing records. So all of us that were geographically handicapped on the night were left with nothing but the bitter sensation of promises broken. Until May...
Editors Instagram - March 2022
For all of Editors' previous Instagram posts, go here.
brought to you with lots and lots of lemming-love :) x
