**UPDATED 29th June 2023 - Full video is available to download via the request email on the Archive's index page.**
In some strange way, I feel like I accidentally manifested this situation. I was talking to someone about how curious it was that in spite of living in one of the most interconnected and socially transparent eras in human history, really good quality footage of Editors' recent festival shows was still proving so difficult to come by. It was baffling to me. Then all of a sudden, and I mean literally within 24 hours of that throwaway discussion, this happens. I'm thinking of having random conversations about the lost album 4 demos with Flood being so scarce next, just to see if the trick works again.
So this was another stop on the coming out party for the band's EBM (Eat Boiled Meat) album, this time at the Electric Castle Festival in Romania. A couple of things struck me about the crowd here; one, they are extremely enthusiastic and there are large groups of "our people" among them, all of whom know every word. Secondly, you could identify the hardcores who only showed up to support Editors by the not-so-subtle way they all exited the front of stage as soon as the band had finished. They know what they came for. I've said this before but the finest point in my experience of seeing Titanic at the cinema was when Celine Dion started singing at the end and everyone got up and left. Boy, did I feel their pain.
Having had this chance to see Editors playing in the most advanced state of their ongoing musical journey, I'm struck with the amount of passion and energy they can still conjure up. Also, and I'm saying this as someone who's seen a lot of footage of them over the years, they appear to be having the best of times of right now. I don't know if they're just fully settled into the familiarity of their onstage personas, or if age has altered their perspective of what's important both on stage and within life in more general terms, but whatever it is, it shines right now. The first version of the group was very much about intensity and delivery, with lots of tension underlying everything. It seems like there's been a gradual, beneficial trade-off of some of that early angst to just giving yourself over to music and having fun with it. I can't imagine the band that made The Back Room creating Frankenstein, as it would have seemed so off-brand as to be jarring. Given who they were then, maybe they wouldn't have wanted to anyway? I wonder if longevity and experience have actually given them another ration of the freedom usually only granted to musicians just starting out, when there's everything to prove and you can't fully read their intentions?
The setlist is the one we've come to know from previous gigs lately, but crucially this one has pro-shot versions of the three "new" songs. Heart Attack as a set-commencement device is perfect, Karma Climb still makes me think of Atomic by Blondie in a totally positive way and Kiss is a very strange exercise in schizophrenia. The first half of that song seems to be about the redemptive power of a kiss, with the latter being all about the impotence of not being able to express yourself...even though that's exactly what you just did in part one. It's cyclic and circular. Devious word games from Mr Smith.
Finally, we get a chance to sit back and actually watch a full festival set in 2022 by Editors, and this is only making the anticipation for the EBM (Elliott Buys Moogs) even sweeter. Enjoy the music ;)
**VIDEO NUKED - See the Archive's index page for email request feature**
MP3s
Heart Attack - download here
Racing Rats - download here
Papillon - download here
Frankenstein - download here
Magazine - download here
Karma Climb - download here
Violence - download here
No Harm - download here
An End Has a Start - download here
Blood - download here
Kiss - download here
Sugar - download here
Smokers - download here
Munich - download here
Holy cow. If you've ever wondered what the difference is between a
choice and an obligation, this video will clear it right up. By the end
of it, you'll know just which of those two options this engagement
represented for Elliott and Tom.
The style of this interview on the day Editors played Electric Castle
is...loose. I don't know if this is the way things usually go on Morning
Glory, but there's a look of confusion the faces of the interviewees
that suggests they are considering whether or not their drinks have been
laced with a particularly potent form of LSD.
The topics on offer are random, to say the least. Does the subject of
the new album come up? Nope. Not at all. Because, who would want to hear
about that right now? However, the question of whether or not Tom will
kiss Nic during the show that day, that's just screaming out for an
answer! (Spoiler alert, Tom did not in fact kiss Nic during the gig).
All in all this is a trippy one, folks. Watch at your peril.
Oh, and see if you can detect a classic Tom Swears moment live on air as
he's put on the spot in the most ridiculous way possible.
brought to you with lots and lots of lemming-love ;) x
