On the 25th January 2023 Gary was in Nottingham to see Editors' first UK show since August last year, and luckily for us he was in the mood to record and share. Many thanks going out to him for his generosity, it's really appreciated.
This is something I've touched on before, but I feel like Editors have always been a band that have evolved adjacent to the conventional path provided by the music industry. Even as far back as the Snowfield days, when they deliberately chose to base themselves in Birmingham rather than the label-centric heartland of the Capital. This gig is evidence that it's still happening now 20 years later.
I also think there's an obvious camraderie they share with those other like-minded bands who historically have been set aside in the public consciousness in one form or another, and who were just allowed to find themselves in the shadows after being overlooked. Depeche Mode were wimpy New Romantics whose obsession with synths would be their undoing over time. Radiohead were "The Creep" band who never going match the success of their hit (or iron lung) again. The Cure were a bunch of weird, arty miserablists who were forever doomed to be...forever doomed. R.E.M. were popular on college radio but that's probably where their appeal would begin and end etc etc. At one point in their existence, the aforementioned were all marginalised by the intelligentsia because either their allotted time was up or their crtitically-designated glass ceiling had been hit.
You might argue that I've included Editors in some pretty lofty company by my comparison, but I think that in 2023 it's earned. To me, this isn't about record sales, but endurance. Every one of the groups mentioned created their own longevity through fixing their gaze forwards and moving ahead. They got good at what they were doing by doing it, and discovering and cementing their identities along the way. Then they ultimately had to adopt a surprised expression years later when the world afforded them a second look, realising they might have been wrong in their initial assumptions.
The TL:DR and more succinct version of all those words is that if you stick around long enough, cutting a path in accordance with your own values, people will sometimes be forced to re-evaluate you. Why do I mention all of this again now? It's because I feel like Editors may be experiencing one of those times right now in their home country.
As an act, Editors are like independent-spirited kids who decided they wanted to leave home and explore the world. They make return visits occasionally, and then what you'll notice above all else are the changes and development they made in their absence. Nottingham was the first UK show of the wider EBM campaign, so it was an ideal opportunity to test the reception to both the band and their new album as they came back from their latest travels.
What I never saw coming was just how receptive the audiences would be. That's not to say that it should have been surprising, it's just that the investment in the event from those in attendance surpassed what I'd anticipated. They aren't just showing up for "the hits", and we all know what they are, but they're singing all the words to music that was only released less than a year ago. The dates they've played so far that I've listened to have been such a joyful experience, because it's as if the crowds from the era surrounding the first three albums have returned. That passion, and enthusiasm sounds exactly the same and yet here we stand 7 albums in, with the new material having been embraced in the same way the older stuff always is. I hope it continues, the deserve it.
This is something I've touched on before, but I feel like Editors have always been a band that have evolved adjacent to the conventional path provided by the music industry. Even as far back as the Snowfield days, when they deliberately chose to base themselves in Birmingham rather than the label-centric heartland of the Capital. This gig is evidence that it's still happening now 20 years later.
I also think there's an obvious camraderie they share with those other like-minded bands who historically have been set aside in the public consciousness in one form or another, and who were just allowed to find themselves in the shadows after being overlooked. Depeche Mode were wimpy New Romantics whose obsession with synths would be their undoing over time. Radiohead were "The Creep" band who never going match the success of their hit (or iron lung) again. The Cure were a bunch of weird, arty miserablists who were forever doomed to be...forever doomed. R.E.M. were popular on college radio but that's probably where their appeal would begin and end etc etc. At one point in their existence, the aforementioned were all marginalised by the intelligentsia because either their allotted time was up or their crtitically-designated glass ceiling had been hit.
You might argue that I've included Editors in some pretty lofty company by my comparison, but I think that in 2023 it's earned. To me, this isn't about record sales, but endurance. Every one of the groups mentioned created their own longevity through fixing their gaze forwards and moving ahead. They got good at what they were doing by doing it, and discovering and cementing their identities along the way. Then they ultimately had to adopt a surprised expression years later when the world afforded them a second look, realising they might have been wrong in their initial assumptions.
The TL:DR and more succinct version of all those words is that if you stick around long enough, cutting a path in accordance with your own values, people will sometimes be forced to re-evaluate you. Why do I mention all of this again now? It's because I feel like Editors may be experiencing one of those times right now in their home country.
As an act, Editors are like independent-spirited kids who decided they wanted to leave home and explore the world. They make return visits occasionally, and then what you'll notice above all else are the changes and development they made in their absence. Nottingham was the first UK show of the wider EBM campaign, so it was an ideal opportunity to test the reception to both the band and their new album as they came back from their latest travels.
What I never saw coming was just how receptive the audiences would be. That's not to say that it should have been surprising, it's just that the investment in the event from those in attendance surpassed what I'd anticipated. They aren't just showing up for "the hits", and we all know what they are, but they're singing all the words to music that was only released less than a year ago. The dates they've played so far that I've listened to have been such a joyful experience, because it's as if the crowds from the era surrounding the first three albums have returned. That passion, and enthusiasm sounds exactly the same and yet here we stand 7 albums in, with the new material having been embraced in the same way the older stuff always is. I hope it continues, the deserve it.
MP3s
Heart Attack - download here
Strawberry Lemonade - download here
Bones - download here
Karma Climb - download here
Picturesque - download here
The Boxer - download here
Sugar - download here
Fingers in the Factories - download here
Blood - download here
Bullets - download here
Magazine - download here
Nothing - download here
Lights - download here
Silence - download here
Smokers - download here
The Racing Rats - download here
Kiss - download here
Violence - download here
No Harm - download here
Strange Intimacy - download here
An End Has a Start - download here
Munich - download here
Papillon - download here
Strawberry Lemonade - download here
Bones - download here
Karma Climb - download here
Picturesque - download here
The Boxer - download here
Sugar - download here
Fingers in the Factories - download here
Blood - download here
Bullets - download here
Magazine - download here
Nothing - download here
Lights - download here
Silence - download here
Smokers - download here
The Racing Rats - download here
Kiss - download here
Violence - download here
No Harm - download here
Strange Intimacy - download here
An End Has a Start - download here
Munich - download here
Papillon - download here
All in a Zip - download here
brought to you with lots of lemming-love ;) x
