Concert: Peter Murphy, The State Theatre, Falls Church, VA

Seeing Peter Murphy live these days, though the music is still great, may be a bit like Dorothy seeing the Wizard behind the curtain. Although the former Bauhaus frontman influenced a generation of punk and goth bands in the ’80s, including The Cure, Siouxsie & the Banshees, and Joy Division, as the years have gone by, it seems Peter Murphy has no illusions surrounding the mystique Bauhaus enjoyed during that period, and wants his fans to harbor none as well. Murphy, the widely-acclaimed “Godfather of Goth,” played the State Theatre in Falls Church, VA, recently, and early on in the show, he pulled his shirt up and exposed his 53-year-old belly to the crowd, stating:
“I’m not trying to be sexy. I’m showing you I’m fat now. I’m old now. Destroy the myth, the icon…”
And with that, he proceeded to twirl the pearls he was wearing around his neck and chitchat with the crowd for a few minutes (which he did a good bit of) before kicking off the music, obviously enjoying the fact that his fans still come out to his shows, but intent on the show being about the music and maybe a bit of breaking down the mythology that developed around himself and Bauhaus, the band that for all intents and purposes, created “goth” music.

What Peter Murphy and Bauhaus actually did break down and destroy, was any lines between glam rock, punk rock and horror movie stylism, inspiring a whole genre of goth music, and ultimately creating the very iconography that he now seems to want to dispel. Bauhaus reunited briefly in 2008 to put out their first album in 20 years, “Go Away White,” and do a tour, but Murphy is back to performing solo now.

The opening band, Livan, was a bit disappointing; although there was some musical talent there, (the drummer was into it!) they sounded like an overly-manufactured glam version of Bauhaus and Sisters of Mercy mixed together, with no real original sound – and really, we know you’re a buff guy who wants to look sexy and cool on stage, but there’s just something not right about leather pants, suspenders and no shirt.

Murphy himself is currently on a pre-release tour for his upcoming album Ninth, so he’ll be coming back around, and he played a relatively wide selection of his solo material, though with a good amount of songs off his new album and a few select Bauhaus tracks. Coming out wearing pearls, and the requisite black eye-liner, Murphy opened with “Zikir”, a dark, moody Bauhaus song from their 2008 reunion album with eerie beats and even eerier spoken vocals, and then launched into three tracks from his new solo album, all of which recalled classic Peter Murphy from the 80s, though they seemed to lack some of the more organized pop structures such as on his classic (and probably most widely accessible) 1989 album “Deep.”

Dispelling a myth is one thing. But, being a rock star is quite another. There was a bit of prima donna action; a friend told me that he had apparently stopped the music during a song to chide the sound guy in a previous show; shortly after I heard this, Murphy ended up stopping the music twice to complain about the sound, and even stopped one song and walked off the stage, leaving the band to jam David Bowie’s “Jean Genie,” while he got things in order. Bowie, an obvious influence, reappeared later in the setlist with “Ziggy Stardust,” which Bauhaus covered to perfection in ’82. If you want to see Peter Murphy and Bauhaus in their heyday, check out that video here. Murphy also added a Nine Inch Nails cover, “Hurt,” perfect for the mood of a Peter Murphy show.

In fact, the show was almost everything I had hoped for from Peter Murphy, Bauhaus songs, solo songs, and even a bit of a medley of the Bauhaus classic, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” mixed with “A Strange Kind of Love.” “Silent Hedges,” from the first Bauhaus album I ever picked up, The Sky’s Gone Out, and “Marlene Dietrich’s Favourite Poem” from Deep, were great, and “Cuts You Up”, his seminal 80s hit, even appeared in the encore. But it’s the same old cliche…”more older stuff, please.”
Next time I have to wear more black. And maybe some eyeliner.
Click here to check out the entire setlist on setlist.fm.

Musichord Rating: 6.5/10  

Heard: A snippet of “Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” “Cuts You Up” Not Heard: “Indigo Eyes,” my favorite Peter Murphy song.

Concert: The Church, The Birchmere, Alexandria, VA

With over 30 years of recording and touring already behind them, the Church have persevered through lineup changes, label changes, and many years of relatively disappointing sales following their worldwide breakout hit, the mystically brilliant “Under the Milky Way Tonight”, from their 1988 Starfish album. Thirty years can make even the hardiest bands fall apart, or, at the very least, break up for a number of years until it’s time to reunite for an “oldies” reunion. And though “Under The Milky Way Tonight”, their one and only U.S. top 40 hit, was 24 years ago, the Church has soldiered on, building a cottage industry from their 23 studio albums (based on Australian issues of original studio recordings, including EPs), live albums, DVDs, and other merchandise (Church refrigerator magnets?) and sustaining it all through consistent touring, and recording new material, separated by a few solo projects and occasional time apart.

For this, over 30 years of recording and touring, they are a rarity in the world of professional music. Other than a drummer replacement very early on and in 1994, and Koppes’ temporary departure, the Church’s lineup has also remained relatively stable, with Peter Koppes and Marty Wilson-Piper on guitars and backing vocals and Steve Kilbey on bass and lead vocals.

Formed in Sydney, Australia in 1980, the Church have been through plenty of career ups and downs, but today they seem to be as unified as a band as ever, taking full advantage of the digital age, and even forming their own label, Unorthodox Records.  They are also in the midst of a release of remastered versions of their first eight studio albums, and are planning a triumphant 30th Anniversary show in April at the Lyric Opera House in Sydney. (Who knew without the Church, there may have been no Smiths?)

Their current tour follows the recent pattern we’ve seen of bands playing entire “classic” albums all the way through, and the Church have gone all out on this tour, playing their most recent album, Untitled #23, the brilliantly experimental Priest=Aura, and the iconic Starfish in their entirety (in reverse chronological order), much as the Cure performed their classic “Trilogy” sets in 2003. The Church also added a guest keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist for this tour, “whose hopes and aspirations I will not speak to”, said Kilbey as he introduced the band. This helped to fill out the sound, as well as providing the needed instrumentation to play through three complete albums from their catalog – over three hours of music.

Unfortunately, after listening to Untitled #23, and then hearing it live, compared directly against Priest=Aura and Starfish, Untitled #23 sounded slower, drawn out and discordant. However, after the 15-minute intermission between the first and second sets, there was an entirely different feeling of creative energy emanating from the stage. What followed was brilliant and captivating, and much more inspirational. What preceded was disappointing, though still interesting from a musicianship perspective.

While some of the Church’s albums from their prolific career have longer songs and more experimental music, Untitled #23 sounded as if each musician was playing their part separately from the other musicians and was more focused on experimental and meandering guitar, keyboard and bass work, than on presenting cohesive songs. This is fine, in and of itself, and there were a few redeeming moments, however, the second and third sets featured more potent and powerful songs, as opposed to what felt like a collection of people playing their instruments at the same time.

After the success of Starfish, the Church felt constrained by the label’s pressure to have “hits” as well as dealing with label-picked producers controlling their sound. After the relatively lackluster sales of Gold Afternoon Fix, which the Church unfortunately dismissed as “hashed together” and “lousy”, they started working from a base of much lower expectations. In many ways, this allowed them to have more freedom with their music and allowed for more experimental, expansive and longer pieces, but these soundscapes sometimes lacked the cohesion of their earlier work. This came through loud and clear live, as the more the Church worked their way backwards through their catalog, the more coherent, and musically accessible side of the Church’s earlier work came through, in sharp contrast to the extended-jam, non-song feel of Untitled #23.

To put it more succinctly, the second and third sets ROCKED. The songs were tight, the band picked up the pace and each song seemed to be building towards a greater climax. Priest=Aura featured extensive and elaborate guitar work, and ferocious interplay between Wilson-Piper and Koppes. Songs like “Ripple” and “Feel” were brilliant and sounded fresh again. “The Disillusionist” still felt timely, speaking to current world events, just as it spoke to events going on during the Iraq War almost 20 years ago. As Peter Koppes described it in a recent interview, “‘Priest = Aura’…is the artistic high point, the overlooked, monumental masterpiece of the band,” and it felt like it this night.

And, to top it all off, hearing them play “Under The Milky Way” “Spark” and “Reptile” from Starfish was breathtaking as well, and they just seemed to pour out more energy the longer they played. “Hotel Womb”, somewhat appropriately, closed out the brilliant set and the extraordinary evening.

In this, their 30th Anniversary year, the Church are still showing why they belong in the pantheon of the greatest alternative rock bands ever.

Check out the Church’s live KEXP performance from February 8th for yourself here: http://goo.gl/sPCFc

Musichord Rating: 8.5/10