Last year I was invited by Mark Thwaite (The Mission, Tricky, Gary Numan, Mob Research and current Peter Murphy guarist) to see him play with Peter Murphy on their US tour as well as help out with photography. The setting was the House of Blues in downtown Chicago, which is a great venue to be at due to its’ intimate atmosphere and classic theatre styling. The show walked us through a back catalog of Peter’s songs as well as some Bauhaus classics, all of which was well received by the eager crowds, however I felt Peter’s performance, whilst still excellent in artistic terms, was a little removed from the audience who clearly were all about him. After the show I didn’t go backstage as it was suggested he wanted some privacy – perfectly understandable, but not what I’m used to with other AAA passes and this just fed to my thoughts that he wasn’t in the best of moods that night.
Cut to 14th July 2009 and we return to the HOB and see Peter in amazing form. The setlist was completely different featuring some new material as well as some excellent covers (such as Bowie’s “Space Oddity”). The star t of the show had a bit of an “oops” as Mark’s main guitar was not working, so he switched to his new Schecter Gold top (Solo 6 Vantage) which was sounding great and very punchy. That minor glitch was quickly forgotten as Peter and co. layed into a blistering set which had the crowd really going and Peter being extremely animated and theatrical which enthused the crowd no end.
As a complete 360 to last years performance his interaction with the crowd served as to build up the great vibe that was happening. His vocal performance was nothing short of remarkable as he paraded the range far more than he did in 2008. The occaisional commentary (particularly the “Oh wait. I’m in the wrong key for you lot” to the band) just added to the whole experience.
Let’s not forget the other folks in the band who all did a stirling job. Jeff Schartoff on bass was far more confident than last year and this showed in his performance which was flawless (in 2008 this was not so much the case). Nick Lucero seemed to be somewhat down on the experience in manner but his performance was effortless. Lastly Mark Thwaite’s guitart and effervesance and flawless playing proved, if proof were needed, why he has such a high regard in the industry.
Picture on flickr shortly.
Filed under: music | Tagged: bauhaus, chicago, hob, mark thwaite, peter murphy
