Erasure Concert

This last Sunday I went to the Erasure concert in San Francisco. The venue was The Independent, and it was great. Suzy estimated that from the front of the stage to the bar in back was about 30 feet. Andy Bell wasn't more than 3-5 feet away from the front of the stage most of the time, and even with our average place about 10 or so feet away from the stage we, this was the closest I had ever been to a performer at a concert.

Though I found two articles, from the Chronicle, and Inside Bay Area on the concert (though they talk about the opening night), I figured I would give my own impressions.

First of all, I dreaded finding parking near the venue, but we lucked out and found parking within the first 5 minutes of looking. I found the crowd to be odd in two ways. First, it seemed there were more women than men there, and second (perhaps related), almost everyone there was short. I almost felt tall that night.

Erasure played about 90 minutes of music, with no opening band. Before the curtain disappeared, Andy Bell sang "Three Blind Mice." I'm not sure if there was any special significance to it, but it was pretty cool nonetheless.

They played a bunch of new stuff as well as a lot of their old stuff (Oh L'amour, Hideaway, Sometimes, A Little Respect, Chains of Love, Blue Savannah) as well as a bunch of their newer stuff. Missing were the Abbaesque songs, but they played 2 songs (Knocking on Your Door and Stop!) from Crackers International.

During their cover of Rapture, Vince Clark picked up the rap while Andy went to change, and it was quite amusing. I wonder if he does the rap on the album too. Later Suzy would comment, "I thought he was like Silent Bob! I didn't think he ever talked!"

Speaking of Vince Clark, he initially dressed in aviator garb with a leather helmet. Atop of the helmet was a small replica of a satellite dish, which oddly reminded me of one of the gnomish hats from World of Warcraft. I can't imagine he plays WoW but it was eerily similar.

Andy Bell didn't sing an a capella this time around, but he did sing a prayer/hymn with minimal instruments. Once again I was reminded that he really is a telented singer with an amazing vocal range.

Though not as lavish as the first concert I went to (Phantasmagorical), it still featured several costume changes and was very entertaining. I definitely felt I got my money's worth and hope they tour again.