Erasure at Olympia Theatre, Dublin on June 13th
Review: James Hendicott
Photos: Natalie Byrne
Ah, the theatrics. Erasure fuse the distinctly cheddar-tinged synth-led electronica of the late 80s with the campest, shiniest, smoothest on-stage persona found this side of a Eurovision set. Andy Bell, as ever, is the star. Standing alone at stage front for most of the set, the charismatic frontman is a larger than life figure, ripping off his red shiny jacket after a song or two, before placing it neatly to the side and giving us all the low down on his t-shirt, which is held together by the ropiest of underarm safety pins.
It all has a bit of gay theatre about it, being absolutely drenched in prancing and theatre-school hip swinging, an aspect of the Erasure show that fits absolutely sublimely with the choreographed back lighting, slick dance moves and clean-cut appearance of the band’s stark stage set up. In fact, if anything Erasure’s show is almost too slick. It’s certainly possibly to come away from an hour in the company of Bell, Clarke and co. with the impression that you’ve seen something not all that different to every other show before you: it’s hard to imagine exactly where the show might shove in its flexibility amongst so much glittery perfection.
Still, tonight’s show is the first Irish night of the ‘Total Pop!’ tour, and Erasure certainly deliver on the all-out pop binge front. Much of the tour has taken the band to a host of outdoor stages in forest glens and delicate corners of the UK, but tonight sees the venue Josh Homme recently described as ‘like playing inside a cake’ inundated with bleepy classics like early-set epics ‘Ship Of Fools’, Chains Of Love’ and ‘Sometimes’. Each is performed with an energy that belies their aging style, and judging by the utter pandemonium down the front, the audience are entirely ready to fall back in love with an era that – the likes of Joy Division aside – is rarely critically revered.
In fact, tonight’s audience is not a jot short of boisterous. There’s a character in the front row who spends every track until the memorable ‘Blue Savannah’ – perhaps a dozen tracks in – snapping Bell’s glorious on-stage posturing at a rate of about a photo every five seconds. Just to his left, two lively young girls are dragging an older pair round and round in euphoric little circles, while the crowd in general make for an impressive cross section, despite the odd uncomfortable looking elder gentleman.
As you might have gathered, it’s the performance and reaction that make the show. A mercifully un-Wheatus-a-fied finale of ‘A Little Respect’ followed by an encore of ‘Stop’ are predictable and very ‘straight off the records’ musically, but performed with such incredible panache and greeted with such exuberance that tonight’s gig becomes something just that little bit special. At the same time, it’s difficult not to have an ‘all Erasured out’ line, and mine comes a touch before the end. It really is quite a cheese fest, and as lively and exceptionally performed as it is, it will take a true fan of the novelty electro anthem to enjoy every last second.