eRacerX,
Thanks for the Tampa, FL Verlaine 1988 acoustic date
info, and thanks for the Ritz memory [I was at that
Dec. 22, 1984 Ritz concert].
Regarding Peter Murphy: below is a piece from the
Boston Globe September 10, 1988. It's a review of a
Tom Verlaine, Peter, Murphy, and Church concert at
Boston's Orpheum Theater the night before (and which I
attended). Murphy was even worse than the critic describes
(but then so was Verlaine--albeit his set was sabotaged
and forced to end prematurely by idiotic Church roadies).
Leo
"A Gathering of Pop's Dark and Moody Division"
THE CHURCH, PETER MURPHY, TOM VERLAINE- At the Orpheum Theater
Sept. 9, 1988 by Brett Milano
Ever been caught in a room with a bunch of intensely serious
people? Chances are your you'd find a bunch of heavyweight
conversations, and meet at least one guy you didn't get along
with. If you were lucky, you might wind up striking up a
friendship.
That was roughly the mood at last night's Orpheum triple-bill, a
gathering of pop's Dark and Moody division. Tom Verlaine was the
unapproachable one, who had a lot to say but proved too withdrawn
to say it. Representing the obnoxious crowd was Englishman Peter
Murphy, former leader of Bauhaus. Finally there was the Church, an
Australian quartet who made it all worthwhile.
Peter Murphy's hour-long set was without exaggeration, one of the
silliest things we've seen on a rock n' roll stage---unless one buys
Murphy's sex appeal, which many of the fans seemed to be doing. Here
we had narcissism bordering on self-worship: one would never guess
there were so many cool ways to stare into a spotlight, or so many
tortured-artist expressions one could assume. The set built slowly
to that grand, climactic moment when Murphy.... TOOK OFF HIS SHIRT!
All right so how about the music? A lot of lurches and drones, one
reasonably catchy tune (his hit "Indigo Eyes"), and a vocal style
crabbed from David Bowie's "Low" period. He does have a great taste
in covers, though: after his versions of Magazine's "The Light Pours
Out of Me", Pere Ubu's "Final Solution", and Iggy Pop's "Funtime",
one started to think that Murphy's group might make a good new-wave
cover band. Then his version of Prince's "Purple Rain" made one
think that no, maybe they wouldn't.
Best part of Tom Verlaine's set: during "Let Go the Mansion" he was
surprised by a pack of Church roadies, who struck up a chorus from
stage left while he looked on with a puzzled expression. Verlaine
is something of a saint on the underground circuit, after masterminding
one of the New York new wave's finest albums (Television's "Marquee
Moon") and a number of intriguing solo LPs. He hasn't played Boston
since 1982, but last night he didn't really play here either. The set
was a five-song, 20-minute quickie, and the songs didn't always translate
to the solo-acoustic format--too many mumbled vocals and scaled-down
guitar parts. A decent preview at best; now let's have Boston get
a proper Verlaine set
Commercial success agrees with the Church: their hit album "Starfish"
keeps the best aspects of their previous six releases-- the shifting
moods, sense of foreboding and hints of elation---but meets the audience
halfway, with some grabbing pop hooks. In the past they've tended to
drone on stage, saving the high volume release for last. But last night's
opener, "Constant in Opal" (nice pun) thundered from the start, and most
songs had the best of both: deep thought and cheap thrills, trancey
melodies and guitar flights.
They've also developed personalities within the band, so the two
guitarists (Peter Koppes and Marty Wilson-Piper) integrated their
parts better---with Wilson-Piper usually building atmosphere and
Koppes blasting away. Wilson-Piper's vocal on the fractured rockabilly
Spark" also contrasted nicely with singer/bassist Steve Kilbey's
moodier style. Individual tunes stood out-- the folkish
"Under the Milky Way" and the tense rocker "Unsubstantiated"--but
the songs also flowed together in a thoughtful, satisfying way.
-----Original Message-----
From: eRacerX
Sent: Tuesday, January 14, 2003 10:31 PM
To: tv@obbard.com
Subject: RE: (TV) 2 more boring Qs
I saw Verlaine (and Peter Murphy) open for the Church at Curtis Hixon Hall
in Tampa, FL on Aug 31, 1988.
I remember being frustrated that I could barely hear him, because I was
hoping to hear acoustic versions of the great songs I love.. but now, I
cannot remember a single song he played. The Curtis Hixon has/had great
acoustics, but the sound for Tom was just not good. The Church were stellar.
I remember Tom coming out for the encore, and doing some soloing, but I
vaguely remember being disappointed overall with Tom that night.
There was some discussion regarding Tom at the Ritz in NYC
- I have a ticket from Dec 22, 1984 GA $11. - those were the days!
- Herman
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