On Sun Sept 1st, my wife and I attended the concert in Toronto at the Molson Amphitheater. While I originally wasn't interested in Depeche Mode (although my wife was), I do like Bat for Lashes and was looking forward to her set.
Bats for Lashes
I've got all 3 of her recordings and her music is extremely artsy fartsy with more then hints of Kate Bush, Tori Amos, and Peter Gabriel. She opened her set with "Lilies", the 1st track from her new album The Haunted Man. She followed with one of my favorite songs of hers called "Glass" of off what I think is a masterpiece called Two Suns. I was a little disappointed that she edited out the solo voice introduction of the song and went right into the full band section. Nevertheless it was great to hear live. The rest of the set was a great combination of material from the 3 albums with some additional highlights being the haunting "Laura", and the upbeat techno country beats of "Sleep Alone". My only complaint is that the band and Natasha were dressed in darker colors which made them hard to distinguish from the equipment on stage, especially as we were sitting on the lawns.
Next time they are in Toronto, I hope they play a smaller venue as I think they would really shine in a more intimate setting.
Setlist was...
Lilies
Glass
What's a Girl to Do?
Travelling Woman
Sleep Alone
A Wall
Laura
All Your Gold
The Haunted Man
Daniel
Depeche Mode
Not being a fan of this style of music let alone the band, I approached their set with an open mind. Well I must say that I really enjoyed it. Part of the reason is that as a live band, they rawk a little more then they do on their studio releases. Yes the electronic genre textures were present, but they were more in the background. The drummer (hired sideman not officially part of the band) was amazing and helped kept the music lively. Leadman Dave Gahan, while not the best vocalist, was an excellent frontman as he moved/pranced/gyrated around the stage. Interestingly, guitarist Martin Gore was a fantastic vocalist as he sang lead on 3 mellower numbers while being backed by piano. His voice was that of a trained musical theater voice which made me wonder why he wasn't the lead singer of the band. What I thought was interesting was that many of their songs were quite dark in nature. With screaming guitars and vocals, these songs could early translate to the hard rock or heavy metal genre without changing a lyric or chord.
Visually, the show was top notch and easily rivaled anything Rush, or Iron Maiden have done. There were lights that moved, and there were video screens, what more could anyone ask for. Oh ya, pyro, there was no pyro, but that's OK.
Intrigued by what I heard at the show, I downloaded the recent album called Delta Machine and am enjoying it.
Setlist was…
Welcome to My World
Angel
Walking in My Shoes
Precious
Black Celebration
Policy of Truth
Should Be Higher
Barrel of a Gun
The Child Inside (Acoustic: Sung by Martin)
But Not Tonight (Acoustic: Sung by Martin)
Heaven
Soothe My Soul
A Pain That I'm Used To
A Question of Time
Enjoy the Silence
Personal Jesus
Encore:
Home (Acoustic: Sung by Martin)
Halo
Just Can't Get Enough
I Feel You
Never Let Me Down Again
Wilton
Bats for Lashes
I've got all 3 of her recordings and her music is extremely artsy fartsy with more then hints of Kate Bush, Tori Amos, and Peter Gabriel. She opened her set with "Lilies", the 1st track from her new album The Haunted Man. She followed with one of my favorite songs of hers called "Glass" of off what I think is a masterpiece called Two Suns. I was a little disappointed that she edited out the solo voice introduction of the song and went right into the full band section. Nevertheless it was great to hear live. The rest of the set was a great combination of material from the 3 albums with some additional highlights being the haunting "Laura", and the upbeat techno country beats of "Sleep Alone". My only complaint is that the band and Natasha were dressed in darker colors which made them hard to distinguish from the equipment on stage, especially as we were sitting on the lawns.
Next time they are in Toronto, I hope they play a smaller venue as I think they would really shine in a more intimate setting.
Setlist was...
Lilies
Glass
What's a Girl to Do?
Travelling Woman
Sleep Alone
A Wall
Laura
All Your Gold
The Haunted Man
Daniel
Depeche Mode
Not being a fan of this style of music let alone the band, I approached their set with an open mind. Well I must say that I really enjoyed it. Part of the reason is that as a live band, they rawk a little more then they do on their studio releases. Yes the electronic genre textures were present, but they were more in the background. The drummer (hired sideman not officially part of the band) was amazing and helped kept the music lively. Leadman Dave Gahan, while not the best vocalist, was an excellent frontman as he moved/pranced/gyrated around the stage. Interestingly, guitarist Martin Gore was a fantastic vocalist as he sang lead on 3 mellower numbers while being backed by piano. His voice was that of a trained musical theater voice which made me wonder why he wasn't the lead singer of the band. What I thought was interesting was that many of their songs were quite dark in nature. With screaming guitars and vocals, these songs could early translate to the hard rock or heavy metal genre without changing a lyric or chord.
Visually, the show was top notch and easily rivaled anything Rush, or Iron Maiden have done. There were lights that moved, and there were video screens, what more could anyone ask for. Oh ya, pyro, there was no pyro, but that's OK.
Intrigued by what I heard at the show, I downloaded the recent album called Delta Machine and am enjoying it.
Setlist was…
Welcome to My World
Angel
Walking in My Shoes
Precious
Black Celebration
Policy of Truth
Should Be Higher
Barrel of a Gun
The Child Inside (Acoustic: Sung by Martin)
But Not Tonight (Acoustic: Sung by Martin)
Heaven
Soothe My Soul
A Pain That I'm Used To
A Question of Time
Enjoy the Silence
Personal Jesus
Encore:
Home (Acoustic: Sung by Martin)
Halo
Just Can't Get Enough
I Feel You
Never Let Me Down Again
Wilton