Tour Dates
11/03/16 Iceland Airwaves Festival 2016
11/05/16 Rolling Stone Weekender Festival 2016 11/25/16 Manchester @ Academy Read More
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Lush at Fonda Theatre, Los Angeles (25 Sep 2016) photo: Mark |
Today, Lush will be playing their first US radio session in 20 years at KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic which will be streamed live at kcrw.com, so tune in.
Now that all the current news about Lush is out of the way, let us reflect back at their Chicago appearance last week.
Just to give you a little background, I got into Lush before the Internet existed, early 90s with the video for ‘De-Luxe’. By the time I saw the ‘For Love’ music video on 120 Minutes, I had rushed out to the (now-defunct) Wherehouse Music Store to buy Spooky. The band was a bit of a mystery to me (remember, this was before the internet), and we learned what I could through Melody Maker, Select, and NME.
By 1994, Lush seemed to have moved away from their shoegazing/dreampop sound to a poppier-sound, fitting in quite well with the Britpop scene. It was around this time that I caught the band at Fillmore in San Francisco in 1994 (with a new band called Weezer as opener).
In two short years, we would find out that their drummer, Chris Acland had committed suicide... and the band was no more.
In the 20+ years that followed, I’ve had a private relationship with Lush on headphones and listening to their album. I’ve made playlists, I’ve tried to collect all the b-sides, etc. I knew almost all of their recorded material, so hearing that the band recorded new music for 2016... it was both exciting and scary. Spoiler alert, the new songs are just as good, so you don’t have to worry too much.
With a limited touring schedule (the band has work and duties and could only tour when they all use up their vacation time at the same time), I knew I had to take off some days to make the long drive to Chicago to see the band again.
We’ve never been to the Vic before, so we showed up early. Even at 30 minutes before the venue open, there was already a long line that wrapped around the side of the building. With everyone getting the pat down treatment, it did take longer than usual to get inside. Apparently, men outnumbered the women at this show, as there were no waiting for the women’s line... and at the end of the Lush show, all their men’s shirts sold out.
Once inside, we found a good spot. The way the Vic is setup, it seemed like there used to be seats on the standing dance floor. As you move back there were raised platforms, so viewing the stage from the back was just as good as being in the front.
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Tamaryn |
The band, named after its singer's name Tamaryn, played a 35-min set without ever speaking between songs. Compared to the last time I saw Tamaryn, their performance was pretty much how I remembered them: “Singer Tamaryn spent most of the time with hair in her face, introspective-like... but once in a while, she does break out some dance moves!”
Tamaryn came on stage dressed in a Ellesse sweatshirt, but it did come off during ‘Cranekiss’, because of her passionate dance routine. They won over some of the audience, but because they never introduced themselves, everyone was asking who was that band?
I was surprised just how great Lush sounded after all these years. Sure, I have complained a little when they sped up many of their songs for their live shows, but I understand that they have to keep it fresh.
Again, while I privately enjoyed Lush’s music in the last 20 years by myself... it certainly felt weird to share the same love as all the other 1,400 fans at the show.
I thought their setlist was good, choosing to showcase the two music style of Miki & Emma. To me, the Emma songs were the melodic shoegazing ones (examples ‘Sweetness and Light’ and ‘Thoughtforms’), while Miki’s songs were always upbeat (examples ‘Hypocrite’ and fan-favorite ‘Ladykillers’).
After switching to a pre-tuned guitar for ‘Hypocrite’, Miki asked the audience to mind the person behind them when they film them on their phone. She explained that she once spent a whole gig behind someone who held up their phone the whole time.
All of the singles got the biggest cheers - including ‘For Love’ and ‘Ladykillers’. The latter, Miki announced, “You guys might like this one...” Of course we did.
Elastica’s drummer Justin Welch fit in really well with the band. He was generally really good, songs like ‘Undertow’ and ‘Sweetness and Light’ got new life with the way Welch played on the songs.
We’re really happy to see Lush is back together. Hopefully, next time they’ll play somewhere closer to us.
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Tamaryn |
Lush Setlist |
Lush Autographs |
Phil King |
Miki Berenyi |
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Lush at Vic Theatre, Chicago (18 September 2016) |
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