Well
I'm sure most of you probably know who Peter Murphy is. Or at least you
should. Remember? Lead singer for Bauhaus back in the 80's? Or maybe you
don't know. If you wear lots of black and hang with the doomers and
gloomers you'd damn well better know who Peter is. Heh. So anyway, I've
seen this gaunt little kind of goth three times now. All three of them
were different in style and substance and here's how .....
The
first time I saw Peter was at the Galaxy when I first started going out
again. At that time the Galaxy was my little hangout after work whenever
they had something good to show. They had a lot of metal or darker more
goth-oriented bands in those days. Anyway, so I was sitting all alone at
my little table in the back watching the crowd and getting ready for the
long list of openers and Peter's final appearance. Peter finally made his
way to stage and played a pretty good selection from his playlist. He had
a drummer, a bass player and guitarist with him on stage and they made for
a nice visual as well as audible treat. I wasn't totally familiar with a
lot of his solo stuff, so I was a little in the dark on a lot of his
tunes, but I think it made the show that much more interest. Great show
all in all. The crowd was also excellent, sporting large quantities of
black leather, latex and bondage gear. The Galaxy always did have that
going for it.
The
next time Peter came around, the HOB had long been established as one of
the main OC venues and he ended up playing there. This time he was out
touring to support his recently released Dust album. The show pretty much
matched the tone of the CD, being fairly low key with a pretty dominant
eastern theme. This ended up being a real treat visually, even if the
crowd didn't really participate much. This ended up being a very dark and
somewhat brooding performance and Peter kept that mood going most of the
night, short of the encore for all the popsters who wanted to hear Cuts
You Up. In any event it was another night well spent, and if you
liked the Dust release at all, you really really missed a great show.
The
Latest (May 05)
Well, Mr. Murphy came back finally to the HOB. After a pretty long 3-year
hiatus I might add. I know cuz my fishing trips were ending at just the
same time he was playing, lol. This show was a lot more upbeat and rock
and roll than the first HOB show, and in fact he didn't play a damn tune
of off Dust, which disappointed me a little. He played a lot of his more
up-tempo songs from his latest release, Unshattered and a bunch of others
from the past. Once again the encores featured Cuts You Up, which seems to
be everyone's sing-a-long favorite and a pretty good version of Iggy Pop's
Lust for Life. On a side note, the crowd pretty much stank. There was
hardly any real black leather or latex around, and there were far too many
older guys (like me, but not like me) wearing just jeans and surf T's or
work shirts. Turds. Highlights of the night included being turned on by a
person I thought was a hot chick, who turned out to be a guy, and watching
a little 90-lb. short chick almost hurl on my girlfriend. Sweet!
Fortunately, she didn't. The only real low-light of the night was the
sound, which seemed to suck, or it could have been cuz I was hanging by
the bar this time. Can't really tell for sure on that one. Peter's voice
was awfully hard for me to hear though. His band included guitarist,
bassist and drummer and was pretty much the same show as the one at the
Galaxy with newer material. On a final side note. I did get a pretty
neat idea for hairstyles, as Peter's top covering seems to be disappearing
just about as fast as mine is, lol. Just have to let mine grow out a bit
and I'm there. Seriously, if you know him and like him, you pretty much
have to see him ... he's more than worth it.
