St David’s Hall, Cardiff - 25/05/2003
Erasure at simply their pop -tastic best
THERE are few bands today who can get away with performing one of Elvis’s greatest ballads to a synthesized pop back beat.
And there are even fewer singers who can perform such a number dressed in a burgundy leather corset and hoop skirt complete with bustle.
But such are Erasure’s talents that what could have been a mocking version of Can’t Help Falling In Love fell perfectly into place in a set dominated by their greatest hits and some genuinely good covers.
Even Andy Bell’s camp persona could not get in the way of his beautifully powerful voice as he gave Elvis a run for his money to a sell-out crowd of die-hard fans and those seeking to recapture a little bit of their youth.
I was 13 when I first discovered Erasure and, as the performance gathered momentum – including a protracted striptease by Bell – the intervening years and all the music I have heard since disappeared.
I, like many of the crowd, was a teenager again, revelling in the chorus of Blue Savannah and A Little Respect, marvelling at Bell’s on-stage energy and Vince Clarke’s deadpan stance.
Like a hyperactive toddler Bell bounced across the stage in all-black Victorian mourning dress, tantalising the audience with risque glimpses of his stockinged legs in between renditions from the band’s big back catalogue, before proceeding to strip down to just his underpants half-way through the set.
It was the height of campness and wouldn’t have been out of place in a cabaret drag act, but Bell’s stage performance is part of the charm of Erasure and just what the audience was expecting.
There was very little to criticise in the set, except the cover of Make Me Smile which, in my humble opinion went one keyboard too far, although I appeared to be in a minority of one on this.
A quick change of clothing into Miami Vice-inspired white suits and Day-Glo string vests led onto the show-stopping final number before the obligatory encore.
If possible Stop! was better than when I first heard it all those years ago. This was Erasure at simply their pop -tastic best.
By MB
