Saw David Sylvian last night at the symphony Hall in B'ham. Nice place
Symphony Hall & v. good acoustics. It was my first concert there & I was very impressed.
David & the band came on stage just after 8pm. The first thing that struck me about him is that he is a lot smaller than I expected him to be. I've always thought he was about 6ft tall, I don't know why.
A lot of the songs had a jazz feel to them which, in places, suited the newer songs, but did not suit the reworked versions of Ghosts, Every Colour You Are & Ride.
There was a huge void in Before The Bullfight - No BILL!! The space in the song was aching to be filled with his prescence. Theo Travis did his best ( bless him) but he is nowhere near as emotive as Bill is. Theo the musician does not equal Bill the Craftsman.
Speaking of Theo Travis ... This is the fourth time I have seen him 'live' & I'm not impressed with what he contributes to the music as a whole. He's an excellent musician who is clever enough at fitting himself into a piece of music & playing it well, but from my observations he doesn't appear to "feel" his way through the music, he just plays. I thought of Mick Karn's work with woodwind & brass arrangements quite a few times when Theo was doodling about, which are much more interesting.
The best song for me was Playground Martyrs. A Steve Jansen piece from his solo album. Amongst the conventional instrument arrangements was an amazing rhythm pattern of glitch samples & rippling bubbling radio static which sounded like there was something wrong with the P.A. system. It reminded me of the way I create my own music, but with Steve Jansen's music being a lot more subtle & sophisticated than my crude offerings. It twisted my head did Playground Martyrs!
Other highlights were Snow Borne Sorrow, The Day The Earth Stole Heaven & Wanderlust.
The tour book is a snip at £20. Stylish, artistic & a treasure to have. The Samadhi Sound sampler cd is fantastic. In particular the tracks Siren Song by Thomas Feiner & Anywhen, Templar by Harold Budd, & 1382 Wycliff Gen. ii 7 by Akira Rabelais. The song I'm not keen on is Heating & Cooling by David Toop - nothing new & nothing that I haven't heard before.
To sum up. It was a very sophisticated, very well controlled performance by all, which on post-performance reflection & putting my own current deep emotional state aside (I'm going through a inner morphological shedding at the moment)*, I thoroughly enjoyed the show & I look forward to adding to my Sylvian collection in the future. But am I that brave enough to buy Blemish?
Lovely to meet She Robot 74. Such lovely company & worshipper of all things Foxxy. Thanks Sarah.
*= I know what I mean.
Mark
