I attended the second New York show of Peter Murphy‘s current Retrospective tour. Peter Murphy seemed to be in good spirits and was uncharacteristically chatty with the audience – taking questions, riffing on Americans accents (with demonstrations – very funny), and when asked who he would vote for, even stumped a bit for Obama. His levity must have given him some legs because he played for two solid hours with highlights being Bauhaus tracks off of “Go Away White” and this cover of Joy Division‘s, “Transmission”. (I have posted several Joy Division covers on this site and am gladly keeping the string going.) Before playing “Transmission”, Peter Murphy gave a shout out to Peter Hook who was in the audience and performed the song with a good approximation of the Ian Curtis style right-angle-arm rag-doll dance. It ruled.
All in all a great, fun, good spirited show. During the show, I found myself coming to the conclusion that “Cascade” is right up there with “Deep” and “Holy Smoke” in dibs for best PM album. Sole honors would probably go to “Holy Smoke” if it weren’t for ‘Sweetest Drop’ – the only Peter Murphy song that will get me up out of a chair to hit skip.
On a side note, (if I recall correctly) he also played “She’s in Parties” and “Burning from the Inside” and was filming the show for a DVD. Keep your eyes open for that. Also I didn’t opt for the VIP ticket that included a “Meet and Greet”. Chime in if you went. I am a bit curious how that went.
Update: Check out more pics from this show at Lori Baily’s site here.
Update 2: After getting a bunch of requests, here’s another track from the show:
[audio: http://thesoundofindie.com/archive/2008/20080703/PM-CutsYouUp.mp3|titles=Cuts You Up (Live)|artists=Peter Murphy]
Cuts You Up (Live)
[audio: http://thesoundofindie.com/archive/2008/20080703/PM-Transmission.mp3|titles=Transmission (Live)|artists=Peter Murphy]
Download: Peter Murphy – Transmission (Live Joy Division Cover)
I swear he says “Mr. Peter Cook from Joy Division.”
I went to both shows last weekend, and was blown away. Grabbed 2 VIP tickets for Friday night, and (though I think it was free for anyone at the show cuz my tik was never checked) went downstairs to a chill little after-party where I was told that Peter may or may not be in the mood for greeting anyone.
After an hour or so, and some more drinks, someone said he had already slipped out, apparently right from his dressing room to the exit. Didn’t see him though.
I was thrilled to see Sarah Fimm as she exited. Didnt say hello, she seeemed rushed. Peter Hook was the DJ for the afterparty so I did say hello to him and introduce myself. That was great!
Someone stole my posters given to me by staff there. Right off the table we were at, but I shouldnt have asked drunk friends to watch so, whatever.
Anyway, I will never look back in disappointment, or as though I got ripped in the end. I paid xtra, but all in all, it was an experience I’ll never ever forget. He was excellent!
Richard
Met Pete Murph once, The gig was sold out, as big fan like i am, i asked him for tickets 🙂 He put me in the guestlist. He was very gentle. Never noticed before that he is left handed. Then i met his manager: a strange bald man with glasses (moby?) dressed in green with platform shoes. 🙂
i hit the Philly show and he was in great spirits there as well…even ended with Transmission, after doing a bit of Bowie’s Be My Wife at the end of Adrenelin. Did someone tape the whole NYC show(s)?
That’s really nice of him, slipping you on the guestlist and all.
I saw the 1st show on Thursday night and was completely blown away. This was the first time I’ve seen Peter solo and he and his band were on fire. Fantastic musicians – I had been listening to the Fear of Fear bootleg during the day of the show and their versions of the Bauhaus material were thisclose to the real thing,I was really, really surprised how good they were. I’m not big on his slower, later material but “The Line Between the Devil’s Teeth” and “The Sweetest Drop” from his solo records and “Adrenaline”, “Burning From the Inside” and the acoustic version of “The Three Shadows Part 1/Strange Kind of Love/Full version of Bela Lugosi’s Dead” were real show stopping standouts.
Skellngtn,
I’m pretty sure that Friday’s show was not only recorded, but to be released on DVD in September!!! I’m excited about that!
So, can someone fill me in on the “fear of fear” bootleg please?? Is it solo or w/ Bauhaus? Blah blah blah — how do I get it??
Rich
The “In Fear Of Fear” is a silver bootleg cd from a 1983 live recording. I don’t know the exact date of the show since I record all my stuff by date and location, not bootleg name.
thanks for the add of “Cuts You Up”… now you’ve only made us all want the rest of this finely recorded gig.
Based on this enthusiastic response, I would normally be inclined to post the whole PM set but there are several reasons why this show is not likely to be posted here: 1) The show was two solid hours long, making it a bit unwieldy to post in its entirety. 2) The tour DVD should be available soon via official release. 3) And fundamentally, I would think Peter would kindly prefer that I refrain from posting the whole thing to not spoil the DVD. So in conclusion, in deference to my assumed wishes of the Peter, I will leave your appetites whetted for what seems to be a quickly forthcoming – and sure to be awesome – official DVD release. If the big guy says otherwise, so be it.
Finaly there will be a DVD
but maybe it is too late
I think Peter’s golden tour ages have past(1990 – 1995)
but peter is still my favor artist
looking foward
nah, Peter’s Golden Age of Touring is far from over. He seems re-invigorated this time round, more full of life than other tours. Sure, it would have been great to get a dvd from the Deep era, but i’m still waiting for a great audio boot from that tour!
I’m still looking for the perfect Deep era recording. Everything that I have is pretty mediocre, if that…
I went to the show in Austin last week. It was at Emo’s outside, which means it was extremely hot (high 90’s Fahrenheit at night), and I think the heat affected the show, certainly the duration. There was only one encore, where I’ve heard there were 2 or 3 in other locations.
The show was quite good, and felt personal and casual, and it did seem that Peter was enjoying performing despite the sweltering heat. Compared to the Dust tour, I didn’t find the performance to be quite as transcendant, but given the conditions, I’m not surprised. I really enjoyed the fact that he mixed some Bauhaus selections into the set. Overall, well worth the money.
With all these reviews, I’m really looking forward to seeing the DVD if/when it comes out.
any news on this supposed upcoming peter murphy DVD from NYC? i, too, was at that show, and have been waiting with bated breath to have video of that amazing, special night…