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Erasure 24-Track Live Album

  • Published in News

Erasure (Andy Bell and Vince Clarke) will release World Be Live - a 24-track live album recorded in London in February during the band's World Be Gone tour on July 6. World be Live will be available in 2CD, 3-vinyl and download formats, and completes a trilogy of albums that began in 2017 with the release of Erasure's seventeenth studio album World Be Gone, and continued with World Beyond, their post-classical reworking of the songs from World Be Gone recorded in collaboration with Echo Collective and released in March this year.

World Be Live was recorded across two shows at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith at the close of Erasure's sold out UK World Be Gone tour which saw the award-winning songwriters play hits from across their career in a show that included live versions of the timeless pop hits, ‘Sometimes’, ‘Oh L’Amour’, ‘Ship of Fools’, ‘Chains of Love’, ‘Blue Savannah’ and ‘Stop!’, alongside a cover of Blondie’s ‘Atomic’ and tracks from World Be Gone, including ‘Love You To The Sky’.

Erasure, who recently accepted the Icon Award at Attitude’s 2017 award ceremony, have released a staggering number of albums, including 5 UK Number 1s, and 35 UK Top 40 singles. World Be Gone went to Number 6 in the UK Official Albums Chart, giving the enduring BRIT and Ivor Novello winning pop duo their highest album chart position since 1994’s I Say I Say I Say.

 

 

 

 

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Erasure, Olympia Theatre, Dublin

  • Published in Live

 

It’s Erasure, so we’ll skip the introductions, right?! Tonight is the first of three dates in Dame Street’s grand old lady, The Olympia Theatre. It’s a real treat to see them play a series of shows in a smaller, more elegant venue, rather than another gig in the arena down the road. The original run was postponed when Andy Bell took ill in January, but they are back and getting ready for an American tour. The audience sing along enthusiastically with the warm up tape of The Human League and Eurythmics. Their fellow Londoners, Ekkoes, are the ideal support act for the venerable popsters. The quartet are young, attractive, and heavily influenced by tonight’s main act, as well as by Vince Clarke’s former comrades in Depeche Mode, and ‘80s electropop in general.

The theme tune from Tales Of The Unexpected comes over the tannoy and Clarke and Bell emerge onto the fluorescent framed stage; the backing singers on risers either side of the pair. ‘Oh L’Amour’ elicits a rapturous response and Bell apologises for the delay, “A couple of hours is diva behaviour but three weeks is pushing it”. The set spans their entire career: from their debut single, ‘Who Needs Love Like That’, right up to their latest offering, the Brexit and Trump inspired 'World Be Gone'. Their songwriting is remarkably consistent and new tracks like ‘Sweet Summer Loving’ sit seamlessly alongside ‘Blue Savannah’ and ‘Victim Of Love’.

Clarke remains inscrutable as he punches in sounds, and strums a guitar, on a platform two metres above the flamboyant focal point that is Andy Bell. Bell’s voice isn’t as spectacular as it was when he was a young man but he has written the new songs to suit how he sounds now, and the backing singers bolster the ‘80s and ‘90s tunes when needed.

A cover of Blondie’s ‘Atomic’ signals a change of gear and the crowd rise as one in acknowledgement of both the New York discopunks and the legendary pop stars in front of us. As Bell strips down to a skintight onesie, (it’s reassuring to see him strut around confidently with a paunch), ‘Stop!’ sees the energy hit a new high. ‘Love You To The Sky’ and ‘Always’ raise the temperature to summertime levels.

 

‘Sometimes’ hasn’t aged a day since its initial release in 1986, and raises the roof before the band leave the stage. When they return for the encore of ‘A Little Respect’, it’s on an equal footing, with the quartet at the lip of the stage; Clarke holding his acoustic guitar. In just over 90 minutes, they have raced through over three decades of hits. It’s a noticeably older crowd, many keep their coats on throughout, but the power of the performance, and undeniable genius of the tunes, has everyone out of their seats, singing and dancing. It’s a masterclass in how to be a pop band.

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