Lithium Magazine

Review and photos by Mike Bax

www.petermurphy.info
www.myspace.com/officialpetermurphyspace

I almost didn’t go to this show. In retrospect, now having seen the performance and enjoying it as thoroughly as I did, not going would have been an epic fail on my behalf. I’d not seen Murphy live since the Deep tour in 1990, and I ultimately decided it would be silly of me to miss such an intimate club show from a musician with which I have pulled so many years of musical entertainment.

This evening’s performance wasn’t perfect. Some sound gaffs and a faulty monitor during the first two songs saw Murphy keeping the stage hands busy as they dealt with issues while he was performing. I didn’t even mind… honestly, what’s art without as little spilled paint, right? What the evening ultimately WAS – was vastly entertaining. And, as both a Bauhaus fan and a Peter Murphy fan, I left the venue with an ear-to-ear grin and a bit of a concert afterglow that I honestly haven’t felt in quite a while.

After a wonderful performance of ‘Low Room’, Murphy jumped right into full-on glam mode, playing a rousing cover of ‘Raw Power’ that saw him leaping about the stage and engaging a few fans at the left corner of the stage as he performed.

Murphy addressed the audience a fair bit at this show. After introducing his band, whom he’s been performing and recording with for five years now, he let everyone know this particular evening's show was the last date on a mini warm-up tour of sorts, and the band was going to embark on something a little bigger very soon. Murphy humbly patted his belly (he’s carrying maybe ten extra pounds) and jokingly introduced it to the audience, before saying he’d have to shape up before the full tour, as he wanted to look his best for it.

Murphy divided the performance into a number of movements, accentuated with front spotlights and simple wardrobe changes to accompany different styles of songs. He spent the entire set mugging for the audience and seemed to be having as much fun on stage as everyone in the audience.

Interspersed with his solo material, Murphy and his bandmates played numerous Bauhaus songs (of which ‘Stigmata Martyr’ was my favourite) throughout the ninety-minute set. The first song of the first encore was a wonderful cover of ‘Hurt’ by Nine Inch Nails, performed by just Murphy and his guitarist in a wonderfully quiet fashion. This was followed by ‘Too Much 21st Century’ a recent Bauhaus track from the Go Away White album that was put together when the band re-formed briefly a few years ago. I thought ‘Cuts You Up’ and ‘Deep Ocean Vast Sea’ were going to close off Murphy’s performance, but a steady assault of cheers and applause from the crowd pulled the band out for a second encore.

Before performing again, Murphy tried to chat a bit on stage. He was interjected by a screaming woman in the audience and he quickly shussed her up, only to back-peddle a bit and offer to take a question from the audience. So what did we muster up, Toronto? The friggin’ GODFATHER of goth opens the floor up to answer a question, and some chick in the audience pipes up with: “I’d like to thank you for the interesting choice of underwear you are wearing tonight.”

::sigh::

It’s true Murphy was sporting the equivalent of a man-thong (the ‘whale fin kept showing over his pants when he bent over) but really… I thought we might actually have something quality for him to answer there. That was a bit of a lost opportunity in my opinion.

Murphy ended the performance with back-to-back David Bowie covers. ‘Ziggy Stardust’ was played to perfection, and once the song finished the band all fell to the stage floor and laid under dimly lit lighting playing a stripped down version of ‘Space Oddity’ that was just amazing.

I’m so glad I saw this show. If nothing else, it served as a reminder of how great a performer Peter Murphy is. His current bandmates are all excellent musicians, and I enjoyed everything the band played. What I think really made the evening for me was how open Murphy was as he played. His frequent candor was as engaging this evening as the quality musicianship.

And, ‘Space Oddity’ kicked ass!

Setlist:
Low Room
Raw Power (The Stooges)
Velocity Bird
Disappearing
Silent Hedges (Bauhaus)
Subway
All We Ever Wanted Was Everything (Bauhaus)
A Strange Kind of Love / Bela Lugosi's Dead (Bauhaus)
The Prince and Old Lady Shade
Stigmata Martyr (Bauhaus)
Dark Entries (Bauhaus)
Uneven and Brittle

Encore:
Hurt (Nine Inch Nails)
Too Much 21st Century (Bauhaus)
Cuts You Up
Deep Ocean Vast Sea

Encore 2:
Ziggy Stardust (David Bowie)
Space Oddity (David Bowie)