With dozens of tiny lights reflecting on his face, Erasure’s Andy Bell looked down at his jacket and noted, “Sequins are a drag queen’s best friend.” And that red sequined jacket was just the first of Bell’s three fabulous wardrobe choices (see photos for a laced-up vest and a skin-tight Sex Pistols tank-top).
For more than twenty years, Bell has delivered Erasure’s melodramatic synth-pop with the fun and mawkishness it deserves. Saturday’s show at the House of Blues was no exception. While most of the songs saw Bell strutting, twirling, and posing about the stage, Bell treated the more morose songs with deep earnestness. Vince Clarke, Erasure’s stoic songwriter and keyboardist, enhanced the drama, leaving his perch behind a gargoyle to accompany Bell on guitar for “Ship of Fools.”
Although Bell and Clarke were touring in support of their forthcoming studio release Tomorrow’s World, this was a greatest hits show. And boy, do they have the hits. Song after song, the audience let out huge cheers, danced, and eagerly sang along. “Always,” “Blue Savannah,” “Stop!,” “Chains of Love,” “Oh L’Amour,” “Love to Hate You,” “A Little Respect”: the cache of beloved ‘80s and ‘90s pop songs felt inexhaustible.
Though you might expect an Erasure audience to be full of Anglophiles or ex-clubber gay couples, the fans were as diverse as Bell’s costume changes. I saw older women taking group photos. I observed young couples, gay and straight, with arms wrapped around each other. I even met a father with his 15-year-old and 9-year-old daughters--all three claiming to be big Erasure fans (and proving it with talk of rare 7”s and UK-imports). The night felt like a big reunion—a celebration of two decades worth of fantastic music and a promise that the glory days aren’t over.
Stream the new single, “When I Start To (Break It All Down)” below.
