Review of Peter Murphy 40 Years of Bauhaus Feb 16, 2019 @ Mtelus
In the painting that is my teenage life, Peter Murphy & the Bauhaus was one of the primary colors.
Standing next to me are two young teen girls. Trying my best not to be creepy, I ask how they discovered the Bauhaus, a band that was formed in 1978. Going through a record bin at their college, they came across A Flat Field, which peaked their curiosity. Sporting a white Bauhaus t-shirt with the iconic logo, the Bauhaus evidently made an impact on them, enough to drag out to MTelus tonight.
The rest of the crowd was varied, young and old. Some were “dressed to the nines” as mid opener Vinsantos commented, and other “more like a one or a two.”
Desert Mountain Tribe
I came at the beginning of the set by Desert Mountain Tribe, a London based trio that was described later in the show by Peter Murphy himself as “my favorite band right now.” The venue was already packed and was the perfect sound to kick start our nostalgia trip.
Jonty Balls (vocals, guitar) had a voice that reminded me of Peter. Philipp Jahn (Bass) was as cool as David J. Felix Jahn (Drums) was a better-looking Animal from the Muppets…playing with an intensity that was clearly visible from his contorted face.
“How did you manage to play with such intensity?”, I asked the band. “We were stuck in the bus all day!”, they replied.
When a band comes with such a good recommendation from Post-Punk royalty, you buy the vinyl, no questions asked.
Vinsantos
During the intermission, odd Piaf style French music was playing. But it wasn’t long until we experienced another opening act that I can only describe as a Cabaret act extracted from a dream that a young David Bowie would have had.
Vinsantos is not a wine, as the first google results would show, but did her fair share of whinning, in the most interesting way.
She was the PSA for everything that bugs me about concerts. Why are you in the front row of a concert if all you are doing is texting your friends about your miserable life? Why are you getting drunk at the outskirts of the venue if you paid good money to see a band? Are you going to be that annoying person who films the whole show, ruining the experience for those behind you?
This was all done via spoken word and song.
Maybe the best part of her set was when she kept hitting a note and pointing to people in the audience as she sang “I hate you.” She then hit that note numerous times, pointing in the direction of someone oblivious to the show before them…until they finally realized they were the target of her judgmental gaze. They broke the rules…sucked into the vortex of their phone rather than the experience they came to see.
Thanks, Vinsantos for saying what I’ve always wanted to say about the concert experience.
Peter Murphy & David J – The Bauhaus
As Peter walked on stage, there was an aura surrounding him. Ten years my senior (61) and he still controls the stage and audience within his gaze, even before opening his mouth.
Peter is often called the “Godfather of Goth”, but he is now a Muslim that embraced Sufism.
If you don’t remember cassette tapes, ask grandpa, but if you do, you will remember the Maxell ad “Blown Away Guy” of the cool dude holding on to the armrests of his chair as the music blasts his hair, tie, lamp and martini. Well….the UK version of that ad was a young Peter Murphy.
The first 9 songs were from that iconic In the Flat Field album that our teen duo discovered. Dark and moody with layers of drums, bass and guitar filling the MTelus in swirls of sound.
The voice that comes out of Peter is like a dog who’s broken a weak link in his chain. It’s runs towards you at full speed, yet slow and controlled.
Peter’s voice is the narrator of all your scary dreams. Deep, dangerous and powerful.
Peter addressed the crowd a few times. Far from his home in Istanbul, he mentioned how he lived in Montreal for several months, but said it was just too cold. I don’t know if there was a heckler at stage right, but on a few occasions, Peter took the time to diss the French culture in that direction, in a funny way. All in jest, of course, that only Peter could pull off. He later made up for his remarks by paying respect to Montreal and its culture, including the French.
The night’s highlights was a seven-and-a-half-minute rendition of “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” quickly followed by “She’s in Parties.” I had to grin as our two teens mouthed the words.
There was the mandatory Encore which included “King Volcano”, “Kingdom’s Coming” and a Dead Can Dance cover of “Severance.”
Then the stage techs started to dismantle the microphones, and were going to unplug the amps when the band returned for one last song: “Ziggy Stardust” by the late David Bowie.
Wow…what an ending to an amazing show.
I felt young again, only this time, it didn’t resonate with me in a negative, moody way. Yes, I was a mixed-up teen, trying to find my identity and sort through all these new feelings and emotions. We had music, and that led us to look inside ourselves and see the world differently. It helped us cope with what surrounded us. That was what Post Punk was all about. A way to get out of your own way to look at the world from a higher plane of existence. With that bird’s eye view, I eventually found that I wasn’t alone. The world hadn’t changed, it was I that was changing physically and mentally.
Ah…the experience of growing up. Looking back, now, it’s almost comical. Age has a way to get you out of your own narrative and start looking for ways to help others instead.
Remembering those times makes me appreciate the life I now have.
While there was definitely nostalgia in the air tonight, I consider myself as having one foot in the past, one in the present and one in the future. Wow…how can I explain the math on that one? Let’s see, I am 6 feet (if I round up), and I have 2 real feet, so if I divide 6 by 2, I get 3. There…you happy now Math wizzes?
It’s no wonder that a Bauhaus tour came to town. Even rock stars have to pay the bills. It’s a win-win as we get to relive a part of our past in the nostalgia trip we had tonight, so that Peter, David J and the boys get rewarded for their past creative work.
As they say in “She’s in Parties”…another show “is in the can”*.
*In the Can = Successfully Completed.
Review, iPhone Pictures & Video: Randal Wark is a Professional Speaker and MasterMind Facilitator with a passion for live music. You can follow him on Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.
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