On the 12th of February, Nottingham was dazzled by Erasure’s performance at the Royal Concert Hall. From sparkly tops (which, yes, did come off) to greatest hits, this show had it all.
The starting act, Bright Light Bright Light, gave a great taster for the night to come.
His outfit was perfectly coordinated with his instrument players, which showed straight away how polished he would be – although, you’d expect no less from a man who has performed with the likes of Elton John. Every song was perfection, and he could have easily been the main act himself. With charisma and star-quality aplenty, he is clearly going to go far.
However, obviously, no one can outshine Erasure. That’s simply not possible.
The backing dancers appeared reenacting the Tales of the Unexpected theme. For those of you who are probably a bit young to know, these are adult stories by Roald Dahl which were then made into a TV show. The introduction perhaps symbolised their whole performance, in both good and bad ways.
The starting song ‘Oh L’amour’ immediately got people on their feet, which they stayed on throughout the whole set.
Then, they played a mixture of their fast-paced, iconic hits such as ‘Stop!’ and ‘Who Needs Love Like That?’, which sent the crowd into a frenzy of dancing like they were back on that 80s dance floor – myself included even though I am not quite that old!
Andy Bell and Vince Clarke’s duo act worked as well as ever, with Andy at the centre of the stage wearing a fabulous Thrasher shirt and entertaining the crowd with anecdotes of being on tour. Vince Clarke stayed at the top, unfortunately not getting in a spaceship and surfing the crowd like he has in the past.
At some points, I felt like the slow songs took away from the peppiness Erasure are so well-known for, and that for a setlist of 24 (yes I know, crazy) songs, there should have been more of their hits like ‘Love to Hate You’, or even some of their ABBA covers.
Regardless, every song was executed with a precision that only stars like Erasure can truly achieve. For a Monday evening, it felt like a Saturday night, and it was absolutely wonderful.
By Eve Smallman