Peter Murphy

Union Chapel, LONDON

August 1st

By Gina Snowdoll

I went to this somewhat unusual gig last Thursday night at UnionChapel in Islington, which is basically this old and very gothic looking church. I found it weird going to see a gig and having to sit, and to sit in church pews at that! The setting was made all the more incongruous by some of the people who were coming in to watch the show. There was a lot of the goth contingent. Lots of black, skimpy tops, netting, pvc, black eyeshadow, black dyed hair and cheekbones so sharp they could kill. I recognized a couple of people from Damned gigs... the girl had - rather worryingly I thought - a series of six safety pins inserted straight into the flesh of her upper arm. It fair turned my stomach and I had to look away. Ouch!

I managed to get myself a position in the second row from the front so I had a good clear view of the stage, which was already set up with a variety of weird and wonderful instruments (and there would be more to come too: Chapman Stick, Ashbory bass - very short scale with rubber strings!; fretless nylon strung guitar, lute, 6-string banjo, electric violin, etc).

Soon some short bald guy came on and did a set of songs solo, accompanying himself on guitar. He didn't introduce himself but I later found out that he was Michael J Sheehy.

A short interval after this, the band and Peter Murphy himself came on. Murphy was garbed in a long brown coat (which was soon discarded after two songs) and although a little bit older was instantly recognizable to those of us more familiar with his works of 20 years ago. They launched straight into "Things to Remember" the haunting opening track from the current album "Dust". Throughout the gig the whole of the Dust album was performed, with Murphy proving himself as a performer with shedloads of stage presence; he was as theatrical as ever, in his dancing and in his performance. During "Your Face" he made use of a light bulb concealed in his hands, which pulsed eerily in time to the heartbeat rhythm of the song, and with him holding it to his chest and shining it onto his face it looked for all the world as if he had some kind of inner light emanating from his body; it looked as if his spirit itself was trying to escape, and especially in a setting such as this with all the stained glass windows above us, it had a spooky quasi-religious resonance.

Loads of people were taking photographs and Murphy seemed to relish striking dramatic poses for them. (And Damn! Why did I not think to take a camera myself?) At one point Murphy espied the vomitingly good looking goth couple sitting directly in front of me (the killer cheekbones!) and he came right up to them, and spreading his arms he bowed and made this weird vampiric face, fluttering his eyelids and looking like some kind of giant bat. I have to confess, that I laughed at this point, and then instantly regretted it as I think Murphy saw me laugh at his actions. But I was laughing through sheer joy, as I have seen exactly the same move on Bauhaus videos, so it was a laugh of recognition.

The show ended with three encores, and other than the "Dust" album, they also played earlier favorites such as "Crystal Wrists" and "Cuts You Up".

At the finish a woman came up to me and asked "Excuse me, did he do 'Bela Lugosi's Dead'?" Not understanding her line of questioning I asked "Do you mean, is he going to play it?" "Yes," she said. I tried to tell her as tactfully as I could that I didn't think he played those old Bauhaus songs any more, and that I thought the show was actually over - and just then the lights came on to highlight my point. "Were you looking forward to that one then?" I politely inquired. "Well, yes. It's kinda the reason I came," she answered indignantly, "He's not David Bowie, and he never will be."

Funny she should make that David Bowie comparison (she also commented that he was going thin on top) because on the tube afterwards I was chatting to a guy who said he'd turned up early for the gig and was allowed in during the sound-check where he got to watch Murphy and the band doing "Space Oddity". Now that would have been something! Still, the guy had traveled down from Leeds, so I think he deserved that as a bonus.

This review courtesy of Gina Thank you doll