I press PLAY on my DVD player, and it is, again, like I'm right there. The lights come up, the music swells, and Andy emerges. He is in white angel wings, standing defiantly in a magnificent, fantastical, and enchanted forest, Vince behind the keyboard, with a satellite dish propped on his head. Andy opens with Nightbird's No Doubt, "I'm dying to show you what love's all about..." A thousand screaming faces sing in unison – yes, Andy, show us. And so it begins – Erasure, Live in Cologne. And when he addresses the audience, it is in perfect, fluent German.
Erasure moves me.
What always strikes me most profoundly about Andy Bell is his endless capacity to sing flawlessly. I had the privilege of seeing Erasure on their Cowboy tour in 1996, and then again this past summer in Las Vegas for their Nightbird tour, and I was equally overwhelmed with his voice both of those times. It is effortless, and angelic, and pours from him with ease.
This concert is tremendous, and even though it has just begun, I am completely swept into the audience's madness. With feedback from their fans from the Erasure website ( http://www.erasureinfo.com), a perfect set list was chosen, calling upon both new and classic Erasure. Some surprises that appear in the first act: Hideaway and Drama! (both of which they haven't performed live in over 10 years), Knocking On Your Door, and The Circus. The meshing of Drama! with All This Time Still Falling Out of Love and I'm swooning – Andy a cascading fountain of energy. Vince moves the music seamlessly into Stop!, and the audience (and me), sing every word.
While it is exceedingly difficult to elevate one moment of this show over another, watching Andy Bell perform Ave Maria moved me to tears – the fact that he melted directly into Breath of Life was tantamount to supernatural, and captured me, wholly. And when A Little Respect begins, the audience sings just as loudly and passionately, undulating and swaying in rapturous glee.
Other highlights for me included Chorus, and Always, one of my all-time favorite Erasure songs – this arrangement including Vince on an acoustic guitar, and Andy wearing nothing more than a golden, sequined pair of underwear. He sings, "always, I want to be with you, and make believe with you, and live in harmony, harmony, oh love..." – a perfect and lovely sentiment to bring the evening near its end.
With an impressive and comprehensive 22 song set list, the show closes with Oh L'Amour, and the audience is giddy, and elated. Andy's first note, long and sensuous, as the lights come up around him – "ohhhhhhh laaaaaaaamourrrrr, broke my heart, now I'm aching for yoooouuuu..." his voice as consuming and beguiling as it has been the entire night.
How could anyone not be taken by this performance? Even reliving the experience on DVD, I am reaffirmed in my utter adoration of Erasure. Andy and Vince return for an encore of two songs, neither of which are Siren Song (which is something I've wanted to see them perform as long as I've been a fan), but ultimately close the concert with Sometimes.
We are left spent, and ecstatic to have been a part of it all.
Noteworthy bonus material: Erasure live in Copenhagen performing Piano Song is absolutely stunning.
