The B52’s, London Roundhouse
August 19, 2008
Wade Crawley is back with a great B52 concert review! If you remember, Wade wrote for us Punk music in the late seventies. Now read his new exclusive article for ManuelMarino.com!
The B52’s, London Roundhouse
It was on a hot and very sweaty summer night in London’s trendy Camden and a packed audience of all ages and types gathered at the re-opened Roundhouse. They were all there to see that perennial party band, still together for over 30 years, the B52’s. It was ridiculously hot with many people standing and sweating profusely, but this didn’t diminish the anticipation of the crowd one bit. This became evident before the band even came out with many of them singing along vociferously to Talking Head’s ‘Psycho Killer’ when played by the club’s DJ. Then the lights went down and the words “Hello London, we’re the B52’s” was greeted by a loud roar as the band walked out onto the stage.
Touring to promote their first album in 16 years Funplex, the B52’s showed the sell-out crowd they still have the ability to turn out superbly crafted pop songs. The line up of Fred Schneider, Cindy Wilson, Kate Pierson and Keith Strickland have proved over the years they are masters of the art of catchy, pop songwriting and they treated the crowd to all of their hits and more in their uniquely frivolous and eccentric manner. The B52’s have crafted and honed their electro-beat, new wave, dance sound over 30 years and it’s still impossible to categorise.
Backed up by three backing musicians, the B52’s were in fine form. The soaring harmonies of Wilson and Pierson sounded as good as ever, while the wonderfully camp interjections of Schneider made sure everybody in the audience had a smile on their face for the duration. Along with the more humorous and wacky songs like ‘Private Idaho’ and ‘Party Out Of Bounds,’ with ‘Give Me Back My Man’ and current single ‘Juliet Of The Spirits,’ the B52’s proved they can also do serious and soulful. Their set consisted of the obligatory songs from the current album such as ‘Funplex’ and ‘Pump,’ interspersed with many of the old favourites like ‘Strobe Light,’ and ‘Mesopotamia.’
Judging by the enthusiastic reaction to the older material, it was obvious that the audience consisted of many of their older, long-term fans but there was also a surprising amount of young fans, many of whom were perched up high on their father’s shoulders. To the audience’s delight, the hits came thick and fast with Wilson and Pierson’s sixties style dance routines, Schneider’s deadpan but camp delivery and Strickland’s choppy and distorted ‘rock style’ guitar. What with their wild and wacky image it’s easy to overlook, but make no mistake, these guys are all excellent musicians in their own right.
The harmonies of the two ladies are as good as you’ll find anywhere in popular music, whereas one time drummer Strickland now stands at the front of the stage, giving us all the classic ‘rock’ guitar style poses. Schneider isn’t as animated as he used to be but the B52’s wouldn’t be the same without his perfectly timed ‘camp as they come’ vocals.
To the crowd’s delight, they inevitably get to their most well loved song ‘Love Shack.’ It is one of those songs that always gets everybody dancing at parties and wedding receptions. Where everybody from the youngest children to the oldest grannies knows the words and the Roundhouse crowd were no different. “The whole shack shimmied” barks Schneider and the crowd sing along as one. Personally, I was surprised they didn’t save ‘Love Shack’ for the encore but the crowd didn’t seem to care.
We eventually got two encores. ‘Rock Lobster’ which was the first B52’s song I ever heard as a teenager in 1980 and ‘Planet Claire’ with it’s 1960’s secret agent movie vibe. The sweat soaked crowd were on their last legs by then. The Roundhouse management obviously thought that the English summer wasn’t long enough to justify installing air conditioning, but many were ready to feint at the end. This wasn’t enough, however, to stop most of the crowd from leaving with large grins on their faces. It left many of us feeling that the world is a more fun place with the B52’s in it.
-
Music Reviews: Splendid E-zine Another beautiful music review I had (with my pseudonym Vanethian) is this one at Splendid E-zine. The music review is about my music album Futures Past, with my pseudonym Vanethian. If you want to read more music reviews just search my name on Google and Yahoo. Music Reviews: Splendid E-zine...... -
An Explosion Of Blues Music Author of this article is Robert Benson. He writes about rock and pop music, vinyl record collecting and operates CollectingVinylRecords.com, where you can pick up a copy of his ebook called "The Fascinating Hobby Of Vinyl Record Collecting." You can have your vinyl records appraised at VinylRecordAppraisals.com. An Explosion Of...... -
Punk music in the late seventies Wade Crawley said me "I propose to write an article about the influence of punk and indie music and culture on a young person (myself) coming of age in England in the late seventies and early eighties". I accepted, and Wade wrote this article! I must add also these more...... -
Country Music Star Is Unleashed! Robert Benson (if you remember he wrote An Explosion of Blues Music) this time gave me a review about the next big star in Country Music, Laura Roppe (pronounced ro-pay). She has a Shania Twain-like quality and already is receiving major air play in Europe. Robert said me also that...... -
Acoustic Covers - Completely Changing Up A Song Most people have a soft sport for acoustic covers in one way or another. Songs that are otherwise awful can be turned into something all new by being played with an acoustic guitar. Just about any genre can be covered in acoustics. Metal, punk, and even hip hop have all......
-
What do you mean You Haven't Heard of Metallica? So did you hear about Metallica? If you are slightly in the rock, there is a chance you heard of them. But as it happens, they are not as popular as I thought. Now, I love some Metallica songs, either covers they did or their original. I don’t go...... - Rufus Wainwright - Tiergarten (Singalong) Teirgarten by Rufus Wainwright (music only) from the album "Release The Stars". A great song......
-
John Legend, The Roots Wake Up Audiences On 'Good Morning America' Legend, ?uestlove and company played songs from their upcoming Wake Up! album on 'GMA's Summer Concert Series.'By Christopher MacAllister John Legend performs on "Good Morning America" in New York City on August 6 Photo: Bryan Bedder/ Getty Images NEW YORK — After what was described as "one of the greatest...... -
Dream Ocean Perfume Review, Giorgio Beverly Hills This is a review of the Giorgio Beverly Hills perfume known as Dream Ocean perfume. This is a phenomenal cologne for men that was created in 2005 by Designer Parfums. It has a fantastic scent to it that contains heliotrope, lily, orange and sandalwood in a unique and soft mixture....... - Bankers to share £6.4 billion Christmas bonuses Bankers at four leading City firms will share an estimated £6.4 billion Christmas bonus pool as thousands of workers lose their jobs or go on to short time. Regardless of bringing the world economy to the brink of bankruptcy, employees of London banks Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and......
Related Posts
- How Has the Internet Affected the Music Industry?
- The Emperor’s New Clothes
- The Invictas are back
- The value of photographic prints
- Punk music in the late seventies
Related Profiles
- Upgrade Your Wardrobe With Dresses And Shirts
- The Modern, Stylish, Everlasting Man’s Clothing
- Paying the Way for Innovation
- The New Economy
- Visiting The City Of York – North Yorkshire
Related Webpages
- Having Only The Heart Of The Ocean
- The Importance of Laptops
- Check out the Advantages of the Wireless Gaming Mouse
- The Best Holidays Reads For The Year 2010
- The Bond Between Watch And The Wearer
Comments
Got something to say?
Search
-
Subscribe
-
Categories
-
Links
-
Editorial Endorsements
