Last Sunday, Janice took me out for what I thought was going to be a simple night out on the town with my best friend, which actually ended at the sold out Erasure concert at The House of Blues! She first took me out to dinner at Pink Noodle and dessert at The Melting Pot (pictures & reviews on those places later). Then we took a mini detour by heading to Horton Plaza (a mall in Downtown San Diego), which threw me off. I now realize that she was stalling a bit because the concert wasn’t to start until 7pm, and we finished dinner and dessert earlier than planned.
Finally, we headed to House of Blues because Janice mentioned that she wanted to buy tickets to the upcoming Bangles concert she was planning on attending in November before we headed home for the night. We saw a very long line and asked the couple at the end of the queue what it was for. She said it was for the Erasure concert, which I had forgotten was happening that same night. Since we missed Duran Duran the night before, I was about to tell Janice that we should just stay in line to buy tickets, but felt slightly deflated when we were told it was sold out. Then, as if planned, Janice said, “Well it’s a good thing I already bought tickets!” SURPRISE! I squealed with delight and people in line looked over as I hugged Janice, still trying to figure out if this was really happening. I felt like I was on a television reality show and won a contest!
Frankmusik getting funky!
The concert started off with Frankmusik, an English electropop musician who produced Erasure’s most recent album, Tomorrow’s World. I was not familiar at all with his music, but was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. It was an upbeat and very danceable set, which was the perfect segue into Erasure’s set.
I loved the gargoyles and circular theme throughout Erasure’s stage set. Andy Bell was just as energetic as ever, his voice as beautiful now as it was back in the 80’s. They rounded out their vocal sound with incredibly impressive back up vocalists, Emma Whittle and Valerie Chalmers. Vince Clarke stayed behind one of the gargoyles for much of the show, but came out to play guitar.
Erasure at the start of the concert
The last few times I saw Erasure was back in 1987 when they supported Duran Duran, and then in 1988 for The Innocents tour. I must admit when I saw them last week that I wasn’t as familiar with some of their later music and music from their latest album. But of course they played quite a few hits from Wonderland, Circus and The Innocents like “Sometimes”, “Chains of Love”, and my all time favorite “Oh L’Amour”. Although they closed with “Stop!”, I felt like “A Little Respect”, “Victim of Love” and “Love to Hate You” (a cover of the ABBA classic) received the most audience reaction.
During the song “A Little Respect”
The pictures in this post were from my iPhone, which was the best I could do from where we were standing. But since I didn’t have my edited “concert” purse (usually a cross-body purse with just my essentials), I thankfully had my Flip camera with me. I was able to capture “Oh L’Amour” relatively properly and have included it below. Thank you Janice for a wonderful evening! You really surprised me, and I will definitely return the favor.