Into Music Live Review: The Psychedelic Furs
Concert: Psychedelic Furs
Venue: Glasgow SWG3
Date: 7 April 2022
The Psychedelic Furs fu#king rock!
Quite frankly, that could be the shortest gig review of all time but it’s true, they do fu#king rock. Having formed in London in 1977, the Furs have been around a while but the hunger, the intensity, the desire remains abundant and that came across in spades in what was an amazing show.
Covid of course put paid to this gig, originally scheduled to help promote the newish album Made of Rain which was released in 2020. Finally, gigs got the green light and the band took to the stage in Glasgow, eager to play some new tracks and some old favourites.
The band kicked into Highwire Days and immediately singer Richard Butler was the focal point, commanding the large stage front and centre with a real presence. But wait, look left and there was original guitarist Roger Morris coolly playing, look right and there’s Tim Butler, strolling around nonchalantly picking at his bass. And so it went for the next 90 minutes or so, the Furs (re)establishing themselves once again as a go to live band, holding the audience in the palm of their hand, the musicianship exquisite, the set list fantastic, knowing when to crank it up a notch and when to just let it flow.
There was no one highlight. The whole gig was the highlight. The band were super tight and as well as the aforementioned three founding members, they were complemented by Zachary Alford on drums (played with B-52’s, Bowie, Springsteen) who was an absolute machine on the sticks, Rich Good on lead guitar, the super cool Amanda Kramer on keyboards (played with Siouxsie Sioux, Lloyd Cole, Eurythmics) and Mars Williams on saxophone who had played with the band as far back as the early 1980s.
The newer tracks like You’ll Be Mine and Wrong Train fitted nicely in with the earlier, more familiar tracks and on the latter in particular, Butler’s vocal range reached for the heavens as three-pronged guitars attacked the senses while Alford pummels the living daylights out of the skins. The Boy That Invented Rock & Roll helped exhibit the diversity of the band, eastern elements from the saxophone and keyboards shine before the middle break slowed things down a notch, and while the guitars provided a slight psychedelic spin, Butler’s vocal was the glue that held the track together.
President Gas and Heaven went down well with the crowd, with Good offering some wizardry on guitar on the latter. The band were completely in the zone and the encore of Sister Europe and India were indeed special. Williams somehow managed to squeeze notes from his saxophone that were as ridiculous as they were genius, leaving the crowd gasping in admiration at what they’d heard.
Having been to quite a number of gigs already in 2022 and having quite a few lined up in the coming weeks and months I know this, I’ll be pushed to see a better show. The Psychedelic Furs fu#king rock!!
Keep up to date with all things The Psychedelic Furs via their website here.
John Welsh
@welshjb
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