Brighton Dome, 20 March 2010
The make up of tonight’s sell out audience at the not-insignificant in size Dome reflects greatly how the perception of Editors, once the darlings of the music press, has changed over the past five years since the release of their stunning debut, 2005’s ‘The Back Room‘. Largely dominated by thirty-something professionals, the atmosphere of the evening is a far cry from the Joy Division-evangelising hip kids that made up their fan base at the dawn of their career. Rather, this has now been replaced with an anthemic arena rock dynamic exemplified by festival headliner mainstays such as Coldplay and co.
With buoyant exhibitionism replacing the dark edges of their sound, Editors trot out crowd favourites ‘Smokers Outside Hospital Doors’ and ‘An End Has A Start’ to a predictably strong reaction from a weekend crowd. Newer material makes up a sizable portion of the set, focused more around the electronic, synthesised elements of their sound. While these are undoubtedly well-crafted songs, showcasing a slight change of direction and will to experiment, they don’t seem to go down as well and the band return so the safer territory offered by the likes of ‘The Racing Rats’ et al. It’s noticeable to those familiar with their work that the harder, more vitriolic bite of some of Editors’ material is softened slightly by the acoustics, angular guitar lines reduced to bouncing round the upper echelons of the ceiling.
Towards the end of the set, during an extended encore featuring frontman Chris Urbanowicz returns to play a solo rendition of the highlight of the evening, the tortured and beautiful ‘No Sound But The Wind’. It’s a rare moment of fragility in tonight’s proceedings and greatly welcomed.
Tonight’s Dome show showcased a solid performance showcasing Editors knack for writing fantastic tunes, just don’t expect their edge to return anytime soon…
What did you think of the gig?
Charles: 10/10 “Jesus Christ! They were really good, a fantastic performance from a fantastic band.”
Jim: 8/10 “A lot better than I expected, I’ve got to say I was sceptical.”
Dawn: 6/10 “Their older stuff was better. I think they’ve lost their mojo!”
Sophie: 4/10 “Boring. I don’t think they started with enough bang.”
Words by Chris Shipman
Photography by Keith Trigwell
myspace.com/editorsmusic
