Mitsubishi-Electric-Halle, Düsseldorf, Germany24th October 2022
Editors - EBM Tour 2022 - Support: The KVB
EDITORS have an ability to consistently evolve their sound, whilst remaining uncompromising in their vision - the trend continues on forthcoming new album, ‘EBM’, out 23rd September 2022. In support of the album release, the six-piece has also announced a UK and European tour for 2023. Known for their compelling live presence, the tour offers EDITORS the chance to test these new tracks in the live spaces for which they were intended. As Support, THE KVB from UK opened the evening. Like in other cities, EDITORS suffered from insufficient ticket sales. The hall was separated and decreased with curtains. I guess, about 3,000 people visited the show at the end.
The KVB
THE KVB is a British audio-visual Post-Punk duo originally formed in London in 2010 by Nicholas Wood and Kat Day. The sound has been described as a combination of electronic, psychedelic, post-punk and shoegaze. The visual element of the band is created by Kat Day, who studied fine art at Goldsmiths, University of London. So far, the band released eight studio albums, the latest one being ‘Unity’ from 2021. https://www.thekvb.co.uk / https://www.facebook.com/thekvbmusic
Music & Performance
“We are THE KVB and we have nothing to do with the Cologne Transport System [KVB = Kölner Verkehrsbetriebe]” we were greeted by the duo being placed on a small area in the middle of the big stage - Nicolas left with his microphone and guitar, Kat on the right side behind her table with keys and machines and in the middle, there was a screen for the visuals. Sadly, the screen was too small for a great effect. Musically, the duo presented several songs from the recent album ‘Unity’ like ‘Sunrise Over Concrete’, the opener of the evening, or ‘Unité’ towards the end of the thirty minutes set. During the year, the music of THE KVB became a bit lighter, but is still as captivating as it was in the first years of the band’s history.
The music was visually supported by wonderful projections which had deserved a bigger screen, as I already mentioned. THE KVB thanked the audience and EDITORS for having them and the audience answered with big applause. A very fitting support act for what’s to come…
Setlist
01. Sunrise Over Concrete
02. World on Fire
03. Always Then
04. White Walls
05. Above Us
06. Never Enough
07. Unité
08. Dayzed
Rating
Music: 8
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: 7
Total: 7.8 / 10
Editors
Released on September 23rd via Play It Again Sam [PIAS], the new album ‘EBM’ is the first with Benjamin John Power, aka BLANCK MASS, now a full-time member of the band. The album title is an acronym of EDITORS and BLANCK MASS but also a knowing reference to Electronic Body Music, the potent sound that originated in the 1980s and which has hugely influenced EDITORS’ new material, where the synths of bands like NITZER EBB, FRONT 242 and DAF hammer darkly amongst smoke machines, strobe lights, and the smell of leather. Power’s addition to the band meant that, for the first time, the song structures weren’t coming from front man Tom Smith, with him and further band members Justin Lockey, Elliott Williams, Russell Leetch, and Ed Lay receiving files to tinker with and flesh out in the studio when they eventually regrouped. https://www.editors-official.com / https://www.facebook.com/editorsmusic
Music & Performance
Today’s show was the last German show of the current “EBM Tour”. Even before the concert started, the big light installations were revealed making you curious about the upcoming show. In the background, the cover picture of the recent album was displayed and later on during the concert you really could think it is a 3D structure. As long as the stage was set for EDITORS, a wonderful playlist sounded through the PA, including such fantastic bands as THE CURE (Boys don’t cry), DEPECHE MODE (Personal Jesus), JOY DIVISION or PRODIGY among others. Finally, EDITORS entered the stage under frenetic applause and opened their show with ‘Heart Attack’, also the opener of the ‘EBM’ album. Right from the start, the audience is dancing, jumping and clapping. Mr. Smith thanked the audience and danced in his extravagant way to ‘Strawberry Lemonade’ (also from ‘EBM’) which sounded much more powerful than on the album. Really a great start of the evening!
Classic ‘Bones’ was the next one on the list and tinted the stage in red-orange light. Tom grabbed his guitar and the audience went wild. I already mentioned the light installation and now and during the following shows, flashing lights and strobes unfolded to full extend. If you had problems with your eyes or epilepsies, you had to be careful. Anyway, visually this was gold! With ‘Karma Climb’ and ‘Picturesque’, two more songs of ‘EBM’ followed. Mimic and gestures of Tom Smith were as always remarkable. He is transporting unbelievable charisma and presence towards the audience. During the whole show - which was extremely powerful, varied and energy-laden - the musician is changing between guitar, keyboard, piano and microphone. For example, ‘In this Light And On This Evening’ started quite calm on the piano just to burst shortly afterwards into a fireworks of electronic and massive guitar sounds.
‘Sugar’ makes the venue exploding again and fans were freaking out. With full throttle, the set moved on with ‘Magazine’ and ‘all Sparks’, one of my all-time favourites. It is always surprising where Tom takes the energy to deliver such a powerful set with such a clear fantastic voice. ‘Racing Rats’ made anyone move. When the last sounds of ‘Frankenstein’ faded, the musicians left the stage, only Tom remained and presented a solo acoustic performance of ‘Nothing’, only carried by his voice and the sounds of his acoustic guitar. Goose-bumps deluxe!
Musical support returned for ‘All Kings’ and for ‘Blood’, another one of my absolute favourites, the band was reunited on stage again. ‘Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors’, ‘Kiss’ and ‘No Harm’ followed where Smith once again moved between piano, microphone and guitar. With ‘Strange Intimacy’ the ‘EBM’ album and also the set reached its end and the musicians left the stage. But well, the party was not over yet. Soon, EDITORS returned for the grand finale with ‘An End Has a Start’ - what an appropriate title for the last encore song. The song was frenetically celebrated just as the two following hits, ‘Munich’ and ‘Papillon’, probably the best-known song of the band. The show ended after nearly two hours with happy musicians and many excited faces. Happy people were leaving the hall… just to be surprised by stormy weather and heavy rain. But I guess this could not dampen the mood…
Setlist
01. Heart Attack
02. Strawberry Lemonade
03. Bones
04. Karma Climb
05. Picturesque
06. In This Light and on This Evening
07. Sugar
08. Magazine
09. All Sparks
10. Vibe
11. The Racing Rats
12. Frankenstein
13. Nothing (acoustic solo)
14. All the Kings
15. Blood
16. Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors
17. Kiss
18. No Harm
19. Strange Intimacy
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20. An End Has a Start
21. Munich
22. Papillon
Rating
Music: 10
Performance: 10
Sound: 8
Light: 9
Total: 9.3 / 10
All pictures by Dani Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)
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