Wednesday, July 29, 1998
Chicago, Illinois
Metro
by Kim Engelstad
well, i might as well step out of the shadows for a bit to post about the wednesday show. god, i'm still recovering from it. it was the best damn show i've ever seen.... really, if any of you have the chance to see the creatures, take it, don't miss out.....
the crowd was really great, and siouxsie et al. were feeding off of it. she was energetic the whole show..... i loved the way she moved on stage, she's a great performer, and even more beautiful in person than in pictures, and same goes for budgie. and i was pleasantly surprised by john cale, i really enjoyed some of his stuff, he did a very interesting version of heartbreak hotel halfway through (which was one of the lesser enjoyable songs actually)......
anyways, you could really tell siouxsie was enjoying herself as well as the crowd..... as evidenced by her little impromptu rendition of "chicago, chicago....." she started singing that, then looked around and asked if anyone knew the rest of the words, then sang "knew of a man who pissed on his wife in chicaaaago!" or something to that effect..... siouxsie's voice was sounding great, budgie was phenomenal everything was perfect, ....
well i could go on and on about how great the show was, but i'll just highlight some further interesting things.... robin, one of the girls i went with, got a little closer to the stage, and got to touch budgie one time when he reached out to the crowd... i was jealous, until after the show, my friend and i were standing in front of this bouncer guy who was in front of the stage.... we had seen one of the roadies giving out set lists, and we went to where some of those people were standing to see if we could get anything. so i was standing there, looking a bit longingly at the stage, and all of sudden the guy turns around, grabs one of the drum sticks both siouxsie and budgie used, and hands it right to me.... if i weren't so shocked, i would have just kissed the guy, but as it turned out, i walked out with a drumstick used by the beloved siouxsie and budgie..... very cool....
so what can i say, great venue, great show, great crowd...... wonderful renditions of pluto drive and gun!!! and the new material i thought was all fabulous. to brian thull, i did get one of those creature feature flyers, the guy who handed it to me smiled at me and said, "you got a drumstick?!"
for those who went, i was the girl in the abfab patsy shirt, later clutching a stick to her chest with a big smile on her face....
The Creatures and John Cale at Metro
July 30, 1998
By Jim Derogatis Pop Music Critic \ Chicago Sun Times
Rarely has a dark, gloomy rock 'n' roll storm cloud been needed as badly as in the midst of this too-sunny summer of teenybopper pop and forgettable hippie boogie.
John Cale and Siouxsie Sioux cast a wonderful pallor over a packed house at Metro on Wednesday, the second of a two-night stand. And they did it without relying too heavily on their oldies, focusing instead on invigorating new material.
The punk legends took turns sharing the spotlight and a backing band. Cale set the tone early on when he sang, "Say, fear's a man's best friend!"
He was joined after five songs for a duet by Siouxsie, and they continued to trade off every few songs after that for the rest of a two-hour show.
Cale hasn't fronted a bass-drums-guitar rock band in quite some time. It was a pleasure hearing him in that setting, especially because the drummer was longtime Siouxsie sidekick Budgie.
Clad in a black leather miniskirt, Budgie was the night's true star, also providing the Creatures' tribal trance grooves.
The Creatures' music was a minimal mix of drums, two basses and the occasional keyboard sample--plus of course Siouxsie's trademark wail. The last time I saw the singer with the Banshees at the Riviera, she phoned in her performance. By putting her long-running band to rest and focusing on the new group, she's challenging herself vocally and lyrically, and the old dark charisma is back.
"I want to see you all dancing around like writhing maggots," she said, her black latex gleaming in the red spotlights.
The night's highlight: the second encore, a riveting version of the Velvet Underground's "Venus in Furs." As Cale sawed away on his famous viola and Budgie hammered a giant concert bass drum, Siouxsie relished every word of the sadomasochistic epic, playfully whipping male fans with her riding crop.
It may sound painful to you, but believe me: It was pure pleasure compared to a night with the Spice Girls.