East Coast Rocker (3.11.92)

Another Flower Fades

Siouxsie and the Banshees/The Wonderstuff

Paramount Theatre/Feb. 21

by Al Muzer

As for Siouxsie?

Great staging, fantastic sound, serious lighting, tons of smoke, a devoted audience--all elements that normally indicate a memorable concert event.

The reality? Overdone spacey guitars, overly melodramatic performances, by-the-numbers readings of all too familiar songs, and, on top of it all, the main attraction, Siouxsie, the original punk-rock girl, singing in a voice that can best be described as a painfully tuneless warble.

I gave the band the benefit of four or five songs, but by then I was feeling sorry for them. Fans who were excited at the beginning of the event, all done up in their punk clothing, hairspray and makeup, wound up sitting gloomily in the upstairs lounge listening to Siouxsie in the background gamely attempting to sing notes that just aren't in her range anymore.

It was like we were at some late '70s, early '80s punk revival watching a once-great band go through the motions. Sort of the feeling Beach Boy fans from the '60s must get when they see Mike Love on stage in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts telling us how he still "gets around."

As for me, I left Siouxsie in mid-yelp and wandered down the street to Club 101 to party with members of The Wonderstuff, WHTG DJ Matt Pinfield, and the other disappointed fans who'd left the Paramount early.