(The Big Take-Over Jul/Aug '95 Issue #51)
Siouxsie & The Banshees
Tower Theater, Upper Darby (Philadelphia) April 30, 1995
by Nick Coniglio
I didn't want to write this.
There's really nothing to write.
Honest, I didn't want to do this. They're MAKING me do this.
This show turned out to be one of those frustrating shows that never made it out of the gate until the race's end. It meandered, strolled, took the long way home and then, THEN, at the end it suddenly woke up and thought, "fuck me, I'm a SHOW and I should be showing people something! Time to get MOVING."
By that time it was way too late. It pisses you off so bad!
It wasn't completely the band's fault. There was just something wrong with that night: like the audience had too many listless posers in it. Siouxsie blamed the lack of communication on the width of the barrier separating her and her real fans, but I place the blame on too many casual fans who just do the stare. Some fools could hardly be induced to clap . . . this is SIOUXSIE, you cretins! I am going to have to take a cattle prod with me.
Oh stop it. The Banshees adore this new album to death cause they performed almost all of it, with the exception of that fluffy mess "O Baby" (another in the race to see how fast an album can die due to releasing a shitty first single . . . ). They offered us "The Double Life" to start instead of whipping up the crowd with something they might be more familiar with, like maybe a tune from their humongous back catalog? I think they could have pulled a crowd pleaser like "Spellbound" out front instead of thrusting it at the back . . . where they performed it like the devil was chasing their asses down the road trying to eat their souls. But that's when they decided to PERFORM. Before that, "Dear Prudence" needed a quick visit to the excitement bank. "Killing Jar" was overstaged, and they did the same to "Red Light:" instead of allowing it to be stripped down and evil, they added frills and swoops that just didn't belong. Please, boys and girls, don't fix what ain't broke.
Even Siouxsie seemed out of sync: her usual sensual moves were replaced by some aerobic instructor from hell persona, she wildly swinging her arms and over dancing. Can you imagine? Our goddess OVER DANCING? Was this in compensation to the malaise she felt destroying the show? Could be . . .
The show finally got smelling salts during their awesome performance of "The Rapture." They became more confident, more alert. Maybe the Geritol kicked in (sorry!), I don't know. "Love Out Me," the fiercest song from their new album, crushed any thoughts that they might be losing it. When they presented a completely raucous 'n rowdy rendition of "Peek-a-Boo" the band clowned and flirted with the audience and each other and Siouxsie threatened to kick her "girls" in the nuts with each verse. The electric energy in that song only pissed me off more: why wait until the end to slap us around in this manner we need and adore? Mutter, growl, growl . . .
It wasn't a bad performance: it was just one of those split personality monsters that make you squirm then dance and sing. What can you say?
I can say they didn't touch anything off of that horrible "Superstition" album, which made me VERY happy. At least something did!