The Psychedelic Furs brought their current tour—with its impressive lineup of artists—to The Astro in La Vista, Nebraska, on a late October evening.
The concert was The Furs’ first in the state since 2016. Much has changed since then. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the band released their first album in nearly three decades, the excellent Made of Rain, and last year, they lost their saxophone player, Mars Williams, to cancer. The Furs have forged ahead, with longtime collaborator Richard Fortus joining the tour to add a new dimension to their live sound.
The tour is rounded out by Scottish indie rockers The Jesus and Mary Chain, a band as formidable as the headliners. Frankie Rose, formerly of acts like Dum Dum Girls, opened the show.
The Jesus and Mary Chain. Photo by Christopher Windle |
As for the JAMC, the band showcased their songs that inspired shoegaze, with lead guitarist William Reid and the rest of the players forming a literal wall of sound toward the back of the stage, in front of amps stamped with “JESUS.” Reid’s brother, vocalist Jim Reid, occupied the front of the stage, winding up his microphone cord in his hand and singing the band’s best-known singles nearly as well as he did originally.
And the JAMC are still going strong. Those singles include the opener “Jamcod,” off their latest album, Glasgow Eyes, which the singer closed by repeatedly chanting each word in the song’s title. Then the band launched into two of their best songs, “April Skies” and “Head On.” They also brought Rose onstage to sing with Reid on “Sometimes Always” (originally performed by Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval) and “Just Like Honey” before closing the 18-song set with “I Hate Rock ‘n’ Roll.” (Thats three more tracks than The Furs played.)
The JAMC was tough to top, but The Furs made a wise move by adding another guitarist to their live show. That, along with the expertly curated setlist and the band’s dynamic stage presence, enthralled the audience until the final note.
The English band’s current incarnation includes two original members, Richard and Tim Butler, also brothers, as well as guitarist Rich Good, keyboardist Amanda Kramer (formerly of Information Society) and drummer Zachary Alford, a New Yorker who worked with David Bowie, The B-52’s and others.
The band began its incendiary set with a newer song, “The Boy That Invented Rock & Roll” off Made of Rain, and the show built in intensity from there. A big factor behind the band’s beefed-up sound is Fortus, who co-produced their last album and played guitar onstage as well as a cool-looking electric cello. Good, who has ably handled guitar duties in the band since 2009, shared the spotlight with Fortus but was no less a key presence, venturing out to the very edge of the stage at times. Meanwhile, Richard Butler prowled the stage, his ever-raspy voice still sounding much as it did during the band’s peaks years in the ’80s. Tim Butler also roamed from side to side on bass, mouthing the lyrics of many of the songs.
Photos of The Psychedelic Furs by Karen Duran |
While The Furs mixed things up by playing some deeper cuts, they still kept their biggest crowd-pleasers in the setlist, including “The Ghost in You,” “Love My Way,” “Heartbreak Beat” and of course, “Pretty in Pink”—sounding much more like the version from Talk Talk Talk than the one from the John Hughes film. They also played newer songs like “Wrong Train” (also off Made of Rain) and went back to the beginning with “Pulse.” And on tour in the U.S. during an election year, the band couldn’t not play “President Gas,” which was even more powerful with the addition of Fortus’ cello.
Although there was no encore, the end of the setlist still had the feeling of one, as The Furs followed a blistering “Forever Now” with one of their biggest songs, “Heaven.” It capped a remarkable night of music featuring two veteran bands still in top form.