ZANG TUMMM TUMB ARTICLES “the first draft of history”

Although based exclusively around a grand piano and Brücken’s vocals, this was definitely electric. They began with an unexpected but thrilling take on Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill. An beautiful cover of Roy Orbison’s In Dreams then followed and along with the high contrast red and green lighting helped create a Lynchian atmosphere. This song demonstrated that Claudia Brücken’s forte lies as much in the tradition of the German chanteuse of the 1930s Berlin nightclubs as it does 80s alt. pop. They finished with a cover of Associates track Breakfast.

In between each act, the DJ played exclusively Associates tracks. These were accompanied by some fascinating visuals that must have taken many hours to compile. A never-ending montage of video clips, home movie footage, old black and white photographs, record sleeves, covers of music press featuring the band, etc, etc.

Onetwo

A brief costume change later and Ms Brücken was back treading the boards this time as part of her latest collaboration — Onetwo with OMD’s Paul Humphries. It was only when Onetwo jumped straight into their hi-NRG electronic pop (I think the opening number was Cloud 9 from their debut ablum) that the crowd really dropped their inhibitions and started to move en masse. Humphries then said: “No Claudia Brücken performance would be complete without this …” before launching into a faithful and exhilarating rendition of Duel. Their specific Associates tribute was a cover of Club Country — a track I wasn’t familiar with. As a working partnership Humphries and Brücken radiate positive energy. Every time I see them on stage together they appear to be having the times of their lives, this generating a genuinely good-natured vibe that is very infectious.

Electric Soft Parade

Even though they were not my regular sort of thing and they had the longest set, Brighton’s Electric Soft Parade unquestionably proved they do what they do with conviction and some measure of success. What they do being that tricky thing of managing 60s guitar pop influences with a contemporary vision. But this they achieve with some aplomb. Never entirely my kind of thing, ESP nevertheless demonstrated that not only do they perform with verve and variety but that the 60s derivative likes of Oasis are not worthy to lick their boots. Again, the MacKenzie connection was unclear (Blue It Is was their cover), but their set was varied enough that attention never waned.

BEF (British Electric Foundation)

The headline slot (or so I thought) however could only ever be taken by a band for whom the word cult might have been created. BEF were formed by former Human League members Martyn Ware and Ian Caig Marsh. When lead vocalist Gelnn Gregory joined they morphed into key 80s alternative electro pop/soul act Heaven 17, but were a genuine (if little known) groundbreaking act in their own right; with three albums to their credit (including an original cassette-only release in 1980).

It was somewhat inevitable then that a track or two from their latter incarnation would crop up. This was entirely appropriate though as Billy MacKenzie sang on a handful of Heaven 17 and BEF tracks, and one of Billy’s favourite tracks was Let Me Go from the second Heaven 17 album The Luxury Gap. So BEF duly paid tribute with a cracking performance. Having never seen Heaven 17, I have to say this was a genuine thrill. It also made you reflect on just how good their songwriting is. This was way above almost all the dreck that manages to chart these days and will surely stand the test of time like few others.

This could only be topped by (an almost compulsory) performance of Heaven 17’s Temptation. Before beginning, Gelnn Gregory related a story of how his mum recently unearthed a very early Heaven 17 demo tape containing the first recorded version of this memorable hit. To do something a little different and special, the version played tonight was based upon that original demo arrangement. Continue »