EDITORS at The Avalon 8/8/06 and at Tower Records 8/9/06
Avalon Set
Someone Says
All Sparks
Blood
Find Yourself a Safe Place
Fall
Weight of the World
You are Fading
Bullets
Camera
Bones
Lights
Open Your Arms
=ENCORE=
Munich
Road to Nowhere
Fingers in Factories
First time seeing Editors since their first two shows in L.A. in January. I actually hadn't kept track of Editors since those two shows. I wasn't aware that they had been "showcasing" two new songs. Also, I think this was their third US tour this year.
Not as initimate as those first two shows but just as good. I watched from the balcony because I didn't want to deal with the crowd of the sold out show. They were just as energetic even though it was the last proper show of the US tour. I'm definitely looking forward to the next album just judging by the two new songs, Bones and Weight of the World. Especially the latter. I hope it's the next single. (Drummer) Ed was totally tearing it up. It's amazing that somebody can have the stamina and endurance to constantly play those sixteenth note hi-hat drum patterns at such a ridiculous speed for so long. Tom's Ian-Curtis-like dancing was just as interesting. And of course, Russell was still hot as hell. Ha ha ha ha.
The biggest surprise for me was their full band cover of Talking Heads' Road to Nowhere. Tom's acoustic version was on the reissued Blood single but I didn't think they'd actually perform it. As always they closed with Fingers in the Factories, which sounded tighter than a nun's cooch. Good stuff.
Throughout the night, I had been eyeing the lighting guy's setlist. As soon as they were done, I quickly walked over to him to try to get the set, only to be intercepted by some girl who got to him first. Damnit!
Tower Records Set
Lights
All Sparks
Munich
Bones
I only found out about the Tower Records instore the night before. I read online that they were playing at 7pm and that they were giving away a free DVD to the first 103 people in line who bought their album, The Back Room for $1.03. (I guess Indie 103.1 radio were sponsoring the instore.) I totally thought that was going to be the same DVD found on this version of The Back Room which contained their full set at the Paradiso in Amsterdam. I rushed from work to my apartment to pick up some records to sign and hurried over to Tower in congested West L.A. rush hour traffic. When I got there, I saw there was less than 100 people in line so I knew I'd get the DVD. I paid for the CD, got the DVD and saw that it only featured three songs from the Paradiso show. To add to my disappointment, they were, in fact, scheduled to play at 8pm. So there I stood, in line, for an hour only to lose my place in line anyway because I had to go back to feed the meter where I parked my car. Oh, the gods must have had a laugh!
Anyway, Editors set was pretty good, if not obviously calm. Tom admitted at the start that they were tired. At this point, they were probably just going through the motions.
After their short set, we were forced to go outside and get in line again in order to get something signed. Thankfully, I was in the back for the set so I was able to rush back out to get in the front of the signing line. I got my limited edition two-CD version of The Back Room signed as well as my reissue 10" single for Blood.
I'm not sure if I'd see Editors again. (Like Bloc Party) Their next stop might be The Greek Theater and that's too big for my tastes. Hell, the Avalon was too big for my tastes. We'll see...