Peter Murphy
Mayan Theater
Los Angeles, CA
3/14/11
Earlier this year I caught Peter Murphy at the Mayan here in Los Angeles. It was the first time I had ever been to that venue. It was also the first time I had ever caught Peter Murphy solo. As a long time fan of Bauhaus et al., it was never in the cards for me to see Peter Murphy solo before. Despite the self deprecating jokes throughout the set, he still puts on a great show. I would have to say I actually enjoyed it more than any of the Bauhaus reunion shows I’ve attended. As a special treat for those in attendance, he honored a special request for a newly married couple and played a song you don’t hear any many (any?) other solo sets on this tour, Bauhaus’ All We Ever Wanted Was Everything. I’ve included that as the sample below.
Setlist
1. Intro
2. Low Room
3. Velocity Bird
4. Peace To Each
5. Raw Power (Iggy & The Stooges)
6. Disappearing
7. Silent Hedges (Bauhaus)
8. Burning From the Inside (Bauhaus song)
9. I’ll Fall With Your Knife
10. Subway
11. Hurt (Nine Inch Nails)
12. Marlene Dietrich’s Favourite Poem
13. The Prince & Old Lady Shade
14. Stigmata Martyr (Bauhaus)
15. Uneven & Brittle
Encore:
16. A Strange Kind Of Love/Bela Lugosi’s Dead
17. She’s In Parties (Bauhaus)
18. Cuts You Up
19. All We Ever Wanted Was Everything (Bauhaus)
Encore 2:
Missing: Too Much 21st Century
Download: Peter Murphy – Los Angeles – 3/14/11 – 549 MB
Sample: All We Ever Wanted Was Everything (Live)
Peter Murphy was the special surprise guest at some of the US dates (Evidently Gary Numan did similar guest appearances on UK dates) of the much ballyhooed Wave Goodbye (final ever!?!) Nine Inch Nails tour. Peter showed up towards the end of the NIN set and did vocals on “Reptile” followed by “Kick in the Eye” and later joining on vocals again on “Dead Souls”, the Joy Division cover from The Crow Soundtrack . The night after this show Peter Murphy showed up again as special guest, but made a much grander entrance by coming down upside down from the ceiling.
Peter Murphy passed through NY last week for a 2-night stint on his Secrete Cover tour. I made the first of the two NYC shows. (BTW: If someone caught the second night or both, please fill me in.) This particular show featured largely newer material along with several covers including a cover of David Bowie’s Major Tom, several Bauhaus selections, as well as a new song (that sounded great) that was recently recorded for an upcoming album. Peter Murphy also dropped the Joy Division cover of “Transmission” that was posted on TSOI sometime back (I recommend seeking it out).
I attended the second New York show of Peter Murphy‘s current Retrospective tour. Peter Murphy seemed to be in good spirits and was uncharacteristically chatty with the audience – taking questions, riffing on Americans accents (with demonstrations – very funny), and when asked who he would vote for, even stumped a bit for Obama. His levity must have given him some legs because he played for two solid hours with highlights being Bauhaus tracks off of “Go Away White” and this cover of Joy Division‘s, “Transmission”. (I have posted several Joy Division covers on this site and am gladly keeping the string going.) Before playing “Transmission”, Peter Murphy gave a shout out to Peter Hook who was in the audience and performed the song with a good approximation of the Ian Curtis style right-angle-arm rag-doll dance. It ruled.
I just converted this show from cassette this past weekend. Even though it’s not the best quality recording, it’s one of the earliest solo Peter Murphy shows I’ve come across. This 1986 recording must have been part of the “Should The World Fail To Fall Apart” tour and as an interesting bonus, at the end of the show, Daniel Ash came out and played “The Three Shadows, Part. 2″ with Peter as an encore.
