Track listing
C o r y | Indianapolis, Indiana | 01/20/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Sheffield (10 Mar 2005)
1 Intro (Mr Gribber And His Amazing Cat)
2 No Doubt
3 Hideaway
4 Brother and Sister
5 Knocking On Your Door
6 The Circus
7 Breathe
8 Ship Of Fools
9 Drama
10 All This Time Still Falling Out Of Love
11 Stop
12 Rapture
13 Ave Maria
14 Breath of Life
15 A Little Respect
16 I Broke It All In Two
17 Chains Of Love
18 Chorus
19 Love To Hate You
20 Blue Savannah
21 Always
22 Who Needs Love Like That
23 Oh L'amour
24 I Bet You're Mad At Me
25 Sometimes
"
An exciting live performance from Erasure
Catfood03 | in front of my computer typing reviews | 04/30/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I was fortunate to see Erasure perform live on their tour for the Nightbird album in the United States. One of the few "pop" bands I follow with devotion, it was an exciting accumulation of years of great music to see and hear Andy and Vince perform on stage. The 20 or so CDs of the "Live Here Now" series are recordings from the European leg of the bands' tour performed in early 2005.
Basically this is Erasure's Greatest Hits performed live. All songs are faithful to their studio versions, with perhaps only slight variations in a drum sound here or a synth there. Some lesser known selections from the Erasure songbook are performed early in the set list ("Knocking on Your Door", "Hideaway", and "Brother and Sister" are all excellent inclusions). Also noteworthy is that, save for a handful of tracks from Nightbird and "Ave Maria", no songs recorded after the I Say I Say I Say album made the set list. The "Intro" selection for this performance is "Mr. Gribber And His Amazing Cat", which is the b-side to the Breathe single. (I distinctively remember "Rock-a-Bye-Baby" being the opening number for the show I attended.)
The sound quality on the Sheffield date is clean and crisp. Its not quite studio quality, but it is elevated much above bootleg level. The recording of the audience in the mix is perfect, not overbearing during the performance of the songs, yet having enough presence to liven the show. The crowd certainly adds to the energy level throughout, enthusiastically singing along to several key tracks (check out "Stop!" and "Drama", as well as a few others).
I have no doubt that the other dates recorded for this series are equal to the quality standards heard here, each of which handled by Live Here Now and officially released by Mute Records (Erasure's label).
I picked up my copy from a record shop, with a considerably cheaper price tag than what is offered here. There was no particular reason why I chose the Sheffield release, considering the shop had several dates to choose from. The performance captured here sounds nearly identical to the show I attended, so it makes an excellent souvenir for the USA tour, too.
Favorite tracks: "No Doubt", "Brother and Sister", "Blue Savannah", "Sometimes"
Final Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5"
Track Listings (25) - Disc #1