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Something I wrote for NewOrderOnline.com:
Wow. Just got back from the Happy Mondays/Psychedelic Furs show here in Columbus. What an interesting night. They played at the Newport Music Hall, an old theater that seats about 1,500 people. I would say there were about 700 people at this gig.
I got right up in the front row for the Mondays, who went on after Islands and before the Furs. I was right on front of Shaun Ryder actually....
They came onstage to "Ohio" by Neil Young, which was pretty fucking cool. "Ohio" is the song that got me into Neil Young when I was 15 (I love Neil Young)so that felt alright. Shaun slurred "'ello Ohio State University" which was cool, as OSU is the largest university in the United States (I am an OSU alumni myself). I am sure Shaun has no idea about OSU....but it's nice that the band made the effort to acknowledge a few individual things about Ohio
So, suspicions were right, the band is pretty much Ryder with a backing band and a fake Rowetta. That being said...
The band were spot on and sounded fantastic, as did the fake Rowetta. Ryder's nephew on drums was pretty good as well. The synth player was using a Roland Fantom which I have used on some of my music, so that was cool to see, and the had a rack mounted laptop and hard disk recorder for the electronic tracks.
Shaun Ryder is, I must say, a very sleazy looking and sounding man. I mean, he just oozes sleaze. He wasn't as fat as I thought he would be either. But, honestly, he was great. His voice sounded really good and he does have this bizarre sort of charisma that made him a lot of fun to watch.
The Mondays opened with "Kinky Afro" and then played for about 45 minutes. As I said, they sounded great. A good chunk of the crowd didn't seem to know them, but those that did were dancing, and by the climax of their set, everyone was dancing really hard.
Everyone was screaming "Where's Bez?" and Ryder sluured something about, "They wouldn't let 'him into the cuntry an I doon't fookin' blame 'em!". My friend Farrell yelled, "Where is Tony Wilson?", and Ryder replied, "In the fookin' grave, man."
They played some new songs I didn't know..one of which, "Andy Warhol on the Dance Floor", actually sounded really great. Their set climaxed with "Step On", which had everyone dancing. "Loose Fit" sounded great as well. I was surprised that they didn't play "Freaky Dancing" or "Hallelujah". I was a bit sad as "Hallelujah" is one of my favorite Mondays songs. We grabbed the set list after and it was listed, but not played.
Over all, even if the Happy Mondays are now Shaun Ryder and session men, they sounded great and it sure as hell was fun.
One cool thing about the show..the barrier was taken down, which is unusual for the Newport, and so I was right up against the stage, which was cool because....
The Psychedelic Furs were fucking fantastic. No mincing about, they were great. They were running all over the stage and interacting with the crowd. I got to shake Richard Butlers hand three times! They crowd were totally into them, and even though I am a casual Furs fan...it was one of the best concerts I have been to. They were really great, they played well, sounded awesome, and Richard Butler is a really great front man. The crowd loved them, and they served the love right back. It was a really awesome set. Their sax player was brilliant, he was all over the stage. I touched his foot five times.
Overall, a really great show, one that will go down really well in my memory. I love Post Punk and Manchester music, and to see two of the best UK bands from that era was really awesome. Twenty years on, those songs still shine, and I am glad I got to hear and see them played.
As I was literally front row center, I took a bunch of good pictures and I have the set list. I will post these if anyone wants to see them.
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