Lush – probably one of the most influential bands of the Shoegaze era, happily (and with much relief) reunited in 2016 and were gigging and going on tour. They hit Coachella in April, and their much anticipated concert tour was sold out in cities, not only throughout Europe, but also in the U.S.
Needless to say, it speaks highly of a band who broke up some 20 years ago, but who have been remembered fondly and importantly in all that time. For myself, Lush always represented what was fresh and pioneering about the 90s. They came along at a time when music was going through a lot of soul-searching and reassessment. Bands were looking at what they were doing and wanted to say something more. The arch-style so prevalent in the 80s was abandoned for something accessible and leaning more on substance rather than padded shoulders and Tenex. The heavy techno-laden bands were going back to simpler lineups, and guitars once again figured prominently.
I originally ran this concert a few years ago as part of my Backstage Weekend series. At the time, it was one of the few examples of Lush recorded in decent sound. With so many of these bands, it’s always been a problem; getting the live gig in a recording that represents who they were in an unvarnished setting, without having it sound like it was recorded in another city, or under a deluge of phlegmatic hacks and coughs. There are a lot of audience recordings, which I will never run on this site, unless the sound is stunning and is a recording of band in a live setting so drop-dead rare as to be nonexistent, but only after a lot of careful listening and considering.
This concert captured Lush during their peak, and its something the band can be proud of and something those members of the audience who are only now coming to Lush can listen to, appreciate and get a glimpse of a milestone band in a live setting.
But those of you who have been with the band since the beginning, this will conjure up a lot of great memories of a group who were hugely influential, maybe not as successful in the mainstream sense, but a band who’ve maintained their freshness and vitality and who were back for a short time, better than ever.
Sadly, the reunion was a short-lived one and after that tour called it a day. Miki has since gone off to form Piroshka and to blaze new trails which have been hampered by the COVID pandemic and the virtual freeze live performance has undergone this page year. Hopefully, once life gets back to some semblance of normalcy, they will resume touring and we’ll all breath a sigh of relief.
In the meantime, crank this one up and enjoy.
