"Torment and Toreros was a blueprint for me, as a queen". - Antony Hegarty
It has been such a busy couple of days that I haven't even had a chance to post a blog about our trip to see the once-in-a-lifetime performance by Marc Almond and the temporarily reformed Mambas of their seminal album Torment and Toreros at Antony Hegarty's Meltdown festival on Thursday.
Thankfully, our friend - and fellow Almondette - Ange has done the hard work of reviewing this fantastic evening, and so here it is in full. Suffice to say, I felt exactly the same set of emotions as she...
Torment and Toreros was never going to be an easy album to recreate live on stage, which I guess is why its been a number of years in the making. Marc's self-confessed "nervous breakdown committed to vinyl" seminal piece of pure raw emotion from 1983, released in the midst of 1980's new romanticism and electronica, was originally an unrehearsed, free-form album committing both angst and energy, tinged with the passion of Flamenco and the emotional grittiness to vinyl, portraying love and life in its most base of forms.
This was to be the most challenging of performances for Marc, both in terms of content and pure logistics. On Twitter yesterday he tweeted that the felt like he just wanted to run away; the magnitude of the passion to deliver was obviously over-whelming. Expectations were definately high. He needn't have worried though because both aspects were over-delivered and managed extremely well. He managed to portray the very essence of T&T in a crescendo of feelings, and bring them to the RFH stage last night. Most of the original Mambas were present with a few added extra, totalling a staggering 22 musicians and performers to form an all-new and improved version of the Mambas for 2012.
The show opened with Antony Hegarty making introductions and describing what T&T meant to him; as the single-most important album of his youth. It was the one, he told the audience, which was instrumental in defining him and sending him in the direction he wanted (needed) to follow to find his identity for his future years. The Meltdown Festival could have started and ended with this one night.
Starting the show, Marc took to the stage with his band, be-tunic-ed and Fedora-clad, commencing the proceedings with the Mamba incantation to a heady Flamenco beat, clicking his Cuban heels in tune with the cantana, and setting the scene for what was to come.
The album was played in sequence, as it should be, taking the listener on a journey beyond definition. The Animal in You was an early highlight with a bull's head thrust aloft, then pulled onto Almond's head, in perfect synchronicity with the essence of the song.
The mood shifted to a more melancholic refrain when In My Room and the heart-wrenchingly beautiful First Time were sung, echoing the themes of loneliness of love, and love lost.
After a couple more vigorous numbers, the first half, of the album and set, was over all too quickly.
During the short interlude, fans were visibly stunned about the "epicness" of what they had just witnessed, eager for the second half. We were not disappointed as several elements of surprise were thrown into the already heady mix.
Marc was joined by Jim "Foetus" Thirwell for A Million Manias, after which their Immaculate Consumptive collaboration piece Slut was literally thrown into the show, much to the delightful surprise of the audience, especially amongst the die-hard Almond fans.
The album songs ended with the all-seated audience chomping at the bit to dance to Torment, and Little Book of Sorrows, on which Antony accompanied.
However by Beat Out That Rhythm on a Drum most of the audience were standing!
As an extra cherry on the richly-fruited cake, Antony performed Caroline Says with Marc, followed by the old Mambas' B-side favourite, You'll Never See Me on a Sunday.
Finally, despite claims at Marc's 55th Birthday concert just a month beforehand that he wouldn't perform this song, the show ended with my personal favourite, another Mambas B-side Your Aura, with Lee Jenkinson accompanying Marc on the vocals. Pure perfection, which I don't mind admitting brought a tear to my eyeliner-clad eye.And we were there!
This gig showcased Marc at his absolute best. He was clearly enjoying the experience and also laying that particular Mamba's ghost to rest. This show will never be repeated and this is as it should be, for it would take away some of the reasons last night's show existed.
A completely sated audience went home in the knowledge they could claim in future years "I was there", at that legendary, awe-inspiring, over-delivered Marc and the Mambas concert.
Fantastic...
Thanks for posting this love, embellished with the videos and photos! It was a brilliant night and there's been lots of positive feedback to my review on Facebook, which is very nice to hear. Wonderful gig which I wouldnt have missed for the world! :-)
ReplyDeleteIt was an excellent review of an excellent evening - I just had to re-post it! Jx
Deleteit was lovely - great blog and videos, pictures - well done the two of you (not to mention Marc & Antony) x
ReplyDeleteThe two of them - particularly Marc - did us proud! Jx
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