The Fillmore - San Francisco, USA

Simply, the venue experience was Cathartic. Troy and I are on a post high from the event. The Sylvian as well as the rest of the band were obviously pleased to be performing at the Fillmore. David even made a comment that this event felt like home and that although well received elsewhere, this was particularly special. As you know, he did live for a few years in Napa, California. David grinned, “showing teeth”. Better yet, he made eye contact with the audience, repeatedly smiling and almost chuckling. The rest of the band was in equal spirits. The performance was without error. Every aspect was as to be expected…perfec t. The show lasted about 120 minutes. The set list was pretty much the same, including encores, as the previous show. Yawn, time to sleep.

Still in afterglow from last night’s show at the Fillmore. One of the things I enjoyed was getting to meet other Sylvian fans ­ one couple I met in the line outside had flown in from Mexico City just for the show. I met another couple, Elisabeth and Patrick (hi if you’re reading this!) in front of the stage waiting for the show to start ­ Elisabeth had flown in all the way from Lexington, Kentucky just for the show (and had had to pay twice because of the change of dates!) ­ all with long histories of following David’s music. It’s amazing how much impact he has had on all these people’s lives, that they will follow him through years of sparse output, and travel thousands of miles to see him. David and the band took the stage about 8:20 ­ David was obviously pleased to be there and was grinning from ear to ear. “Seems like home”, he remarked. He’s grown his hair longer since the severe days of “Dead Bees” and almost looks like the New Romantic again, a little older and wiser, perhaps. He seemed a lot more comfortable on-stage than I’d expected, and was smiling a lot and making eye-contact with the audience. The set was a mix of old and new ­ rather heavy on “Dead Bees” material, and nothing from “Gone to Earth”, which was a shame. However, much of the material from “Dead Bees” had been re-worked so significantly that it took on a whole new life, and songs that had not particularly impressed me on the album became quite startling in their intensity ­ “BlackWater” comes to mind, taken slower and more deliberately than on the album. I’d love to see a live album of this re-worked material if David is listening! It was a real treat to hear the classic “Beehive” material ­ “Boy with the Gun” was especially haunting. One of the highlights of the evening, as someone has noted, was the new version of “Cover Me with Flowers”, which was quite astonishing in the way it built in its menacing sort of way, with some great bass playing from Keith Lowe sporting a natty black kilt ­ his thundering bass added a lot to the overall sound of many of the pieces, and he really fit well with the band. I could have done without the histrionics from Matt Cooper on keyboards ­ they seemed very out of place at a David Sylvian concert. David at first seemed amused by his antics, but after a while I got the impression that even he was thinking they were a little over the top. Tim Young on guitar was fairly entertaining, and Steve Jansen played flawlessly and with great class ­ a perfect match for Sylvian. All in all, it was a superb concert ­ I’ve been waiting to see Sylvian for years, and I wasn’t disappointed. Let’s do it again soon, David!