Editors live in Manchester (Gary Mather for Live4ever)
Whilst in the queue for this rescheduled gig, Live4ever overheard a conversation between two punters in their early twenties: “Have you seen Editors before?” “Yeah, loads of times. They were my first gig when I was about 13.”
A stark (and depressing) reminder that the Birmingham crew have been going for some time now; while not yet veterans, they are certainly seasoned professionals and their showing here perfectly demonstrated that.
After two well-received received albums, Editors were on course to go ‘headliner status’ in the latter part of the last decade. Instead, they took a brave left turn and released the less accessible, industrial sounding third album In This Light And On This Evening which, although a cracking album, was probably a missed shot at their best chance to crossover. Fourth album The Weight Of Your Love was more radio-friendly but by then the ship had probably sailed.
Since then, they have released two further albums which have solidified their status as consistency kings. Live however, they’ve grown some serious chops. Opening with a left-field choice, The Boxer from said third album, the quintet set their own slow but intense pace. As such, it took a while for things to get going before All Sparks woke the crowd up for the first sing-along of the night. Predictably, the same followed for all their early stuff – of which there is a fair chunk – including Someone Says and Fall from their debut, as well as the singles.
As good as they are at festivals, Editors are more of an indoors band, their brand of dark rock all the better when the band are but silhouettes on the screen. As a frontman, Tom Smith has long mastered that sweet spot between Ian Curtis and Bono, and the rest of the band are seemingly happy to be left to their respective instruments whilst somehow still managing to look like students. Smith keeps the crowd interaction to a minimum, only thanking them and introducing the rest of the band at various points, letting his fine vocals speak for themselves.
The new songs from this year’s Violence mixed well with the older efforts, as did the two songs included from the previous album. Being newer numbers, they got a more muted reaction despite having had six months to bed into fans’ consciousness (but then it was a Monday). Regardless, there is enough quality there to bode well for the next tour when they are more established. This fact was brought into microcosm when the mighty Papillon was followed by Belong, a slower new album track. It was a brave choice to do so, but it’s good to see they have faith in their newer material. Editors finished the main set with recent single Magazine, which like the rest of the album has a lightness of touch not worn since their second record but once again, its newness provoked a subdued response.
No such chances were taken for the encore, a closing trilogy of The Racing Rats, the incomparable Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors and a blistering Munich sending the crowd singing into the night.