As the lights go down

Wembley, January 28, 1994 - As the band left the stage after the last UK show of the 1989 Electric Theatre Tour, no one could have imagined it would be all but five years before we would see them again. Five years before that tour they had been number one with The Reflex, what would the band's fate be in another five years? We know now that the next five comprised getting married, having babies, bunging out compilation CD's of their old hits, getting new members, dumping new members, releasing crap records called Liberty, doing nothing for excessively long periods of time (i.e. 2,5 years), before eventually getting something right over 10 minutes of wondrous hit making music in Ordinary World and Come Undone.

But let's not argue over detail, why not revel in the glee of 1993 and the tour? Well, a couple of reasons actually. The first concerns unreleased b-sides namely Fallen Angel, Stop Dead and Time for Temptation; and linked to that the release of those b-sides, on the 'bargain' Double Pack album, which includes, er, The Wedding Album! Didn't I buy that last year?

But the tour was great! As long as you didn't have tickets for the Brighton show (cancelled with no explanation), and as long as you didn't live in the North of England or Scotland (or the rest of Europe for that matter - ed.) - no shows there.

But seeing them on stage again after so long rekindled the faith and made you forgive them their questionable treatment of their loyal fans. There was still too much acoustic guitar for my liking, and I liked the original classic pop of Planet Earth, Hungry Like the Wolf and Girls on Film - as the phrase goes, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'.