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Gotham Striped

BAUHAUS - DOUBLE DARE (live) (1998)

Part six of my weeklong "Best Shows I've Seen" theme, culling from the 200 I've attended.

 

These days reunions are exciting but we also take them for granted.  NOBODY stays apart anymore, seemingly after seeing Pixies get back together for some overdue recognition and a bunch of cash.  So now we just say "Oh, cool!" and go about our day.  But back in the mid-90's bands weren't reuniting with their original lineup.  Then there was Bauhaus.

Bauhaus were one of those bands I got into in high school when everyone you listened to seemed bigger than life.  They seemed more epic than the rest just because they were so weird.  In my mind they had crawled out of a crypt and just formed a band.  I was still buying Love & Rockets and Peter Murphy records but to have them together again seemed like the gatekeeper meeting the keymaster.  When a reunion was announced the unfathomable became real.

I would've been easy to spot at their show at the Riviera in Chicago.  I was the kid wearing white.  Every goth kid and their mom put on their black leather and came out of the woodwork for the show.  But they were actually smiling with excited anticipation.  There was no opening band, just the crypt opening back up, and our lovely vampires returning to the stage.

The lights went out and the opening note of Double Dare pierced the air.  The crowded roared as a screen lit up displaying Peter Murphy's dark, sunken face.  The song continued  this way and it was like watching a classic black and white horror film come to life.  More lights came up to reveal the rest of the band and the Bauhaus classics continued, complete with stage settings and wardrobe changes from Murphy.  Hollow Hills was a highlight with the stage lit by a single lightbulb each time Murphy came near.  They gave us a show unlike one I had ever seen before.

The show ended with a graceful appreciation to their audience with the song Spirit and its lyrics "we love our audience!".  The band displayed a camaraderie among one another, years of bitterness put on the shelves to come celebrate the music, the genre, they had created together.  It was bliss!  I would go on to see Bauhaus perform another tour a few years later and read about their infamous Coachella performance in which Murphy hung upside down like a vampire bat.  It confirmed that I wasn't seeing something rare but a band that really knew how to bring it to the stage.

I'm older now and Bauhaus have become tangible as regular guys.  This is helped no doubt by my ever increasing phenomenon of running into David J in public which I did not even five hours ago on Franklin St. in Los Angeles as he walked past the UCB theatre.  (Seriously... how does this keep happening?)  Someday I should stop and let him know that he gave me one of the best shows I've ever seen.  Until that time comes I'm happy just to stand back in awe and retain that belief that they are larger than life.

Double Dare is a live version from their album Gotham which documented their first reunion tour.  Hear what we saw that day.  Incredible!

For more info:
Bauhaus:  http://www.bauhausmusik.com/

Batman skulking in the Gotham alleyways

I might colour this with markers when I find the time.