This past week saw pioneering British synthpop group Heaven 17 do something it never had done before: perform a live concert in the United States. Specifically, Martyn Ware and Glenn Gregory brought their live show to New York City’s Highline Ballroom on Wednesday night. Check out the setlist and video.
The Sisters of Mercy opened their month-long European tour with a two-night stand at London’s Roundhouse on Friday and Saturday nights, offering setlists that traded in the band’s most well-known material and some rarities, including covers of Mission of Burma and Link Wray, and rare performances of two 1984 singles.
New Order had promised that its performances with a 12-member synthesizer ensemble at the Manchester International Festival would not bear much resemblance to the band’s normal live set, and, with tonight’s opening of the 5-concert run, the legendary act delivered on its pledge. See full setlist and video here.
U2 opened its The Joshua Tree 2017 global stadium tour in Vancouver, B.C., last night, a performance that not only saw the band playing its classic 1987 album in its entirety but also debuting a new song and digging up a rarely played fan favorite in The Unforgettable Fire’s “A Sort of Homecoming.”
Depeche Mode tonight opened its Global Spirit Tour with a 22-song set in Stockholm that saw the group perform five songs on their new album Spirit, bring back “Everything Counts” after more than a decade and debut an understated cover of David Bowie’s “Heroes.” See the full setlist and video here.
Daniel Ash and Kevin Haskins debuted their new project Poptone on Thursday night with the first of two performances at a Los Angeles studio, playing, as expected, an 18-song set heavy on their short-lived early ’80s post-Bauhaus project Tones on Tail. We’ve got the full setlist and a selection of live video.
Midnight Oil formally opened its Great Circle 2017 World Tour in Sydney on Thursday night, playing a 29-song set that balanced the reunited band’s best-known hits with the unexpected — including a near-complete performance of 1978’s Head Injuries. See the full setlist and some fan-shot video.
Midnight Oil recently announced it would kick off its global reunion tour with a “back-to-basics pub gig” in Sydney this week, but have now pre-empted that by playing a surprise warm-up set Sunday night that marks the band’s first public performance in eight years. We’ve got the full setlist and fan-shot video here.
When news first surfaced last month that Daniel Ash and Kevin Haskins have reunited as Poptone to perform the music of their collective back catalog, fans were particularly excited at the prospect of hearing Tones on Tail songs played live — as that band only toured in 1984, and hasn’t reunited like Bauhaus and Love and Rockets.
Just weeks after revealing “I think I will sing again” in a TV interview, R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe took to the stage Monday night in New York City as the unannounced opening act for Patti Smith at Webster Hall, performing a six-song set that included two numbers by his old band and four covers.
The Cure delivered a marathon 40-song set tonight at London’s Eventim Apollo that included a full performance of 1984’s The Top, the live debut of rare B-side “A Man Inside My Mouth” and the reintroduction of songs not played live in decades. The band will perform again Monday and Tuesday nights.
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