Erasure: New Wave Music -- ahhh, the memories!

I just got back from a Erasure concert at Irving Plaza in NYC -- and I am sooo pumped!!! They did not disappoint their loyal fans since they played all of their top hits (all the songs I wished to hear, they played!) and Andy Bell is quite a flamboyant performer! They opened with Bell in little tightie whities and a nude colored top with silver glitter and wearing angel wings while his back up singers were wearing fairy wings. They sang Heavenly Action. When he finished singing, Bell proclaimed in a high falsetto voice, "Welcome to Fairyland!" The crowd went nuts!!!

He changed two more times; his second act was an outfit that seemed to be in tribute to Liberace because his first song was Ave Maria with a piano accompaniment in the background. His last outfit was merely silver sequined boy shorts and a bare chest!! He entered with a big pink feather fan in both hands! He threw glitter, danced his familiar moves, and threw paper airplines in the crowd. I had so much fun! And it was great to hear men singing and dancing throughout the audience, many were gay. I felt like I was at an Indigo Girls concert, but in reverse! LOL - it was great!

But Bell's flamboyance is not how I remember them back when I was 11. All I cared about was their music and their unique beat (I'm not sure if Bell was even out back in 1987). Erasure and other bands like New Order (Bizarre Love Triangle is my cell phone's ring tone), the Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, and OMD defined my musical interests as an early teenager. We called it "New Wave"!!! And I loved it!!! *sigh* I remember listening to these bands so intently in junior high school, when my bangs were teased high to the ceiling and all I wore was black, black, and black. All my friends at the time listened to the same music and it was great to go to tonight's concert with Karen, an elementary & junior high school friend who I recently reconnected with.

In spite of the fact that Erasure was so significant to me at such a young age, it was my first time to see them in concert. Tonight was FINALLY my opportunity to see a concert I was prevented from seeing as a teenager since I grew up in a really strict household. My mom never let me go out!! So tonight, I made up for lost time! Erasure's music, especially their old school stuff, reminded me so much of the happy 80s, a decade that I am proudly a child of..


Erasure's Andy Bell & Vince Clark