The Psychedelic Furs Play Talk Talk Talk At Slim's

Romana Machado

Richard Butler of The Psychedelic Furs

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The Psychedelic Furs

Talk Talk Talk

May 3, 2011

@ Slim's

Better than: Staying home and getting high to some old John Hughes movie.

Daylight was still streaming through the windows by the time we
cleared the slow-moving line in front of Slim's. The battered and
friendly hall was packed closely, with the biggest wad of humanity
congealed in front of the stage patiently enduring a short wait for
the headliners. A cheery voice over the P.A. boomed there would be no
opening act, and this gladsome news wrung the first of many prolonged
cheers. The crowd was about 60/40 male, with the predominant type
being a special kind of aging dandy from a long-gone and glorious
underworld.

Romana Machado

The Psychedelic Furs

​To the sizable number of younger fans in attendance, the doomy
romanticism of British postpunk outfit the Psychedelic Furs must seem like wickedly
sophisticated stuff from an age just as comprehensively loony as the
present. The first set consisted of the classic 1981 sophomore album
Talk Talk Talk in its entirety, and passions don't get much grander
than that in this laid-back age. The audience detonation over "Pretty
in Pink" was impressive, but to my mind the highlight was the headlong
charge the band made at "Mr. Jones," with Richard Butler's iconically
jagged voice declaiming with all the undimmed fervor of the original.
Brother Tim hulked and glowered over the bass, and the band's longtime
saxman Mars Williams laid down several fiery solos. The set crashed to
a halt like a gorgeous accident and the lights went up on a
flushed and giddy audience.

Romana Machado

The Psychedelic Furs

​The bar was clotted four deep with slow-shuffling inebriates, their
baby-steps making a mockery of efforts to get my photographer a drink. The Furs didn't
tarry bringing on the second act, kicking things off with a fierce
"Sister Europe" before running a brisk and rousing tour of the rest of
their back catalog. "President Gas" brought on a collective bellow
that's ringing in my ears this very moment, and the rest of the set
consisted of a duel between bravura Furmusic and the throaty braying
of fans. The latter began to trickle out in singles and pairs while
the rest set up a clamor for encores. The band strutted back out like
heroes for three more songs. It was all over by ten o'clock.

Romana Machado

The Psychedelic Furs

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Setlist

First set:

Dumb Waiters
Pretty In Pink
I Wanna Sleep with You
No Tears
Mr. Jones
Into You Like a Train
It Goes On
So Run Down
All of This and Nothing
She Is Mine

Second set:

Sister Europe
Love My Way
Heartbeat
President Gas
Highwire Days
Heaven
Heartbreak Beat

Encores:

Forever Now
My Time
India

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