It was 13 months after their last appearance at Death Disco and Marsheaux were back at that small Athens club in order to celebrate its 2nd birthday. The difference this time was that they had just released a cover album. Not a "covers album" but a cover album of "A Broken Frame" by Depeche Mode. My vinyl copy had not yet arrived, but most of the tracks were out there on the internet on YouTube and SoundCloud. I could listen to them if I could. But I was in a dilemma. Would I go ahead and listen to them, or should I listen to my Depeche Mode vinyl first in order to refresh my memory, then listen to the Marsheaux vinyl and compare them track-by-track? In the end, I decided to go with a third option. to listen to the songs live first.
The reviews I had read up until that point were all favourable, but some insisted that it would be weird to hear some of these songs (especially "Leave In Silence") by female voices. I can assure you that there was nothing weird about it and even before I had heard a single note I knew that the songs on "A Broken Frame" were ideal for female voices, especially those of Marianthi and Sophie. And to keep everybody happy the "oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh"'s on the intro were sung by a male. Nick of Fotonovela, while playing synths at the back with George!
The setlist consisted of several songs from "A Broken Frame" but also some of their own songs. The crowd was singing along especially on "Leave In Silence" and "See You" as was expected since these are well-known and loved Depeche Mode songs (even if DM won't play them live anymore) but the biggest sing-along and party atmosphere was experienced during one of their own songs "I Dream Of A Disco", with lots of baloons flying around!
What I was curious to hear though was the instrumental. "Nothing To Fear" is one of my two favourite synth-pop instrumentals (the other one is "Moon Over Moscow" by Visage). Would they play it? Yes, they did, during the encore.
And they made it sound a bit different from the DM original, yet still familiar. And that's what I loved about the Broken Frame covers. That they have some different arrangements so that they don't sound exactly the same, only with female vocals.
In short, we all had a great time, the club was packed and the party continued until the early morning hours. Happy Birthday Death Disco and we hope to see Marsheaux there again next year!
01. Secret Garden
02. Exit
03. Secret Place
04. The Sun And The Rainfall
05. Can You Stop Me
06. Summer
07. See You
08. Alone
09. To The End
10. Satellite
11. Radial Emotion
12. Come On Now
13. Monument
14. I Dream Of A Disco
15. Breakthrough
16. Leave In Silence
17. Inhale
ENCORE:
18. Nothing To Fear
19. Self Control
No comments:
Post a Comment