John Scott ventures out to see synth-pop darlings Erasure at The Usher Hall, Edinburgh.

Not for nothing did Erasure entitle their 1992 greatest hits collection Pop! – a collection of songs so strong that it continues to define the band nearly twenty years later.  It would be easy for Andy Bell and Vince Clarke to rest on their laurels and do little more than tour that album year after a year but instead, they have produced new albums every few years.  The latest of these, The Neon, was released last year but because of You Know What has had to wait until now before it can be showcased in a live setting.

Things kick of with Chorus, presumably named as such because of the massive earworm it contains at the end of each pair of verses.  Vince Clarke, dressed in a sober grey-checked suit stands shrouded in darkness at the back of the stage where he remains for most of the performance; silent and inscrutable behind a small bank of keyboards and screens. Now and again he will leave the keyboards to do their own thing, which they are evidently perfectly capable of doing, while he bashes away at a tambourine or strums an acoustic guitar. It’s down to Andy Bell, resplendent in light-blue tartan bondage trousers and what can only be described as a corset,  and the two backing singers to carry the visual impact of the show.

Tonight’s song selection is finely balanced between tracks from the new album; older, deeper cuts from the band’s back catalogue and, of course, the hits. The crowd –  the first of two sell-out Edinburgh audiences – lap it all up but it’s those hits: The Circus, Who Needs Love Like That, Blue Savannah, Chains Of Love, Love To Hate You, Drama! And Stop! that keep the momentum going and fuel the party atmosphere. A cover of The Eurythmics’ Love Is A Stranger is a welcome addition and fits right in. 

Two hours of top-class tunes are topped off by twin encores of Oh L’Amour and A Little Respect, confetti cannons exploding into a glittery climax and sending the audience home fully satiated.

Erasure’s return was a long time coming but it was well worth the wait.

Setlist

Joe 90 Theme

Chorus

Hey Now (Think I Got a Feeling)

Fill Us With Fire

Sacred

The Circus

Who Needs Love Like That

Nerves of Steel

Blue Savannah

Chains of Love

Turns the Love to Anger

Careful What I Try To Do

Sometimes

Save Me Darling

Shot A Satellite

Love to Hate You

Love Is a Stranger

Drama!

Always

Stop!

Push Me Shove Me

Victim of Love

Oh  L’Amour

John Scott