Editors - The Junction, Cambridge, 5th October 2005

Joy Division? Check. Interpol? Check. Echo and The Bunnymen? Check.

Yeah, we all know…

I may be imagining things but I'm sure every time I go to The Junction that bloody stage gets bigger. I seem to remember it being
approximately the size of a beer mat but this evening from the back of the room (get it?) it looks like Wembley Stadium. Maybe.The question
is will Editors be able to fill it?

Not a band for small talk, the band go straight into "Lights". From the very beginning of the gig it is apparent that the crowd have done their research. Every person seems to know every word. There's hardly a casual gig goer in sight. The album "The Back Room" is represented tonight almost in it's entirety and for those more hard core present there are a couple of B sides thrown in for good measure. The great thing about Editors live is that they actually manage to have a stage
presence. With all due respect to Interpol, last time I saw them at Brixton I was bored silly. Editors sound like they would be static live but there they are all bopping along having a bit of in-band banter. Looks like a right laugh actually. I'll have a bit of that.

A song like "Fall" is simply amazing to see done live. Sounding like Ian Curtis doing Bowie's "Wild Is The Wind" (sans falsetto) Tom Smith (the man with quite possibly the most inoffensive name in rock) cranes over the microphone stand and sings as though it's the only thing left on Earth to do.

What really surprised me is that for a band who only have the one album, the quality and consistency of the songs never dips. "Lights",
"Bullets", "All Sparks", "Blood", "Camera", "Munich". Any of those could be strong singles on their own. They play incredibly tight tonight. Actually, at one point I WANTED them to play a crap song just so I could piss off to the bar and not miss anything.

Final song of the evening "Fingers In The Factories" is the perfect stomp-a-thon to finish with. For a band who are meant to be so fucking
miserable I think they managed to give every one present a good night.

They certainly made me smile.

Interpol?

Richard Bull
Pix by Sarah

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