Just want to chime in on the Lush reunion. I attended their show at the Royale in Boston.
Great set list, and honestly a great performance. After 20 years being broken up since Chris Acland's suicide (and 16 years since doing a concert, I believe) the band was in great form, delivering lots of content for fans. They did all of Gala, most of Split, some of Spooky, and one song from Lovelife, as well as two songs from the new "Blind Spot EP."
It was very loud, except for the more subdued songs. Two encores. I feel they could've scratched one song, maybe, but it's hard to choose. That's just a concert pacing issue though; I bet plenty of attendees enjoyed all the songs extensively. It was quite an energetic experience. Tamaryn set the stage with some nice (almost dance-y) shoegaze content but when Lush came on it was straight into the stuff that really influenced the genre. What I love is the combination of pop, rock, and even a little bit of punk, plus the incorporation of pedals to create that unmistakable ethereal sound.
I was happy with it, to say the least. It was also cute seeing Miki drop f-bombs left and right while she interacted with the audience. I really admire her for coming back to the scene after being a "family and job" woman and presenting herself as no different form her late 80's to mid 90's self. Reminds me of Corin Tucker (of Sleater-Kinney) for the same reasons. Phil was on the ball and so was Emma (who still really understands Lush's unique sound, going by the new EP). I was also thrilled to learn that the drummer, Justin Welch, provided the drums for Elastica, a 90's punk band that put out a strong debut LP.
I'm really thankful for the Lush reunion. Without it I may have not got into the band at all. Truly an underappreciated act, and one that really pioneered the shoegaze genre and took cues from dream pop and britpop. Great stuff, and I was glad to be a part of it.
