Wednesday, May 31
Journal Pavilion, Albuquerque
Bauhaus exists to be heard at 3 am after a long night of drinks, drugs and coffee circa 1982. Seeing them live, opening for Nine Inch Nails no less, kicks nostalgia into gear and has fans searching high and low for a time machine. These aren't bands that are great, they're bands that
were
great. We know that, and after plunking down hard-earned money to see them play, we can only hope that they know it too.
Peter Murphy is no longer the goth-vampire-esque-king he once was. The man's got a family and bald spot, but none of that has kept his signature baritone voice from reaching into new depths of darkness. He takes the stage knowing his cult status and performs every bit the icon, emerging in a Victorian tuxedo and wrapping himself seductively around the stage's support beams. Armed with songs from their heyday, and a phenomenal cover of Dead Can Dance's "Severance," the band that called it quits before most of the audience was born make their impact known. These boys started a tradition that, over the last 20 years, has moved from the dank streets of London to suburban shopping malls and, at the risk of sounding old, the kids need to hear this.
Most of the kids don't come for Bauhaus, though, they come for Nine Inch Nails, who joined that goth tradition in a flurry of fishnet and dreadlocks adding rage stolen from punk. The fear of seeing Nine Inch Nails in 2006 is that the tour is primarily to push the group's newest album,
With Teeth
, recorded after main Nail Trent Reznor had a breakdown, quit drinking and walked away from his New Orleans home for good. Now sober, bald and buffed up, Reznor hasn't lost his anger or his artistry, though the album doesn't stand up to his past work. Fortunately, Reznor knows his fans, and gives them a heavy dose of
Pretty Hate Machine
and
Downward Spiral
, with a dash of
The Fragile
thrown in for good measure (and a break from heavy drum beats and screaming). Indulging in only two songs from the new album, which were better live, Reznor played almost every song and single that brought fans to the concert in the first place, pleasing diehards, longtime fans and newbies alike. His signature use of electronics and primal screams are probably still reverberating through the Albuquerque skies.
