REVIEWS

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Bauhaus
Nokia Theatre, NYC 11.11.05

Instant Live Recording

Posted: Friday, May 05, 2006
By: Jon Prusik

As much as one could complain about Bauhaus still pimping their back catalog with nothing new to offer us of their own after 23 years, the listener still has to admit that they deliver the goods every time on these tours. Any Bauhaus fan by this point has to be over the false hope of a new album, so we find little solace in these well executed performances every few years, and with the Nine Inch Nails tour coming this summer, they will expand further with an even younger audience that now dwells on the darker side of the Britney and Eminem music generation that we live in.

Although this reviewer missed the first half of the show due to some miscommunication with the parties involved, the document of this show, their live double-CD adds to the aggravation of being extremely late because the gig was practically flawless. The first of two nights at this new venue in the Times Square area of Manhattan, the sold out audience had the pleasure of being one of the few stops on the tour where Bauhaus decided to do what a number of bands in recent history, such as The Pixies, are for their performances: the instant pressing of the recording of the show from the soundboard to compact discs for the masses to buy at the merchandise stand. No longer is it just T-shirts, programs, posters, and other overpriced trinkets to advertise the band for you to buy. Now we get a little more bang for our dollars that we fork over to the evil overlord that is Ticketmaster. With the purchase of a CD voucher, one can wait in line for up to a half hour after the show for this live recording while your show and alcohol buzz fades. Yet when the time comes and you submit your voucher at the front of the line as somebody brings the CDs to the merch booth, in your hands you will have a professional looking CD with an accompanying cardboard casing that looks like you bought it at your local record shop.

This is what will always have me to remember the stellar renditions of tracks like “Swing the Heartache,” “Slice of Life,” and, of course, their signature tune, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead.” The rest of the set is what you could imagine them playing from their short list of albums, and even when they lacked a bit of ferocity, it was all done with a well-rehearsed passion. That is a mixed compliment, but lets be honest; as much as we love the back catalog, we hunger for a new album, especially one that wouldn’t sound as tired and banal as most Peter Murphy solo albums were. If they can get it together to play “the best of” in front of people, they can certainly stand to be in the studio with one another for a few months crafting the next great album. Even Kraftwerk found the time to make a new album after years of doing what Bauhaus is doing now, which is coming back again and again for your money, because a fool like me will have no trouble surrendering it and apparently I’m not alone.