2023-12-09 08:42:59
Some 555 souls were present this Friday in an almost sold-out Kafe Antzokia to witness the concert of the British cult group Chameleons (Middleton, Greater Manchester, 1981–1987, and then several reincarnations), who were passing through Bilbao on their 40th anniversary tour from the release of their debut, ‘Script Of The Bridge’ (1983), an excuse like any other because only six of the twelve songs on the album were played during a very specific meeting of 16 songs in 96 minutes getting to the point, with hardly any interruptions ( the leader and founder Mark Burgess, voice and bass, spoke three times), between 10 and 11:36 p.m., just when they left, without even posing for a joint farewell photo.
Chameleons sounded much better, harder, less evanescent than on records. They performed in a quintet, with two guitars that created atmospheres without emitting plucks or solos (one of them was in charge of the other founder recovered for this stage, Reg Smithies), with a young drummer who had personality, a keyboard player who provided corporeal mantles. and the leader Mark Burgess, tall, with dyed hair and quite agile at 63 years old, singing and playing with determination, without a doubt, all to show a sonic catalog that was a feast of eighties sounds, still current, although it was not seen to young people among the respectable.
The five in ‘Swamp thing’. EITHER. Cubillo
The audience was predisposed and happy, even enthusiastic in the first rows, and chanted some gothic ‘ooohhh’, but almost no lyrics during a very, very eighties, but still current, gig that we could compare with the epic martialism of The Alarm (‘ In shreds’), with the apparatus of some gothic Simple Minds (‘Pleasure and pain’), with the buoyancy of The Psychedelic Furs (Looking inwardly’), and with the instrumental developments of The Cure (‘Up the down scalator’, applauded when she was recognized in the first rings. Later ‘Perfume garden’), a repertoire that went on without stopping, assimilating Siouxsie & The Banshees (‘Monkeyland’), competing in gothic rock with some organic Sisters Of Mercy (‘In answer’), updating the synthetic drums of The Durutti Column (‘Soul in isolation’), reinventing psychedelia (‘Tears’), deconstructing psychobilly (‘Swamp thing’), getting grandiose like U2 (‘Second skins’) , and in the encore sounding resounding and precise with a ‘Nostalia’ that seemed like Bowie from ‘Heroes’ and a highly sung song by the group ‘Don’t fall’ that suggested Iggy Pop (and that title was precisely what was sung the most : ‘Don’t fall’.
Very good Chameleons, with full validity, we insist. Better than we expected since the keyboardist left, since we only expected a two-guitar quartet, without keys.
#Chameleons #living #legend