Implausible Beauty setlist

[baht habit]

Baht - no it was the 2007 concert. Someone even heckled.

I think it's because they thought he was going to play songs from Japan days and obviously it was nothing like that.

Talking of that concert - I do remember not enjoying it as much as others because it felt to me like David was just not into it. Maybe it was just that particular night...

Oh, ok. Those hecklers were definitely way out of touch with reality if they expected a smattering of songs from the Japan era. Of course, the program was somewhat heavy on Nine Horses material and certain collaborations from the past decade --- and only included a few select tracks from the 80s era, so that could have disappointed them.
But your observation that Sylvian wasn't into it was quite astute. It is now well known that Sylvian quickly became extremely disinterested in playing that material as the tour progressed, and was only going through with it in order to fulfill an obligation to please the fans and then hopefully put the past behind him. Well, I suppose he didn't delve deep enough into the past for some.

[baht habit]

Okay I'm getting a bit impatient...when will David be announcing who will be performing with him on the forthcoming tour?????

When?
"IN DUE COURSE", Simon....'information will follow in due course'.

[Simonp]

Baht....I need to know NOW Im just really excited about it. I've got tickets for Manchester, Glasgow and London. I've been informed by a reliable source that Steve Jansen will not be joining Sylvian for this series of perfomances so I'm assuming there may well be no percussion? Id love it if Bang and Honore were performing with David.

Re people heckling on the last tour, it STILL amazes me that people expect Sylvian to perform or return to the music of Japan this far into his career. He's made it perfectly clear it holds no interest for him. WHY do people still hold out for Sylvian performing Japan tracks at his gigs????

[japanfan]

Every fan wants their fav artist to play their biggest hits and for David that is songs from the Japan era. I don't know why some think he couldnt pull that off, OK David singing adolescent sex wouldn't work but as he proved with Ghosts the older Japan material is not a problem for him. I also think that as an artist you have to keep the paying punters happy and if thats some more Japan tracks then they should be played. Im suprised that some fans walked out of the last tour, the last tour was amazing infact Glasgow was one of the best concerts i have been to!

[Simonp]

It's not a case of Sylvian being able to "pull it off". I'm sure he's more than able to perform Japan material but I'm just surprised that despite the fact that Sylvian has stated quite clearly that the World Is Everything tour was an opportunity for him to finally lay to rest the past, people still expect to hear the "hits". As for keeping the punters happy, if there is one artist who does not pander to his audience then it's Sylvian. Do you think when he created Manafon he was remotely interested in the fans reaction?

[baht habit]

Every fan wants their fav artist to play their biggest hits and for David that is songs from the Japan era.

That sure is quite a bold statement. Do you really feel confident enough to tell us what "every fan wants"?

[Blemished]

I agree with Simon and Baht on this.

One of the amazing things about David has been his ability to evolve and re-invent himself over what has now been a very long career. Many great artists peak early and decline. Look at Peter Gabriel - mawkishly revisiting his old greats; Kate Bush stuck in a 1980s/90s sound-world. David is the one of the few who is still stretching boundaries and improving his craft. That is an amazing achievement and probably only possible for someone who is able to leave his past endeavours behind and keep moving on. I should imagine that the thought of spending a tour singing songs he wrote as a young man would fill him with horror.

I can understand that some fans would love to hear old material live again, but personally speaking am very glad that we will never see the day when David performs a 1980s nostalgia tour. 2007 was almost like that and - to my mind - that was why it was probably his most disappointing tour.

PS The only people I remember walking out from the RFH gig in 2007 were Richard and Suzanne Barbieri!

[sakurafleur]

Yes, I saw where Richard and Suzanne were sat and they weren't sat anywhere near them.

[baht habit]

Look at Peter Gabriel - mawkishly revisiting his old greats; Kate Bush stuck in a 1980s/90s sound-world.

Though I've never been much of an admirer of her work in the past, I've been listening quite a bit to Kate Bush's new release '50 Words For Snow' and I would have to say that she has toned down a lot of the melodrama and bombast. She is singing more in a mature register rather than resorting to that little girl squeal that she once relied on heavily. And she seems to now have a preference for keeping the instrumentation very simple, almost like a jazz quartet performing tone poems rather than an electric pop group.
Though I don't feel all that much qualified to describe her music, I personally would equate the release to some updated mixture of Joni Mitchell's jazzier sound of the late 70s and the experimentalism of Bjork from last decade. So I am not so sure that accusing her of keeping her sound stuck back in the 80s is all that fair or accurate.

[Blemished]

Well I've only listened cursorily to the stream of the album on NPR via Pitchfork, so I may well be being hasty. I did listen a lot to Kate Bush in the 80s/90s - and similarly Peter Gabriel - and was a huge fan of both.

In my view, she was a lot more interesting and radical in the 1980s . I bought 'Ariel' but found it unlistenable. And this one seemed (at first take) sonically to be the same very clean, heavily reverbed piano, which sounded a lot like the weaker 1990s albums. It's all a bit over-produced. I agree that her voice has developed beautifully though.

Same story with Peter Gabriel - the re-arrangements of his old greats are very conventional - you can't help but admire how radical the strings are on David's 'Died In the Wool' compared with 'Not so New Blood'.

The decline of these two just makes me love David's ambition all the more. Anyway, just my two cents. The reviews for Kate's album seem to be glowing...

[baht habit]

Well I've only listened cursorily to the stream of the album on NPR via Pitchfork, so I may well be being hasty. I did listen a lot to Kate Bush in the 80s/90s - and similarly Peter Gabriel - and was a huge fan of both.

In my view, she was a lot more interesting and radical in the 1980s . I bought 'Ariel' but found it unlistenable. And this one seemed (at first take) sonically to be the same very clean, heavily reverbed piano, which sounded a lot like the weaker 1990s albums. It's all a bit over-produced. I agree that her voice has developed beautifully though.

I'll easily defer to you, since you definitely are more familiar with Bush's output than I. I just didn't think it was fair to claim that she was stuck in the 80s, and the more you explain your position, it appears that you are not actually making that claim - even though it seemed that way in your initial post.

In regards to Peter Gabriel, he is simply suffering from a nasty case of writer's block and he opted to follow a blueprint designed by a fellow sufferer Sting in 2010. I don't hold it against them, as lackluster as that blueprint is. They're just marking time until they can get their creative juices flowing. I am sure that we can all agree that neither artist has a fan base that would allow them to experiment too radically, so they are attempting to get away with what they can. A good portion of Gabriel's fan base was up in arms when he released the disc of covers Scratch My Back and the majority of Sting's mainstream listeners went absolutely apeshit due to his relatively esoteric Winter's Night project. Neither of those artists have the good fortune to have such an openminded audience as Sylvian does. But they both seem to yearn to experiment. I suppose Sylvian has just shaped and molded his fan base to expect the unexpected, so he is free to follow a path no mere pop stars would dare to tread.

[javier]

Every fan wants their fav artist to play their biggest hits and for David that is songs from the Japan era.

David is an artist, not an entertainer. I think that's the difference. True artists' work constantly evolves.

Sylvian shouldn't be expected to play Japan songs any more than Sean Connery should be expected to make more James Bond films or Monet should have been expected to continue painting realistic French nature scenes into his later years.

[Blemished]

The list of performers is up on David's site, along with a very thoughtful personal message from David.

I find this part really quite touching:

In the meantime, to those of you that have stayed with me on this journey regardless of the divisive nature of the material and the varied responses to it, my gratitude. Whether the theatres are full or there's just a handful of you out there in the auditorium, we're going to be enjoying this journey and your participation in it is most welcome.

Very excited about this. I think this tour will be quite something.

[baht habit]

The list of performers is up on David's site

Thanks Blemished.
Recruiting Sebastian Lexer to contribute piano and keyboards is a really strong move. He has actually collaborated with John Tilbury on projects in the past : The 'Interlace' series of performances and last year's recording 'Lost Daylight'. Lexer also doubles as Tilbury's most trusted sound engineer when it comes to miking and recording piano.
I had a hunch that Tilbury would not be healthy enough to even consider such a tour like this, so it doesn't come as that much of a disappointment to me that he's not going to be a part of this. Lexer should be a very capable alternative to Tilbury.
But I am surprised that Erik Honore is not going to participate. The perception I have is that he and Bang are frequent partners who normally would stick closely together in regards to an opportunity such as this. So I am surprised by his absence in the lineup.

Also, I think it is apparent that certain statements in Sylvian's message are designed to give the indication that the musical content on this tour will undoubtedly be highly experimental. I think it is admirable that, in the most tactful of ways, he is basically forewarning those who may be expecting a performance centered on any of his past accomplishments.

So Simon, the wait is over and now the info is out. What are your thoughts on the lineup?
Jan Bang - electronics, sampling
Eivind Aarset - guitars
Sebastian Lexer - piano, keyboards, electronics
Hildur Gudnadottir - cello, electronics
Gunnar Halle - trumpet, electronics

[Simonp]

All I can say Baht is that I am extremely excited by this line up. Think it will be Sylvian's most interesting tour yet. I have a couple of Hildur's recordings. After discovering that she worked with Throbbing Gristle at their Tate Modern performance I explored some of her own work. Also loved the cello as an instrument and she herself has a rather lovely singing voice so it will be interesting to see how she and Sylvian perform together. I'm slightly curious as to whether there will be any percussion (pre recorded?) as a performance entirely without some rhythm moments may be difficult for some of the audience.

I'm also intrigued by the choice of venues for this outing. The music I imagine will be quite intimate and im not sure how that will come across in a venue as cavernous as the Royal Albert Hall. Is Sylvian considering nice visuals for the performances....perhaps some commissioned film works??

Very exciting