PEEPSHOW - TOUR

 
 
  Support acts during 1988:  
 


Suicide

 
     

 

     
  DATE/VENUE  
     

 

     
  December  
 
 
  15/12/88 - London, Brixton Academy

Brixton Academy 15/12/88 Advert  - Click Here For Bigger Scan

The Last Beat Of My Heart
Turn To Stone
The Killing Jar
I Promise
Ornaments Of Gold
Christine
This Wheel's On Fire
Something Blue
Melt!
Scarecrow
Rawhead & Bloodybones
Carousel
Overground
Red Light
Peek A Boo
Rhapsody
Cities In Dust
Skin
Burn Up
Spellbound
Happy House
Catwalk
Hong Kong Garden
El Dia De Los Muertos
Dear Prudence
Israel

 
     
  Unknown source 1988  
     
  As Siouxsie opens the Banshees festive extravaganza by crooning 'The Last Beat Of My Heart' - a lavish, luxurious love ballad - I remember being attracted to the early Banshees because of their severity and starkness.  And the 1988 version deliver a spirited 'Hong Kong Garden' but most of what comes in between is reminiscent of expensive West End musical theatre; a 'Time' or a 'Chess' for the black-clad masses.  Spectacle has been substituted for communication.

The presentation is undeniably brilliant - there may be no longer much at the heart of the Banshees package, but the wrapping is almost a work of art in itself.  After 'The Last Beat' for which the cast lines up in front of a curtain dotted with tiny lights, the male Banshees disappear from view.  One song later, Steve Severin and Jon Klein reappear from the wings.  But, Budgie and Martin McCarrick remain hidden until half-way through the performance, when the last of a series of colourful backdrops falls to the stage.  The drums and keyboards are then seen to be set in what looks like an executioners scaffold, with a small network of wooden stairs and a sculpture built from stakes and ropes behind Budgie's kit.  Siouxsie prowls and skips around it all with grace and agility.  The lighting is alternatively delicate and dazzling.

If the music were as thoughtful and imaginative, it would be devastating.  But the 'Peepshow' material which dominates the first half of the show is generally flimsy.  The lyrics in particular are often downright embarrassing, images drawn from cheap horror fiction and carelessly thrown together.  The music is inappropriately lush, frequently dominated by warm washes of sound from McCarrick's keyboards.  The excellent 'Peek A Boo' is an obvious exception, and it's one of tonight's highlights.  The ancient masterpiece 'Overground', written when they were still interested in commenting on their surroundings, is another.

But I find myself getting bored until the encores, for which they dust off some of their finest, exotic hits.  I can't deny the pleasure of hearing 'Happy House' and 'Spellbound' again, but I think this band and its latest audience deserve each other.  Both flirt with superficially shocking imagery, and yet both are ultimately conservative and conformist, avoiding any real challenges.  They'll probably carry on enjoying each others misery for years to come.

 
     

 

     
  13/12/88 - Edinburgh, Playhouse Theatre

Edinburh Playhouse Theatre 13/12/88 Advert  - Click Here For Bigger Scan

 
   

 

     
  12/12/88 - Liverpool, Royal Court  
   
  08/12/88 - Athens, Paoan Live  
   

 

     
  November  
 
 
  11/11/88 - Berkeley, Community Theatre

Ticket 11/11/88 - Courtesy Of Paul Valdez - Click Here For Bigger Scan

 
     

 

     
  10/11/88 - Davis, Rec Hall, University Of California

Ticket 10/11/88 - Courtesy Of Paul Valdez - Click Here For Bigger Scan

 
     

 

     
  09/11/88 - Santa Cruz, Civic Hall

Ticket 09/11/88 - Courtesy Of Paul Valdez - Click Here For Bigger Scan

 
   

 

   
  06/11/88 - San Diego, California Theatre  
   
  05/11/88 - Los Angeles, Universal Amphitheatre  
   
  04/11/88 - Los Angeles, Universal Amphitheatre  
   
  02/11/88 - Ventura, Ventura Theatre  
   

 

     
  October  
 
 
  28/10/88  - Royal Oak, Music Theatre

Music Theatre, Royal Oak 28/10/88 - Click Here For Bigger Scan

 
     

 

     
  26/10/88  - Montreal, St. Denis Theatre  
   
  25/10/88  - Toronto, Massey Hall  
   
  23/10/88  - Stony Brook, S.U.N.Y.  
   
  22/10/88  - Boston, Orpheum Theatre  
   
  20/10/88  - New York, Radio City Music Hall  
   
  18/10/88  - Washington, D.C., Warner Theatre  
   
  17/10/88  - New Brunswick, Rutgers University  
   

 

     
  06/10/88  - Utrecht, Muziekcentrum Vredenburg

Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, Utrecht 06/10/88 Ticket - Click Here For Bigger Scan

 
   

 

     
  04/10/88  - Berlin, Tempodrum  
   
  03/10/88  - Copenhagen, Saga Theatre  
   
  01/10/88  - Munster, Munsterland Halle (Cancelled)  
   

 

     
  September  
 
 
  30/09/88  - Mannheim, Rosengarten Musensall  
   
  29/09/88  - Munich, Circus Krone  
   

 

     
  27/09/88 - Paris, Le Zenith

Le Zenith, Paris 27/09/88  - Click Here For Bigger Scan

 
     

 

     
  26/09/88 - Dusseldorf, Philipshalle  
   

 

     
  24/09/88 - Hamburg, Stadtpark 

Peepshow Tour Germany  - Click Here For Bigger Scan

Stadtpark, Hamburg 24/09/88 Ticket - Courtesy Of Martin - Click Here For Bigger Scan

 
     

 

     
  23/09/88 - Deinze, Brielpoor

Flyer 23/09/88 - Click Here For Bigger Scan

Deinze, Brielpoort Ticket 23/09/88 - Click Here For Bigger Scan

 
     

 

     
  21/09/88 - London, Royal Albert Hall  
   

 

     
  20/09/88 - London, Royal Albert Hall

The Last Beat Of My Heart
Turn To Stone
The Killing Jar
I Promise
Ornaments Of Gold
Christine
This Wheel's On Fire
Something Blue
Scarecrow
Rawhead & Bloodybones
Carousel
Night Shift
Red Light
Peek A Boo
Rhapsody
Cities In Dust
Skin
Burn Up
Trust In Me
Arabian Knights
Spellbound
Hong Kong Garden

 
     
  Record Mirror 1988  
     
  It seems slightly ironic that this concert, a twelfth birthday for the Banshees live shows, should be held at the rather prestigious Albert Hall, when their first gig was at the grotty, but perhaps just as prestigious 100 Club in the heady days of punk.  For those of us too young to remember that though, this was still a fine celebration of a splendid progression from punk to fantasy glamour, through a technicolour looking glass.

Tonight's show was pop cabaret of the finest form.  Starting off with the band behind various black and white curtains, each layer was gradually shed to reveal each member - also all dressed in black and white.  Siouxsie, as ever, as the resplendent focal point.  Tight, black bob, high boots, suspenders, together with flailing windmill arms provided a dazzling spectacle.  And songs which on the new album may at first have appeared slightly stolid were sent precariously spinning.  'Scarecrow', 'Killing Jar' and 'Carousel' were opened up to far better interpretation than on vinyl and were sent ricocheting into an almost worshipping audience.  With lights swirling and Siouxsie spinning, new material such as the messily disjointed but glorious 'Peek A Boo', was mixed successfully with the old.  We were left with 'Arabian Knights', 'Spellbound' and a fiery 'Hong Kong Garden'.  A happy birthday?  It certainly was

Lysette Cohen

 
     

 

     
  19/09/88 - Portsmouth, Guildhall  
   

 

     
  17/09/88  - Devon, Cornwall Coliseum

Cornwall Coliseum 17/09/88  - Click Here For Bigger Scan

 
     

 

     
  16/09/88  - Bristol, Colston Hall  
   

 

     
  15/09/88  - Leicester, De Montfort Hall

Peepshow Tour Advert- Click Here For Bigger Scan

De Montfort Hall, Leicester 15/09/88 Ticket - Click Here For Bigger Scan

 
     

 

     
  13/09/88  - Manchester, Apollo Theatre  
     
  Sounds 1988  
     
 

After hundreds of different hairstyles, guitarists, singles and years, Siouxsie Sioux and her dark pantomime pop troupe are still successfully trundling through the ancient showbiz hallway of Manchester's Apollo.  And they effectively cramp their style into the distinctly un-rock 'n' roll surroundings of this overgrown cinema.

The Banshees, though, are here to throw a show and have created a lavish, silken stage set, off which they bounce their magic mushroom flashback lightshow.

Band members are precariously placed at several points on the structure, almost choreographed into position, as if performing in a video.

This year Siouxsie is the tart with a heart, all silk undergarments and Liza Minelli-in-Berlin top hat posturing.

The boys and girls swoon as she throws herself into her curiously British handbag jive, energy and athletics replacing the Michael Jackson method of spaced out sex-alien dancing.

Most of the material tonight was culled from the new 'Peepshow' LP.  While a lot of it was ponderous and gloomy, the songs occasionally worked in a Hollywood fear style.

The highlights of the Banshees' set were the singles, always this band's forte - 'Wheel's On Fire' and the come back 45, 'Peek A Boo', showing the five-piece to be in top league form.

As ever, Budgie's drumming was superb - the man must be one of the most underrated percussionists currently flailing his way through a sponsored armoury of drum pieces. 

The manic blond muppet gels fearlessly with the complex drum machine patterns to build a riveting wall of rhythm onto which Severin lays down his eternal one string bass lines.

The Banshees are no longer outsiders, although Siouxsie still retains her aura of the freaky older sister raiding mother's make-up tin - a role model for a thousand girls.

The distance themselves from the rest of the pop world and yet can still throw up a well thought out and interesting pop show for consumption.

John Robb

 
     

 

     
  12/09/88  - Newcastle, City Hall 

Peepshow Tour Postcard - Click Here For Bigger Scan

City Hall Ticket 12/09/88 - Click Here For Bigger Scan

 
     

 

     
  03/09/88  - Lausanne, Hot Point Festival

Peepshow Tour Program - Click Here For Bigger Scan