Spandau Ballet @ The Warfield Theater
Spandau Ballet
The Warfield Theater
San Francisco, CA
January 23, 2015
It’s crazy that it’s already February. It took me a little longer to compose this editorial than I thought it was going to, mainly because of the lack of time. But I’m glad I finally get a chance to sit down and write about a very different kind of show that I attended.
I had a publicist that I had work with (thank you again, Peter at BB Gun) reach out and ask if I’d like to cover a show with a band called Spandau Ballet. Now, I had never heard of them, but I knew of people who had. The music was very different from anything I generally listen to. I immediately jumped at the opportunity to photograph and review the show. I started my photography and writing career based around punk rock and alternative artists, and as the years have gone on I have tried to diversify what I listen to and cover. Everyone has a story and something to say, regardless of genre.
In case you’re reading this and have never heard of Spandau Ballet, let me quickly fill you in:
Remember this song? No matter what age you are, you have probably heard this song at least once in your life. This is the band that made this song huge, in addition to garnering 20 hit singles, 500 weeks on the UK charts, and international album sales exceeding 20 million copies.
Spandau Ballet kicked off a slew of reunion shows in San Francisco on Friday, January 23. While I’ve never been huge on the location of the venue (The Warfield sits right in the middle of the Tenderloin district, just past that hobo that peed on the wall), but the venue fit well for the type of show they put on.
9:00. The lights go down, the curtains part, and the band takes the stage. They sounded perfect. The lighting was immaculate. They all had energy. A lot of bands that try and do comeback tours do so with overwhelming results, mainly because a) they haven’t played together for a great deal of time, and/or b) they lack energy. These guys were able to carry an entire hour and a half show with the same amount of electric energy from start to finish.
It’s funny. I texted my mother that night, who flipped when she heard I was covering the show. I texted her a short video clip of the band playing “True.” I got a text back a minute later that said, “They sound just as great as they did in the 70s.” In certain cases, music really can stand the test of time.
Check out Spandau Ballet on iTunes or give them a "like" at www.facebook.com/spandauballet
Click here to check out more photos from the show: http://www.shamelesspromo.net/spandauballetjanuary2015/
This has been another Shameless Promotion.