Written by: Judy Lyon
Summer’s End Tour Reflections / Love And Rockets Live Spring/Summer 2023
Photos and words by Judy Lyon
With the end of Summer and cooler weather quickly approaching, I’m reminded of my time spent traveling the West Coast segment of the Love And Rockets Spring/Summer tour, taking in seven shows total from Oakland to Los Angeles. Road tripping with friends, meet ups, hotel stays and couch surfing were enjoyed alongside the live performances. Love And Rockets return would mark the very first time the band would play live together in 15 years. The 18-date tour started off on the West Coast for the Cruel World Festival, wrapped its way across the U.S. all the way to NY, and back again for the final three dates at the historic Theater at Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
1999 was the last time Love And Rockets would play a full set of tour dates in support of their final studio album LIFT. The band would come back together in-between a few times beginning in 2007 with a one-off single song performance (played twice) for a Joe Strummer tribute show, “Cast A Long Shadow”. The band has always been a big fan of The Clash/ Joe Strummer and this event fell right into place for them. David J also played a solo set for this same event. They would also come back together in 2008 for two warm up shows in California. The Glass House in Pomona and Cane’s in San Diego before three festivals: Coachella, Parque Da Cidade, and Lollapalooza.
Fast forward 15 years to Love And Rockets’ spectacular 2023 reunion tour! Many fans thought this would never happen but always remained hopeful for, myself included. After Peter Murphy announced that he was going into rehab and the remaining Bauhaus tour dates would be cancelled in 2022, it seemed like the right path to go down for the remaining band members to reform as Love And Rockets and just carry on. The outpouring of support from fans on social media didn’t go unnoticed and I feel like it helped encourage them to reunite as Love And Rockets once again.
The last time that I saw Bauhaus live was at The Masonic, San Francisco in 2022. It seemed like something was amiss during this show and that they were simply going through the motions. My gut told me that this would be the last time and shortly after, the tour cancelation was announced. Love And Rockets, on the other hand, were very much in tune with each other and the music this time around. The audience was completely blown away by their performance and everyone had a good time, including the band members themselves. I’ve been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to see every Love And Rockets tour since the band’s inception and I have to say, hands down, this was their greatest live performances to date.
The band mentioned that this would be their final tour but I’ve learned to never say never again.
Of the seven shows that I attended, The Fox theatre in Oakland (built in 1928, 2800 seats), The Roseland Theater in Portland (originally a church built in 1922,1400 capacity), The Moore Theater in Seattle (the oldest active theater in the area built in 1907, 1800 capacity, and Ace Theater in Los Angeles (built in 1927, 1600 capacity), it was the Ace Theater that stood out the most. The delicately restored, 1,600-seat movie palace with a massive, three-story grand lobby was the perfect setting for the star-studded grand finale that culminated in a psychedelic trip down memory lane. The theater originated as a flagship movie palace for United Artists by Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin back in the 1920’s.
When I arrived at Ace Theater, I was delighted to see one excited fan greeting everyone underneath the marquee as they walked in. He was dressed up in costume as a Bubbleman and holding up a sign that read, “The Bubblemen Are Coming” and “Don’t Rock.. Wobble.” He was also handing out flyers hoping to find his lost friend. The flyers read “Have You Seen This Man?” along with a picture of his bubbleman friend. I had a spare ticket for the front row this evening and invited bubs to be my guest. Later on during the show, as an intro to “Holiday On The Moon”, David j took bubs’ mask, held it up in the air and said.. “It’s time to take a holiday.. far.. far.. away!” and then tossed it back to him. The Bubblemen (the bands alter-ego) have made appearances throughout the years but didn’t show up this time around. Many thanks to Jeff Guantt-Quiceno for adding that special touch and missing piece for the final shows in L.A.!
With each show, the house lights dimmed and the stage lit up with intricate lighting and a huge video screen.. enter the Earth, Sun, Moon and shimmering stars in unison with the song intro for ‘Angels and Devils’ that moved straight into ‘I Feel Speed’. The setlist was carefully curated to include many of the band’s hits such as; ‘Kundalini Express’, ‘The Dog-End of a Day Gone By’, ‘Mirror People’, ‘Yin And Yang (The Flower Pot Man)’, ‘So Alive’, and ‘No New Tale To Tell’. The band also played a couple of deeper cuts, ‘Deep Deep Down’ and ‘Judgement Day’, as well as a newly released track from The Sweet F.A. Sessions, ‘My Dark Twin’. The setlist would remain the same throughout the tour with a few slight variations along the way. Opening acts and support included Vinsantos, Soriah, Automatic, Sharon Robinson and Regan Catam.
The music was artistically enhanced with the addition of a brilliant mind-bending light and visual show with a full spectrum of colors and patterns. In this setting, much of the band’s artwork was reimagined, which included a time capsule of album art and video clips. The visuals also included a few brilliant new designs, some of which one might even find through a portal that leads to Timothy Leary’s house. The lighting designer was Martin Phillips whose company is Big Giant Eye. The video content was designed by Drew Mercadante & Matt Keppler of Supervoid w/ Ken Koubek & George Murphy of Planet 10.
David J and Daniel Ash were both dressed to the hilt for the occasion. David J was pimpin’ it with his vintage red velvet suit, red and white polka-dot ascot, and shiny gold boots. He changed the red for blue velvet with a green and blue scarf for the final two shows. He mainly kept the same look throughout the tour with the red velvet but switched it up a few of times for blue as well as a black suit. Daniel, on the other hand, really sparkled as he switched up his wardrobe several times throughout the tour. His dark glam swagger is truly unique unto himself and he glimmered with sequins of black, silver, red, and blue along with ruffles, platform shoes, creepers, spiked hair and signature sunglasses. His style is as unique as his otherworldly guitar sounds. Meanwhile, Kevin kept it simple with a black button-up shirt and black pants and all three of the band members wore their signature sunglasses throughout the tour.
Love And Rockets was truly fully realized and celebrated during this tour, putting on their very best performances to date. There was an instant cosmic connection between the band and audience, angels and devils, earth, sun, moon, and stars. Fans traveled in from all over the world and several generations, with many seeing the band for the very first time.
Love And Rockets’ reunion coincided with the vinyl reissues of their back catalog as well as the release of My Dark Twin, which has been described as a companion to the band’s 1996 album Sweet F.A. The 22-track compilation features eight previously unreleased versions and six unreleased songs from the Sweet F.A. sessions.
