Review: It remains a dead mess at Editors in Rotterdam (concert)

The bond between the Netherlands and Editors has been very close for years, sothe band easily attracts more than four thousand visitors to the RTM Stage,the new pop venue in Rotterdam Ahoy. Success is assured, it seems. It istherefore surprising that the chemistry between band and audience is missingthis time. Unfortunately, this time it’s a case of your own fault, big bump.

Photography Paul Barendregt

These are turbulent times in the music world, but fortunately the live circuitof today also has its certainties. When Editors arrives, for example, thingsstart to storm. Not surprising: this British rock band, known for the greatdebut album The Back Room (2005), a modern classic with Joy Divisioninfluences and a string of indie hits, has always been good value for moneyfor almost twenty years. Not just musically. If there is anyone who can playthe audience, it is singer Tom Smith. Who still remembers the pose on top ofthe piano at Pinkpop 2008, monumentally captured by star photographer PaulBergen? Unforgettable for those who were there.

Our southern neighbors still get goosebumps when hearing the ballad No SoundBut The Wind. The images of the young fan at Werchter, who sang the song in2010 with their eyes closed, completely in ecstasy, rightly went viral. Thisis what pop music can do to people, and why we flock to venues and festivals.Even if a ticket costs fifty euros as it does now, which is no longer even astriking amount in halls of this size. Have you seen the ticket prices ofRobbie Williams and Depeche Mode? So it could be much worse.

But for one reason or another, Tom Smith decided to keep it introverted inthis huge room – type AFAS Live. Not in the music (which is actually fullerthan ever, more about that later) but in gesture. This time he pulls his crazyface, he makes his gestures, he does his dances, but this time he just doesn’tsucceed in approaching the audience. He looks at us and we look at him, andit’s like we don’t belong together this time. That feeling is fueled by ahopeless lack of interaction. ‘Thank you Rotterdam’, he doesn’t get muchfurther until just before the encore – he tries that in Dutch by the way, hesounds unintentionally comical like Tom Hanks who in the recent film _Elvis_turned a Dutch-intended accent into bizarre fake German.

It is also striking that Smith is glued to the microphone stand. Operating onvirtually the same square meter, the entire show. What kind of crazy choice isthat? This summer, on a EAR at a festival far away in Romania, he still roamedthe stage with the microphone in his hand. You couldn’t take your eyes offhim. That’s different now. Now Smith is suddenly static. On two screens, highleft and right of the stage, we can see that he is still king of crazy faces,but he doesn’t get any further than that. It’s as if the band is too busy withthemselves this time. Not helped by what must be by far the most silentconcert audience of this year. It is, it must be said, a mess. The height ofthat sluggishness is also painful: when the confetti cannons start to spray,it remains silent. No applause, no cheers. Nothing. This has not helpedanyone. Poor cleaner who gets to wipe all this clean.

It seems to depend on the musical direction of the band. Electronics and beatspredominate on the new record EBM and in the search for the translation ofthat typical studio music (‘Let’s add another layer here, and here!’) thespontaneity has been completely lost. It’s as if the gentlemen now have to gothe extra mile to at least do their own part in the rambling sound. The wholething is accidentally but skilfully locked. They are stacked layer upon layer,in the hall it sounds at the least moments like a slurry you can’t getthrough, tinny and massive, there is no oxygen in the songs. Most classics getthat treatment too. In this, too, things are lubricated closer than ever.Smith starts singing more listless. Hear how he All Sparks sings: differentthan before, less vicious, less fast, less compelling: the text is hopefullynot prophetic. ‘All sparks will burn out in the end.’

It won’t happen yet. There is still life for Editors, EBM seems to be thestarting point of a search for how far it can go with those electronics. Nexttime we will be there again, probably with thousands of fans. It is to behoped for concert visitors that this was an intermediate phase, in whichEditors searched for a new form on stage. There is no arguing about taste, ifthe band wants to continue with electronics that can also become interesting.Only that audience, that should really no longer be lost sight of. Becauseeven if you put down ten confetti cannons and twenty flamethrowers: if thereis a lack of chemistry between band and fans, something will still go wrong.

Seen: October 6, 2022 in RTM Stage, Rotterdam.