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Any last requests?
And now, ladies and germs, it is my great pleasure to welcome my very first special guest blogger. Daniel Barnes was a punter at the Danse Macabre gig; here's his thoughts.


Danse Macabre, Kings Arms, Friday 22 July, Reviewed by Daniel Barnes
Most people have not read the interesting, and probably insane, book by physicist Frank J Tipler called "The Physics Of Immortality". In it Tipler puts forward the theory that universe is moving towards something called the Omega Point. The Omega Point is the nerdy equivalent of Biblical eschatology, where everyone that ever existed will reincarnated in a kind of giant computer simulation about 4 billion years hence.

Nothing is ever lost; everything is significant; and it turns out we will live forever not because God loves us, but because the laws of physics do. I trust Tipler; he is an aetheist and a determinist; plus he has done the math - and bloody difficult it looked too.

So much for theory. Friday night at the Kings Arms provided dramatic empirical support that the Omega Point may be even nearer than he guessed. After all, who'da thunk Danse Macabre would be unexpectedly reincarnated after a quarter century's silence, let alone generate more media attention in the week prior to their gig than during their entire previous career?

Until it happened, the prospect seemed somewhat less likely than Pluto hitting the earth, or Pluto hitting no.1, or even Children's Hour reforming. I for one was very happy to see them. Generally I couldn't stand the bleak space-rock of the early '80s, but Danse Macabre did angst with taste and craft that was more Roxy Music than Modern Romance. Guitarist Weston rocked hard in an entirely appropriate classical/metal way; Roddy pounded tribally; Ralph Crump on bass was always more Barry Adamson than Peter Hook; and of course Nigel proved that it is better to play one-finger synthesiser with charisma than it is to be an army of Rick Wakemans. They had some *tunes* too - my own crap glam-punk band did a crap glam-punk cover of "Between The Lines" just last year cos it stands up. As, after 25 odd years, did the band themselves.

Of course, this was more than could be said for those of us in the audience. At least being in the band you get flattering lighting. You also get an inkling of how Bryan Ferry must feel playing live these days – where once he looked out over a sea of Jerry Halls, now there is a sea of geriatrics. But it was encouraging to see that little else had changed. One fashion babe of the era, still lovely and still bombed, wondered aloud to me about when Danse Macabre were coming on; and asked me the exact same question about halfway thru their actual set. Just like old times.


ADDED by Peter: While we're on an 80s nostagia bent, Children's Hour (who later became the Headless Chickens) and YFC play Friday 29 July, Kings Arms Tavern, Auckland and Friday 12 August, Bar Bodega, Wellington. Children's Hour have their collected recordings plus some live goodies reissued on CD thru Failsafe Records. There are some MP3's available for download there too. Russell Brown has some memories of Children's Hour here.

Danse Macabre live photo by Mark Wallbank at Club Bizarre. Tip of the hat in his direction, and to Simon Grigg, who DJ'ed on the night and dug up some great dusty old tunes, from Scritti Politti to The Cure.