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Bauhaus We arrived at the 8pm scheduled go-time for San Francisco's Halloween show by goth pioneers Bauhaus, but apparently Bauhaus were not ready at 8, so we were forced to stand and wait until almost 9pm. Being Halloween, there were a number of nice costumes on display, but the crowd was rather odd for a Bauhaus show. I got the impression Live 105 or someone else had given away tons of tickets. There was a group in front of us that featured three or four frat boy-looking idiots, predictably groping another three or four drunken and blissfully carefree girls. When at last the lights went down and three mask-wearing women in black gowns took the stage, playing the opening chords of "Bela Lugosi's Dead" on violin and cello, our drunken and noisy friends continued their party, now including bizarre hand-waving dances by several of the girls. Did they even know what band they were seeing? Who knows. The show however was great, once i managed to block out the actions of my neighbors in the crowd. The orchestrated version of the goth standard that opened the show set the mood perfectly. For some reason Ticketmaster uses a picture of Peter Murphy and David J that makes them look 120 years old, so i was relieved to find both of them looking very dashing. Daniel Ash came out in wrap-around sunglasses that looked reminiscent of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Gargoyles in the Terminator, but once he took those off i found he retained his usual cool-as-f@#% visage. The set raced through "In the Flat Field", personal favorite "In Fear of Fear" featuring Daniel Ash on saxophone, "Swing the Heartache", "Silent Hedges", "Stigmata Martyr", a version of "Hair of the Dog" on which something went seriously wrong because it sounded like absolute crap, followed by a fantastic set closer in "Dark Entries". The boys returned for three more songs, Daniel Ash's "Slice of Life", followed by "Telegram Sam" and "Ziggy Stardust" on which the band was accompanied by a tambourine player with huge wild sideburns/chops. On closer inspection, it seemed he was the guy who bought Geoff's cds at Amoeba last Saturday. Crazy. Veronica speculates that he's one of the nuts from the Brian Jonestown Massacre, and i think she's right. We purchased the Instant Live cds of the show and relived the worthwhile set on the drive home.
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