[Introspective] PSB Boston show (A.C. R)

[Hugh Sharpe]

> After all these years, our Boys still know how to put on a show.
>
> I've sort of been bummed out all week. But tonight's show just brought me 
> back. It never gets old, when they first come out on stage...the crowd 
> (myself among it) all go wild.
>
> Coolness!
>
> -Ali
>

That's exactly what I was saying to myself as I left Radio City Music Hall after their show earlier tonight.  This tour is the best one since Performance.  The stage set was incredible. Es Devlin's set of cubes was amazingly flexible, converting throughout the performance into a myriad of forms for various functions, from dancing platforms to video projection screen, to digital display...  far more interesting and useful, in my opinion, that Hadid's sets from Nightlife.  The sound was clean and bright and the set list was top notch from beginning to end.  'Dreaming of the Queen' was an interesting choice.  And I was overjoyed to hear 'Domino Dancing', 'Shopping', and 'Heart' live for the first time in four US tours.    

After the show, I went down to Virgin MegaStore at Union Square where Neil and Chris were signing copies of PopArt, Fundamental, and a limited number of copies of their amazing upcoming book- Catalogue/.   /In order to guarantee a signing, you needed a wristband, obtained by purchasing one of the aforementioned items from the store.  I was too late to grab a copy of Catalogue (absolutely gorgeous book, btw), but since I still hadn't bought myself a copy of the Fundamentalism 2CD set yet (yeah, yeah, I know...), I grabbed this and they signed it in silver pen. I meet my pop music heroes for the first time in 22 years of sporadically obsessive fandom and all I could babble out was 'Thanks, Neil- I'm a huge fan. Thanks, Chris- keep up the great work.' Very cool of them to trek down there to sign things at midnight after their show.  That's hardcore.  Anyway, it's my first autographed anything from a musician and I will cherish it always.  

Anyway, I totally back Ali's sentiments.  The show is tremendous and worth any effort made to see it.  Our boys prove themselves among the best live pop acts ever, once again.  

-Hugh