- Modern dancing, crankily
“We’re only doing this because it’s the Beachland,” said Pere Ubu singer David Thomas as the band began to play its 1978 debut The Modern Dance in its entirety before a capacity crowd on Friday in honor of the club’s 10th anniversary.
Thirty-plus years later, the album still sounds sharp, as the careening “Non-Alignment Pact” and the title track resonated right from the start with proto-punk/new wave power, amplified by Thomas’ menacing vocals.
Despite arguing incessantly with the soundman and constantly asking for more vocals in his monitor, Thomas was in a particularly good mood. He cracked jokes about how, over the course of his career, he’s dismissed everyone from pop singer Sting to “some Goth girl” who once told him she liked a Pere Ubu song because it reminded her of an Einstürzende Neubauten tune.
Between songs, he explained how “Street Waves” was inspired by a tire store on Detroit and 78th Street and joked that the sound problems reminded him of “what it was like at Pirates Cove, standing around waiting for people to patch things.”
Looking creepy and sinister in a long black trench coat, Thomas’ theatrical performance turned tunes like “Over My Head” and “Humor Me” into postmodern tragedies. And during a brief, four-song encore, the moody “My Dark Ages (I Don’t Get Around)” really amped things up.
While Thomas is the only remaining member from the original Ubu lineup, the current band (guitarist Robert Wheeler, synth player Tom Herman, bassist Michele Temple and drummer Steve Mehlman) did the group’s old material justice and sounded tight — even more impressive considering The Modern Dance isn’t a part of its regular repertoire. —Jeff Niesel
This article appears in Mar 3-9, 2010.
The guitarist was Keith Moline and Robert Wheeler was the synth/theremin player. The show was fantastic even if the set was somewhat brief.
The guitarist introduction sounded like Tom Hammond (Herman?). Was this the original Tom Herman?
Mr. Niesel, How old are you? The Guitarist was Tom Herman, the ORIGINAL guitarist for Pere Ubu who came out of retirement to do this gig. Jayzus.
As a 20-year-old die-hard Ubu fan, I have to say that concert was the greatest experience of my life.
Having seen Ubu countless times since ’87, and David Thomas solo before and after that, I have to say I was somewhat underwhelmed by the show. I remember them at the Agora in the summer of ’87 when David ran around like a madman pounding on a railroad spike with a hammer (in all fairness he said he didn’t do that anymore after the Einsturzende comment, but it was still fantastic to see). On the next tour down at the Cove the floor was literally shaking and throbbing when the crowd starting surging for Non-Alignment and Final Solution. Everyone in the room was soaked in sweat and ready to collapse when the show ended. Versions of these songs last Friday kicked off the show, but were much less anthemic than in the past.
The show picked up in intensity as it went along though, and the band played really well. One thing I noticed–and I’m not one to criticize anyone’s drinking–but by my count David had 4 beers and 2 bourbons on stage during the show. Given that it lasted less than 90 minutes, he must have been smashed, and it seemed to me his head was somewhere else for most of the night.
Maybe I’m getting old and maybe the the first times you see a band are always the most powerful? I’ll still see them next time. But David used to be a lot more fun/weird/sincere/bombastic/powerful/enigmatic, you name it. Now he just closes his eyes, stands in one place and stares at the ceiling for the whole show.