On Sunday no-wave pioneer Lydia Lunch took to the stage of Future Yard alongside Marc Hurtado to bring Merseyside an evening of their own renditions of the music of Suicide and Alan Vega. For fans of underground, noisy, avant-weirdness, it would be a bit of a dream. After a musical career spanning five decades Lydia Lunch has covered pretty much all grounds, and so it seems fitting to go back to her roots and do a strangely wholesome tribute to her old friend.
The evening began with Liverpool’s own Silver Linings. We’ve covered some Silver Linings tracks before on A La Une, and they’re a favourite of the blog and Quarry in general, however it’s been a while since they’ve played a show. It was great to see them back in full force, on what is essentially the perfect bill for them.
Each track was a terrifying force against the audience, marked by their signature break-beat backing track, Adam’s insane wailing over his guitar shredding, and Victoria’s oddly funky basslines. They’re a great representative of what the bizarre experimental underground of Liverpool can sound like at the moment, and it’s incredible to see them back on the stage.
Following this was Liminal Project, another local band. Their stuff is less heavy but much more moody, with a dark edge. They play a fantastic set of gothic, dark-wave-y indie bathed in blue light. Seeing the silhouette of the lead singer sway to the music was unnerving but strangely sweet as well. It was a nice moment of tunefulness before what we were about to witness.
The final act, Lydia Lunch and Marc Hurtado, was an onslaught of techno wrath. Each song became more discordant and gut wrenching than the last. Lydia Lunch was set up with two mics, one with much more reverb than the other, and took turns screeching into either. Marc Hurtado stood at the back looking like an Ibiza dad, donning sunglasses and swinging his mic around his head playing the most abrasive beats he could.
The performance was shocking and frightening and, unsurprisingly, very, very loud. Over the years I’ve been considering the fabled earplug more and more as I get older, but usually I’m an idiot and just fob them off, however during the second half of this set I was forced to find a pair. It was the music of Suicide and Alan Vega but dialled up. Each song became a noisy beast to be reckoned with.
Both members are well into their 60’s now, and yet here they are, still trying to push boundaries and basically be insane. It’s a bit cool. It’s also quite worrying. I came away feeling quite confused really. Probably a good thing. I’m sure that’s exactly what they wanted.
Lydia Lunch has more upcoming shows in the UK and Australia.
Comments