Tour Overview

The tour has been split (ah, Lush pun) into two distinct sections - the UK and US legs. The UK part of the tour was, it turned out, simply to promote the new album, 'Lovelife'. The songs were very much of the new era, with a couple of 'Split' songs chucked in for good measure, but nothing earlier. The only exception (someone correct me if I'm wrong here) seems to have been the 'home gig' in Camden, where there was a much wider variety of songs on offer, as well as a longer set.

The US/Canada part of the tour (the bit known as the 'Shaving the Pavement' tour) was much more of a 4AD extravaganza, with new bands that the label is trying to break in support, and a selection of songs harking right back to the early days of Lush.

Another of the good things about the 'Shaving the Pavement' tour is that you were given a little exclusive cassette of the bands you were about to see (or had just seen); a doggy-bag of music, if you will. Also, the merchandise was much better in the US than it had been in the UK; the only available t-shirts on the UK leg had been very small tight things with 'Single Girl' or 'Ladykiller' in standard Lush Helvetica on the front, and the new Lush logo on the back. On the US leg the choice was wider (as were the t-shirts) - I ended up with a blue shirt with lovelife and the new logo on the front, and the US dates on the back. Very nifty, if I do say so myself.

Also, in the US there have been deviations from the tour; the Buzzfest in Texas and the KROQ Weenie Roast are good examples of Lush playing 'festival' type events.

The second North American tour saw some interesting support bands, but a perhaps tired Lush, who apparently weren't happy with another few months touring the states. Nevertheless, the performances were electric as ever, but the crowds did seem somewhat.. umm.. staid. I don't know, but at Pomona there just didn't seem to be any dancing. Okay, serious moshing is not a Lush thing, but it must have been quite strange for the band to play to a big crowd of statues. I admit - I found it odd, perhaps because in the UK every gig is a moshing gig. Probably even, like, a Cocteau Twins gig would be :) A happy medium would be just great - I'm not top keen on having my head ripped off by crowdsurfers' stupid friggin' keychains, but I do like a bit of a pogo, a bit of a crush. Ho hum.

The European dates, of course, never happened, so that was it. The end of an era?