Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1996 18:16:16 +0800
From: Philip Tam (Philip_Tam@baylor.edu)
Subject: dallas show
To: bkeeley@ucsd.edu
Organization: Baylor University
X-Mailer: Mozilla 1.1N (Macintosh; I; 68K)
X-Url: http://mugwump.ucsd.edu/bkeeley/play-stuff/lush/lush.html

   I was reading the reviews by the two guys who saw the festival in 
Houston and decided to report on their show the next day in Dallas.  The 
Dallas show was also in festival format with about eight other groups on 
the docket. Needless to say, i went to see Lush.  They came on at 2:20 
and played for exactly thirty minutes.  They played about 5 or 6 songs, 
including:  500, single girl, heavenly nobodies, childcatcher, 
ladykillers, and i think one or two more. The crowd reaction to this 
show seemed to be the exact opposite of the one in Houston.  There was 
no moshing as security was rather tight.  Also none of the festival 
goers seemed to have gone to see Lush as when they came on stage, the 
seating area was nearly empty.  I managed to sneak up to the front and 
thus attained an excellent view of the group.  Miki was wearing a pretty 
flower print skirt and Emma was in an all black one.  I think Chris and 
Phil were in black as well.  It was hot.  But it was disappointing to 
see the size of the crowd gathered to see Lush. I think that I and about 
5 others were the only ones there to see them, as the rest of the crowd 
seemed disinterested or were simply not present.  This seemed to annoy 
the group as well, as they played a semi-disinterested set.  Emma was 
just standing motionless throughout except moving once to change 
guitars.  Miki, you could tell was trying to make an effort, moving 
around slightly and making those cool facial expressions she is so great 
at and that you can see on the Ladykillers video, but once inbetween 
songs she glanced at Emma as to say, "Oh well, i tried, screw these 
blokes." But you know, they were still good, and the sound quality was 
not that bad, although the bass was set a little too loud.  500 and 
Single girl were done especially well. I just felt sorry for them and 
the crowd for not having the smarts to appreciate them.  
   But it was after the show that Lush surprised me. I waited for them 
to come out and I was the only one there.  I was asking security and the 
workers if they knew when Lush was coming out, and they said they 
probably weren't since they had to be in New Orleans by the next day.  I 
was resigned to not seeing them and plus with the crowd's apparent 
disinterest, I would not have come out either.  But then a roady came 
out to ask me if I was waiting for Lush, i think my T-shirt gave it 
away.  I said yes, and she left.  10 minutes later Lush came out to do 
an interview with the radio station and the roady pointed me out to them 
and they walked over.  They were great, extremely pleasant, although 
still bothered by the heat.  Phil came over and i told him that i had 
heard a couple songs of his old band the servants, and he seemed 
surprised and asked me which ones and if i liked them.  Then Chris 
signed. Then Miki came out, and I asked if they were going to tour again 
in Texas but in a smaller club, and she said yes, definitely but could 
not say when, saying that the group had no say in the festivals that 
they had to do in Texas in lieu of their regular tour. She then made 
comments about the heat, and then I asked her about Robin Guthrie, (I'm 
also a Cocteau Twins fan, and he had produced one of their albums as you 
all know) and she smiled and said that although she like Robin, working 
with him once was enough. And on came Emma, who I asked about her old 
magazine she used to put out, Alphabet soup.  She seemed embarassed 
about it, saying that she and Miki had put out five issues of it.  She 
then said that things from the past should be left there and i made some 
comment to that effect and she started to chuckle, the first smile I saw 
her give all day.  They all signed my T-shirt, and that was that, my 5 
minutes with Lush.  I know that this has been a particularly horrible 
review, not much of one anyways, but I thought you might want to hear 
about this, and just how great and cool Lush is.