9:30 Club

Washington, DC, USA
March 20, 2000

The show was great! I know it was over a month ago, but if anyone still comes by please visit my website of Peter Murphy pictures. http://students.goucher.edu/kgaines/peter.html and http://students.goucher.edu/kgaines/bwpeter.html yay for shameless self promotion.
Katy (kgaines@goucher.edu)
- Monday, May 01, 2000 at 15:13:32 (EDT)

What a concert, it seems that when ever I go to the 9:30 club a wonderful surprise awaits. Mr. Murphy was brilliant, his voice captivating. I believe he could take any song and bring a depth to it that would amaze, I wish he had graced us with his version of Love Me Tender. Eric Avery a.k.a. Speed Racer, delivered a great performance on bass. Peter DiStefano guitar and bow, looked and sounded like he was having an excellent evening. Doug DeAngelis's keyboards added beautifully to this wall of art that flowed from the stage. Ah, but then their is Kevin. Peter had some equipment problems which prompted him to hand the mic to Kevin. He barely missed a beat breaking into this great poem, one which you can hear him doing a piece of if you have the double CD Tones On Tail, Everything! It's at the end of the 2nd CD during a radio interview, I thought I'd never hear him finish that piece. As much as I enjoyed this interlude, Kevin delivered one more surprise that was very personal. I was at the 9:30 club for the 2nd night of the Resurrection tour at the end of the concert I was lucky enough to receive one of Kevin's signed drum sticks, handed to me from the stage. I was here in April of 99 for the last Love and Rockets tour. I met Kevin outside, asked him to sign my 4th Bubbleman shirt and thanked him for the gift of the drumstick in 98. He smiled and pulled out one he had been using that night, and said now you have one from Love and Rockets. It was also signed and dated, my friend had to pull me away from him or I would have stood their and thanked him all night. What does this all have to do with Mar. 2000. Well, at the end of the concert Kevin came to the front of the stage tossed a stick to my left, threw one to my right. Now I was yelling trying to get his attention just to say hello, he walks right in front of me looks right at me while grabbing my hand and pulls a 2nd set out of his back pocket, and with a smile places them right in my hand. What a rush! These sticks too where signed "to the stick collector" Kevin Haskins Peter Murphy 2000. I thanked him outside later, again the gentleman that he is he would have stood in the cold listening to my excited babble. But thankfully my friend suggested I let Kevin go to the bus to get warm. What a night! Thank you Peter. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Kevin, I can't believe you remembered me. I had people who had seen the gift given to me walk up and ask if I was friends with Kevin:) P.S. Kevin could you and Mr. Ash get Tones on Tail back together again for a tour, Hint! And pass along my thanks to your brother for signing my Fourth Bubbleman shirt in April of 99:) P.S.S. Thank you Mr. Haskins you are a great musician, a great artist, and a friend. The Stick Collector a.k.a. The Fourth Bubbleman
The Stick Collector (rbrady@parsecdigital.com)
Harrisburg, PA USA - Wednesday, March 22, 2000 at 10:52:31 (EST)

I think it was between "Crystal Wrists" and "Sweetest Drop" that one of Peter's earphones went out. So the technician (I can't recall his name) had to come out and replace Peter's equipment. While they were doing that, people started yelling Kevin's name. Peter handed the microphone to Kevin who then recited what appears to be "The Lion and Albert" by Marriott Edgar (usually performed by Stanley Holloway). A copy of this poem is available at: http://www.bab.dircon.co.uk/ch22/lm_2.htm. It was very funny. While Kevin was reciting the poem, Peter upstaged him by toweling off the bass player. When Kevin told him to stop, Peter then grabbed his portable spotlight and spotlit Kevin.. Kevin then stood up on his drumstool for the last part of the poem.
Karl Reinsch (kreinsch@radix.net)
Washington, DC USA - Wednesday, March 22, 2000 at 10:51:06 (EST)

I was speechless after that show..and during it, really. Several times I had started out singing the words to the song..but didn't even noticed I had stopped and was just totally fixated on the energy and emotions behind each song. Truly unbelievable. However, I am now on an obsessive search to find the "Albert and Wallace" poem that Kevin graced us with during the show. It tickled me pink. Thanks again for a fantastic show.
Kristen (cheshirecat44@juno.com)
Washington, DC USA - Tuesday, March 21, 2000 at 18:05:14 (EST)

The memories of last nights show still rise in my brain, shivering bubbles of excitement and awe. My first time seeing Peter in person will be one I shall cherish. The evening began with a nasty sandwich (stay AWAY from that diner down the street!) and an hour and a half of standing. The club's doors opened to welcome the crowd and I skipped in happily and headed straight for the front, bypassing the (very nice) T-shirts and those cool beanie caps, the bar and the friendly clusters of people chatting in the rear to score a great spot, second from the stage and directly in front of the mic stand. I planted myself there, along with my wonderful companion Scotty and prepared to wait it out until the rockin' spiritual magic started. We stood there for another almost two hours, looking at the other people around us, feeling leaps of hope as the roadies prepared and the smoke began to swirl through the air. The sullen food pouting in my stomach, combined, I think, with the waiting and the excitement soon brought forth dizziness and a bad tummyache. I sadly forfeited my prized spot at the front for a chair in the lounge at the rear of the club, sipping ice water and growling at my luck. Cheers rippled over the crowd and I stood up to glimpse Peter appear from inside the smoke. All of my discomfort ran away screaming when the first pounds of bass drummed my chest, massaging the frightful nausea away like phantom hands. As Final Solution leapt from the stage I realized that I wasn't missing a thing standing in the rear of the crowd, as Peter's giantlike shadow danced on the wall above all of us and his voice, like an uncoiling spring, wound out into a thunderhead that breathed on every face present. The most outstanding parts of the show were that ingenious luminescent screen Peter played with, the lights scrawling his image on it like a crawling strobe and Kevin's narrative about a mummy, a child, and a lion (oh, my!). Peter was in fine form throught the night, teasing us with his immediate encore and making spirited cracks at the audience, paying much attention to Eric's firm bellybutton and blowing kisses with his eyes. The entire band was magnificent, Doug bopping with much verve behind his keyboard, DiStefano throttling his guitar, Eric propelling with his bass, Kevin thrashing masterfully in his forest of drums and Peter spinning in the midst, with arms outstretched. Thank you all for this fabulous evening and good luck in the future.
Mary Rose (tripster999@hotmail.com)
Baltimore, MD US - Tuesday, March 21, 2000 at 11:42:49 (EST)

Peter Murphy... The genius, the poet, the unholy feline elegantly poised for attack, the voice that can part the oceans with a sonorous loftiness that licks the skies... Such is Peter's treasure to offer. His performace tonight at the 9:30 Club was beyond description even within these terms. Coupled with an energetic, lean and mean band, Peter effortlessly showcased his uncanny ability to glide in and out of an audience's collective consciousness, manipulating and folding it to a near blinding intoxication. Every song, more like episodes, lit auras lustily on fire like they were his to burn. Though it's really terrible to compare this unque person's talents with the haty impulses of a Bowie long gone, it can still said that Peter's acoustic renderings of "Big Love of a Tiny Fool" backed with "A Strange Kind of Love", while evocative of Bowie's Jacques Brel inspired moments, clearly left any of Bowie's efforts pale and lifeless in contrast tonight. The rest of Peter's set was expertly executed to skyrocket your brain in short exchange of allowing him to possess your soul for a couple of hours. Who could ask for more? And how often does one attend a show, a guest in a lair of utter eloquence on all levels, and not be released a little weak but all the better entertained for it? That was Peter's show tonight...
Charles Contois (ccontois@aol.com)
Crofton, MD 21114 - Tuesday, March 21, 2000 at 02:24:56 (EST)