For their thirteenth studio album, English post-punk legends Wire came up with an interesting concept. They revisited and reworked several songs first written back in 1979/1980, most of which had previously appeared in early form on 1981’s Document and Eyewitness. This means that the “new” songs on the new album are not entirely new, but it doesn’t mean that these guys are just mining the past for inspiration. Aside from the reworked tunes, the band introduced two new songs. After thanking the crowd at one point, bassist Graham Lewis introduced a new song, “Flying Dutchman,” written just two days prior, as a reward to the audience. A few songs later, we were rewarded again with another new song, “Blogging For Jesus,” which sounded great. So while Wire may be revisiting some of their old ideas, it’s clear that the creative well hasn’t run dry for them.
Over the course of their career, Wire have been highly influential on many other bands and musicians, which may have been what inspired one audience member to shout out what sounded like, “Do you like Minor Threat?” after a particularly rousing performance. The band asked him to repeat himself a couple of times but they couldn’t make out much more than “something about an eclair.” Lewis recommended elocution lessons. Later on in their set, when the band came out for their first encore, someone else (or possibly the same guy) shouted out, “Play some new stuff!” during the encore. Lewis was amused by this, adding,”That was witty.”
For their second encore, singer/guitarist Colin Newman literally came hopping back onto the stage in time to the audience’s applause and the band ripped into an awesome version of “Pink Flag” that culminated with a nice noise coda as the band played with their various pedals and electronics. Like much of what the band does, it was a beautiful noise.