Peter Murphy – House of Blues – June 5th

You know when the Beatles played the Ed Sullivan show and the camera pans out to the crowd and the teenage girls are just going absolutely bonkers? That’s kind of what I felt like last night at the Peter Murphy concert.

Still getting over a wicked flu, I couldn’t miss Peter and bought a ticket. I’m trying to think of when I first discovered Peter Murphy. I discovered Bauhaus in 1987 – that would be 7th grade. I know this because when I was cleaning out my garage, I found my Junior High school folder and it had the word “Bowhouse” written on it. LOL. How embarrassing. I guess I didn’t really get into Peter’s solo stuff until Love Hysteria, which I recall knowing about, but not owning. I was poor, you see. I think a friend had it. The deal, however, wasn’t sealed until the single “Strange Kind of Love” came out in 1990. This song is one of two songs I recall hearing for the first time in my Dad’s van. Dad’s van, you see, had the only radio that picked up KROQ all the way from far off Los Angeles. I’d sit in the driver’s seat and listen to radio that barely came in. And through the fuzz and noise, I heard it. Oh, how I loved it. Shortly thereafter, I saw the video on MTV’s 120 Minutes (RIP) and that was it. I would love Peter Murphy for the rest of my life.

And I have. Every time I see him, I feel like a teenager. Last night at the show, I was dancing in the crowd, screaming my head off, waving my hands, and acting like a fanatic. Unfortunately, the crowd on the whole was pretty lame. I got there early and for a second I thought I’d shown up the wrong night. I sort of expected to see people I hadn’t seen in years, the old crowd, the old schoolers. Hardly. A mixed bag of old people and industry people. Slowly, but surely, the cool people flowed in and I felt a little safer. Still, it wasn’t half of what I expected. I couldn’t help but wonder why. I mean, back in the day, Peter Murphy was the end all be all. To Goths, he was our patron saint. So what happened and where was everyone? Or was that everyone, just older and fatter? It made me really sad. To think, here were all these older Goths, not Goth anymore, aging. So it made me feel old.

I’ve managed to maintain some semblance of Goth into my 30’s – which means I’ve already beat the system. I never looked at Goth as a “phase”. It was always something I belonged to and made part of who I am. Sure I hardly club anymore and I certainly don’t wear black lipstick anymore, but the fundamental elements of Goth are still very much a part of my life. I guess it’s not that way for a lot of people. Seems a lot of people use it as a temporary rebellion and then fade back into the crowd when they “get too old” for it. Oh well. Their loss. Losers.

As I momentarily step off my soap-box…Peter Murphy never-ever-in-a-million-years disappoints. He’s always good, he’s always sexy, and he always sings his heart out. There were a handful of people in the crowd that knew all the words to the songs and danced the way I danced. A couple next to me were zealous and joyful. We’d exchange glances and smiles knowing that no matter what, Peter was still our patron saint and always would be.

Look what my iPhone can do!