Peter Murphy with The Dark – at Club Nokia – Los Angeles, CA

World famous Comic artist Stan Lee threw a comickaze pre party Friday night at Club Nokia in downtown LA with live performances from none other than The Dark and Peter Murphy.

Opening the show were local act The Dark who as you might have guessed are unsurprisingly dark themed. Their brand of Dark rock mixed with hints of industrial and metal worked well for them and got a good response from the small but growing crowd that night.  

Hosting the event was Stan Lee who may be up there in age, but rather youthful in spirit and character. Much to the delight of everyone he would invite Peter Murphy on stage and sing a duet with the Goth father in front of the ecstatic crowd before Peters main set that night. I was unfamiliar with the song they sang together, but whatever it was, it sure rubbed the crowd the right way.

After Stan exited the stage Peter began what would be one of the more carefully executed shows we’ve seen from him in recent years. The lighting worked so well in his favor that you would assume this was a major tour production and not a one off party-concert. Bauhaus classics alongside solo material dating back to the 90’s and now would criss cross over each other so effortlessly that it seems Peter could hold the crowd in his hand with his eyes closed and spin in any direction and take the dramatic tunes into places they’d never been before.

One of the standout performances of the night goes out to Peters bassist who also serves as a violinist and brings that elegant element to certain tracks, most notably A Strange Kind of Love which like last time we caught Peter live includes bits of Bela Lugosis Dead (without a doubt a crowd favorite of the night)

It was a night full of costume changes as well alongside a finale encore that blew everyone expectations away. The middle eastern inspired instrumental track that saw every member of the band hit the floor before a pitch black stage took the crowd by surprise and added a dramatic effect to the already theatrical like performance.

What we caught Friday night truly was a Peter Murphy show unlike the rest we had seen, and for that we can truly say we are grateful for hitting this show. We can only wonder what surprises he’ll have up his sleeve next tour.

                             More photos of the show can be seen HERE

                                                                          

-Louie Bones-
Big Wheel Staff Journalist 

 

 

 

 

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