Darker Waves

Just seen this advertised online: Darkwaves

Lineup includes (and this is only as taster, there are LOADS)

New Order Tears for Fears The B52s Echo & The Bunnymen Devo Soft Cell The Psychedelic Furs The Human League OMD The Cardigans Cold Cave Death In Vegas

Looking at the site I'm still not sure if its not one of those tribute band nights I see splattered all over Facebook and Instagram, and unless there are half a dozen stages I don't know how long each band would be playing for, but it might be worth checking out (the Amsterdam trip is as far as I'm going to see NO this year).

I'm just hoping this isn't the beginning of the band sinking into the nostalgia circuit and the next thing is doing the cruise ship type of thing with similar acts for the rest of their days.

Ken Doherty wrote:

I'm just hoping this isn't the beginning of the band sinking into the nostalgia circuit and the next thing is doing the cruise ship type of thing with similar acts for the rest of their days.

I guess when a festival offers you a million dollars or something to play a 75-90 minute set in California in November, you say: "Sure. England is miserable in November and it's not like we're working on a new album or anything. We'll have just finished our domestic arena tour, so we won't be too rusty". Cha-ching!

BTW what does $19.99 down mean? Is that a downpayment? You need to move the decimal point one place to the right for the actual price. Also all this "presale" stuff; what a load of guff. Something is either on sale or it isn't.

[TWITTER]1671228596247986201[/TWITTER]

Reminds me of the Cruel World Festival in that there's too many acts for one day. Short and conflicting sets dampen my enthusiasm.

If ticket sales are strong, they'll likely add a duplicate lineup on the Sunday like Cruel World last year. But then you're paying double to catch your second choices...

On a positive note, it's nice that they're topping the bill.

There's a bit in Brett Anderson's second autobiography about how disappointing it is for him to see Echo & the Bunnymen so far down the bill at festivals. They're a band whose music has meant a lot to him and he still holds them in high esteem.

This festival line-up seems extremely dubious. Like someone picked all their favourite indie and new wave bands and listed them.

There are bands like The Chameleons listed. Sadly, that band isn’t massively popular and usually have to tour the US sparingly, often along with one or two other headliners to keep their costs down. Having them appear at a one-off California gig seems unlikely (unless they were already planning to be on the west coast at the time).

Has there been an official confirmation from NO yet?

I’m just staying sceptical about this until I hear more (not that I could afford to go to California anyway).

To be honest, if this does go ahead with the bands listed, I wouldn’t know which bands to see and which to skip. Such is the fan-bait level of the ‘announced’ bands.

perspexorange wrote: This festival line-up seems extremely dubious. Like someone picked all their favourite indie and new wave bands and listed them.

There are bands like The Chameleons listed. Sadly, that band isn’t massively popular and usually have to tour the US sparingly, often along with one or two other headliners to keep their costs down. Having them appear at a one-off California gig seems unlikely (unless they were already planning to be on the west coast at the time).

Has there been an official confirmation from NO yet?

I’m just staying sceptical about this until I hear more (not that I could afford to go to California anyway).

To be honest, if this does go ahead with the bands listed, I wouldn’t know which bands to see and which to skip. Such is the fan-bait level of the ‘announced’ bands.

New Order put the poster for this up yesterday on Facebook just after I posted the link at the beginning of this thread, the Human League did the same at roughly the same time: I was dubious when I first saw the lineup (I first saw it on Cold Caves Instagram page) and thought it was just a shedload of tribute acts, especially seeing that cheap looking logo for New Order.

That many bands on one day means there is guaranteed to be overlap with bands on at the same time (I'm assuming New Order will be on at the same time as Tears For Fears) but on the bottom two lines of acts, the only one I've heard of is Cold Cave so there is an air of never mind the quality, look how many bands are playing.

perspexorange wrote: Has there been an official confirmation from NO yet?

Who's the tweet from in my post before yours?

Ken Doherty wrote:

perspexorange wrote: This festival line-up seems extremely dubious. Like someone picked all their favourite indie and new wave bands and listed them.

There are bands like The Chameleons listed. Sadly, that band isn’t massively popular and usually have to tour the US sparingly, often along with one or two other headliners to keep their costs down. Having them appear at a one-off California gig seems unlikely (unless they were already planning to be on the west coast at the time).

Has there been an official confirmation from NO yet?

I’m just staying sceptical about this until I hear more (not that I could afford to go to California anyway).

To be honest, if this does go ahead with the bands listed, I wouldn’t know which bands to see and which to skip. Such is the fan-bait level of the ‘announced’ bands.

New Order put the poster for this up yesterday on Facebook just after I posted the link at the beginning of this thread, the Human League did the same at roughly the same time: I was dubious when I first saw the lineup (I first saw it on Cold Caves Instagram page) and thought it was just a shedload of tribute acts, especially seeing that cheap looking logo for New Order.

That many bands on one day means there is guaranteed to be overlap with bands on at the same time (I'm assuming New Order will be on at the same time as Tears For Fears) but on the bottom two lines of acts, the only one I've heard of is Cold Cave so there is an air of never mind the quality, look how many bands are playing.

I haven't seen too many details but one story did report there would be 3 stages. So plenty of time to squeeze in all the bands performances but you may have to miss some due to conflicting set times.

Regarding The Chameleons: After the New Order gig in New Orleans, I decided to mention it to a lady that worked nearby me in Pacific Grove. I had noticed her accent and asked if it was Northern. She replied "Yes, Manchester." After mentioning the gig, she let me know her little brother is Reg, the guitarist in The Chameleons. She did say they were planning to do rescheduled dates this year.

Debaser wrote:

perspexorange wrote: Has there been an official confirmation from NO yet?

Who's the tweet from in my post before yours?

Ah, sorry. I’m ‘mobile only’ for a few days and, weirdly, whenever you post tweets, D, they never show up on my device (iOS). Not sure why. So missed this completely.

Andy - cool story about Reg. Small world, eh?

Without asking how much older she was than Reg, I mentioned my five-year-older sister taking me to my first gigs in the late seventies/early eighties (Kiss, Foghat, Rush...) and wondered if perhaps her and Reg's tastes were also different from each other. Jackie said she'd taken him to see Bowie in the early seventies at a tiny venue with its stage barely 5 inches off the floor. So, much cooler than my sis.

Crikey, didn't know Death In Vegas were still knocking around. Was really into their stuff late 90s early 2000s.

Clan of Xymox too, wow.

But yeah,hard to make sense of this Darker Waves festival😕

Fotz wrote: Crikey, didn't know Death In Vegas were still knocking around. Was really into their stuff late 90s early 2000s.

Clan of Xymox too, wow.

But yeah,hard to make sense of this Darker Waves festival😕

I just saw Clan of Xymox in San Francisco last week. I like their first 4 albums but knew going in that there would be a lot of material that was unfamiliar to me (saw them back in 1989 & 1991). Ronny Moorings stills sounds good and it was a great show. They played 6 tracks from their 4AD period and "Obsession" from their major label phase. And much of the newer material was in the same vein. I hadn't seen them in so long because I thought they were just catering to the goth crowd the last few years, but their New Order-like mix of synth and traditional instruments still has a wider appeal. I would estimate the crowd was only about 40% goth.

Thanks Andy. Actually i remember now discussing Clan of Xymox on here somewhere a year or two back. I liked some of their tunes back in the day mid 80s

I don't know what the capacity is: this is showing as sold out but they're advertising ticket and hotel bundles (advertised from '$24.99 down' but the cheapest packages start at $630 so I don't know how those tickets previously advertised as $19.99 down worked out: did anyone on here get one?)

Ken Doherty wrote:

I don't know what the capacity is: this is showing as sold out but they're advertising ticket and hotel bundles (advertised from '$24.99 down' but the cheapest packages start at $630 so I don't know how those tickets previously advertised as $19.99 down worked out: did anyone on here get one?)

I bought a GA ticket. The "$19.99 down" was a way for people to secure the $200+ ticket by only paying $19.99 on the onsale date. You would then pay a certain amount each month until it's covered. I believe there was an additional $10 fee for each payment you made for that option so I just put mine on a credit card.

The annoying thing about the presale were the tiers. I didn't quite understand the difference until I realized the price was rising the longer I took to look for information. Basically, the first people logged on got the $199 tickets, and after that "tier" sold out, the price went up to "tier 2" for the same ticket and so on. I didn't secure mine until "tier 3" so paid $235 for my basic GA ticket! I think the bundles might make sense if you have a group going, but I was just buying the one ticket so didn't bother investigating.

Andy wrote:

Ken Doherty wrote:

I don't know what the capacity is: this is showing as sold out but they're advertising ticket and hotel bundles (advertised from '$24.99 down' but the cheapest packages start at $630 so I don't know how those tickets previously advertised as $19.99 down worked out: did anyone on here get one?)

I bought a GA ticket. The "$19.99 down" was a way for people to secure the $200+ ticket by only paying $19.99 on the onsale date. You would then pay a certain amount each month until it's covered. I believe there was an additional $10 fee for each payment you made for that option so I just put mine on a credit card.

The annoying thing about the presale were the tiers. I didn't quite understand the difference until I realized the price was rising the longer I took to look for information. Basically, the first people logged on got the $199 tickets, and after that "tier" sold out, the price went up to "tier 2" for the same ticket and so on. I didn't secure mine until "tier 3" so paid $235 for my basic GA ticket! I think the bundles might make sense if you have a group going, but I was just buying the one ticket so didn't bother investigating.

Had another look at my invoice. I almost forgot the $77.71 in service fees!

Andy they are also playing in L A YouTube Theater Wednesday November 15th..you can do the thread as you are The Man😎

ROCKET MICK wrote: Andy they are also playing in L A YouTube Theater Wednesday November 15th..you can do the thread as you are The Man😎

Minty fresh news!

Less than two weeks to go before the festival, and the official site hasn't made a map or schedule of performances available: DarkerWavesFest.com

Andy wrote:

The annoying thing about the presale were the tiers. I didn't quite understand the difference until I realized the price was rising the longer I took to look for information. Basically, the first people logged on got the $199 tickets, and after that "tier" sold out, the price went up to "tier 2" for the same ticket and so on. I didn't secure mine until "tier 3" so paid $235 for my basic GA ticket!

Like a gameshow where you gotta beat the clock (no Sparks on the line up?)

Andy wrote:

Had another look at my invoice. I almost forgot the $77.71 in service fees!

$313! Holy shit that's a lot of money to see NO. Did I mention that I saw NO for £18 at the O2 arena recently?

Andy wrote: Less than two weeks to go before the festival, and the official site hasn't made a map or schedule of performances available: DarkerWavesFest.com

Well I presume NO were the deciding factor in going to this one, but I hope you manage to enjoy some of the other acts too. My experience of festivals is that you only find out the set times a couple of days beforehand. And these days they often have their own app where you can mark your favourites and it will kinda make a schedule for you.

Looking at the lineup, I know you're a bigger Echo & The Bunnymen fan than me, but I did see them once at Hop Farm Festival back in 2009. They were fine but not as exciting as NO for me. Also saw The B52s at Lovebox festival in 2007. Ok but not essential (they're about to retire though). Saw Blossoms at Field Day in 2016 - bored me to death. But their Smiths set with Rick Astley at Glastonbury last summer (I watched on TV) was really good. Saw The Human League at Ben & Jerry's festival in 2009 (free ice cream!) and really enjoyed that. But even then, Phil Oakey was the only true original member (yeah both ladies were there but they aren't proper founder members).

I seem to remember Soft Cell played a "final" gig at the O2 arena in 2018. And yet here they are on a 2023 festival line up. Never seen them; would like to. OMD, The Psychedelic Furs and Tears For Fears are the other 'old' bands I've never seen but would like to. Maybe they'll be good eh? I'd go for £18!

The Chameleons are Manchester's greatest secret.

If anyone going is not familiar with them, please do yourself a favour and catch their set.

'Second Skin' is one of the greatest songs ever recorded, and everything else in their set ain't far behind.

As far as the groups I'm interested in (but have never seen before), The Chameleons, Tears for Fears and The Human League are on the top of the list. I suspect the Tears for Fears set will conflict with New Order, so that's out. From what I've seen of The Human League's recents sets on TV, I don't have high hopes, but Phil still sounds good. I mentioned elsewhere on the site about meeting the sister of Reg from The Chameleons. Decided I should rediscover them at that point and like what I hear. Hopefully they can still do those songs justice. I do like Blossoms, but their live sets don't look particularly great (and I'm seeing them with New Order earlier in the week anyway).

Acts I have seen already include X (with New Order in 1993), The *English* Beat (I've also seen General Public), Clan of Xymox (and Xymox twice), The Cardigans, Violent Femmes (a few times), OMD (twice), The Psychedelic Furs (a few times), Devo, and Echo & the Bunnymen (at least 10 times, plus Mac solo a couple of times - he encored with Ceremony in 1990...).

I'm really curious how this festival is going to be set up. Here's the address: GoogleMaps

Probably the nicest location for a festival I've attended!

Schedule finally made public on Monday: DarkerWavesFest.com

It appears Tears for Fears are technically the headline act as their set begins after New Order's. And I won't need to get there until 1:40pm as The Chameleons are the first band on the schedule that I want to see. But a 30 minute set? Damn. Even OMD only get 40 minutes! But I guess the alternative would be an extra stage resulting in more scheduling conflicts. Oh well.

Andy wrote: I won't need to get there until 1:40pm as The Chameleons are the first band ...

I think you mean 1pm for Cold Cave.

I've planned out the schedule for you for me*

1.05 cold cave

1.40 Chameleons

2ish Xymox or The Beat or Death In Vegas

2.40 OMD

3.25 Violent Femmes

4ish Cardigans or Devo or Kavinsky

4.55 Soft Cell

5.45 Psych Furs or Echo & Bunnymen

6.25 Human League

7.25 N.O.

8.45 TFF

*no I'm not actually going

Debaser wrote:

Andy wrote: I won't need to get there until 1:40pm as The Chameleons are the first band ...

I think you mean 1pm for Cold Cave.

I've planned out the schedule for you for me*

1.05 cold cave

1.40 Chameleons

2ish Xymox or The Beat or Death In Vegas

2.40 OMD

3.25 Violent Femmes

4ish Cardigans or Devo or Kavinsky

4.55 Soft Cell

5.45 Psych Furs or Echo & Bunnymen

6.25 Human League

7.25 N.O.

8.45 TFF

*no I'm not actually going

I'll play this game of 'I'm not going, but here are the bands I'd want to see':

12.25 Skeletal Family (I'm starting earlier)

1:00 Christian Death (probably, although I only know one or two tracks)

1.40 The Chameleons (obviously, but I'd be mildly annoyed that I missed Blossoms. Never gonna pass up a chance to see the brilliant Mark/Reg etc. though)

2ish Xymox or The English Beat (Tough one. If it's Dave Wakeling in The Beat, then maybe (I can't keep track of the two bands who are touring as The Beat). If not, then definitely Xymox

2.40 OMD

3.25 Violent Femmes

4:10 Devo (much as I like The Cardigans, which I have seen live, I'm never going to pass up a chance to see Devo, which I haven't)

4.55 Soft Cell (I'd like to see She Wants Revenge, but this is an easy choice for me)

5.45 Psych Furs or Echo & Bunnymen (definitely a tough choice, but Echo's set is likely to be a 'hit fest', so would probably go with them)

6.25 B52s or Human League (Gah! This is difficult. B52s would be a big fun party, I'd expect, but the League will, again, be crammed full of hits)

7.25 N.O.

8.45 TFF

As regards headlining, I guess both NO and TFF have the same length sets. Perhaps the organisers just thought they'd let punters be able to catch both sets. So they're kind of both headlining (sort of!).

However, all that being said, it seems crazy to think of TFF playing after NO. Have they really got a song that's as much of a crowd pleaser as Blue Monday, Temptation or LWTUA (to name but just a few)?

I like TFF, I really do (well, the first couple of LPs at least), but you can't put Shout, Mad World, Pale Shelter, Head Over Heels or Everybody... anywhere near the heights of JD/NO's best.

It'll be like Garbage headlining over NO at Reading '98. A decent, enjoyable set but a bit of an anti-climax.

perspexorange wrote: As regards headlining, I guess both NO and TFF have the same length sets. Perhaps the organisers just thought they'd let punters be able to catch both sets. So they're kind of both headlining (sort of!).

However, all that being said, it seems crazy to think of TFF playing after NO. Have they really got a song that's as much of a crowd pleaser as Blue Monday, Temptation or LWTUA (to name but just a few)?

I like TFF, I really do (well, the first couple of LPs at least), but you can't put Shout, Mad World, Pale Shelter, Head Over Heels or Everybody... anywhere near the heights of JD/NO's best.

It'll be like Garbage headlining over NO at Reading '98. A decent, enjoyable set but a bit of an anti-climax.

no you cant.

but in their prime, i was a huge tears for fears fan.

so some of those to me are just as good.

i like mothers talk, change, mad world, shout, also.

and saw tears for fears and new order this year.

neither one is as good as they used to be, so its really an individual preference.

later | || | | | | ne gative 1

Debaser wrote:

Andy wrote: I won't need to get there until 1:40pm as The Chameleons are the first band ...

I think you mean 1pm for Cold Cave.

I've planned out the schedule for you for me*

1.05 cold cave

1.40 Chameleons

2ish Xymox or The Beat or Death In Vegas

2.40 OMD

3.25 Violent Femmes

4ish Cardigans or Devo or Kavinsky

4.55 Soft Cell

5.45 Psych Furs or Echo & Bunnymen

6.25 Human League

7.25 N.O.

8.45 TFF

*no I'm not actually going

Cold Cave has always struck me as a group with an appealing sound but no songs that have actually made an impression. Can you recommend some? I watched them from a distance briefly at Cruel World last year.

Cold cave - loves come close LP is excellent. As is the compilation of later singles ‘ Full Cold Moon ‘.

I really like cold cave a bit like Ian Curtis (vocal wise) fronting new order. The music has a real dark edge.

I really love Nation of language as well another band that looks to the 80’s but with their own modern slant on things.

The Shadow wrote: Cold cave - loves come close LP is excellent. As is the compilation of later singles ‘ Full Cold Moon ‘.

I really like cold cave a bit like Ian Curtis (vocal wise) fronting new order. The music has a real dark edge.

I really love Nation of language as well another band that looks to the 80’s but with their own modern slant on things.

I saw Nation of Language last month and they are excellent live. Loving all three of their albums (though the new one disappoints slightly by having fewer synth-driven tracks). Have taken to scooping up their non-album tracks as well, though as I no longer do vinyl, I'm just buying the downloads. Frustratingly for me, they tend to only offer the a-sides of the singles for download. But I guess this rewards the vinyl collectors with relatively rare b-sides. My favourite non-album tracks are "A Different Kind of Life", "From the Hill" and "I've Thought About Chicago". Their cover of Pixies "Gouge Away" is surprisingly good as well.