Founded in London in 1977, The Psychedelic Furs are a British Post-Punk band that have released eight studio albums to date.

• ‘The Psychedelic Furs” (1980)

• ‘Talk Talk Talk’ (1981)

• ‘Forever Now’ (1982)

• ‘Mirror Moves’ (1984)

• ‘Midnight To Midnight’ (1987)

• ‘Book Of Days’ (1989)

• ’World Outside’ (1991)

• ‘Made Of Rain’ (2020)

They released many classic singles throughout the ’80’s and into the 90’s, including: ‘Sister Europe,’ ‘Love My Way,’ ‘The Ghost In You,’ ’ Pretty In Pink,’ ‘Heaven,’ ‘Heartbreak Beat,’ ’All That Money Wants’ and ‘Until She Comes.’

They’ve been on a 7 date tour of the UK with Jah Wobble & The Invaders of the Heart, Wasted Youth and Pauline Murray and the Invisible Girls in support. Tonight was the finale of the tour and saw the tour bus pull up outside the O2 Academy in Bristol for the final hurrah, we were there to capture the action.

As we approached the venue, it was refreshing to be welcomed by a much more ‘experienced’ fanbase, granted, anyone who was a fan of The Furs back in the day would be in their 60s by now and it was great to see so many of their original fans had made it out to catch them on the Bristol leg of the tour.

Inside Bristol’s O2 you could feel the expectation in the crowd. Not from the group next to me mind, they had already been to see them in Cambridge and the Royal Albert Hall earlier in the week!

Wasted Youth opened up the night with a quick fire 30 minute set with little chat and lots of great tunes. ‘Jealousy’ kicked things up a notch and their set also included tracks such as ‘I Wish I was a Girl’ which included an elongated mid-section, allowing the band to have some of the limelight before coming back together to round if off.

They closed their set with ‘Do The Caveman’ which was a full on rock n’ roll banger from the get go and left the audience wanting more but owing to timings, they were unable to oblige.

The support acts were selected by The Furs based on their past history and although the memories were growing thin (a set of lyrics were required to ‘prompt’ lead singer Ken) none of the old style had been lost. This short lived band were only active between 1979-1982 but managed to deliver a fast paced set before teasing that they had more in store for us in 2022.

After a quick(ish!) stage shakeup it was time for Pauline Murray and the Invisible Girls to take to the stage and show what they were made of. I was a little put out as her backing band were all very visible and only one of them was a girl so she may want to revise the name so others don’t feel short changed!

Pauline Murray formed ‘Penetration’ and had their first gig at the Roxy in Jan 1977 supporting Generation X (Billy Idol’s first band), a hugely influential act. With a band made up of a number of sons / daughters they ran through old tracks including ‘Dream Sequence’, ‘Sympathy’ and ‘Shoot You Down’ and a number of new ones, that Pauline recorded during the lockdown, resulting in her ‘Elemental’ long player.

One of her later tracks, ‘Thundertunes’ gave off a much more indie vibe as opposed to the post-punk style for what she is most renowned for, maybe she was a pioneer of the early 80’s indie movement without ever being aware of it?

Finally, it was time for the man act, the one that everyone in the room had come to see! The stage was cleared, which was a necessity with so many people filling it (at times there were 3 guitarists, saxophonist, drummer, bass player and a keyboard player all joining Richard Butler on stage).

From the outset It was clear that the near 30 year gap between albums and 2 year delay on the tour hadn’t taken any of the swagger from the band and the very distinctive gravel toned voice of Richard seemed unchanged after an unbelievable 42 years.

Their set spanned their entire career, the more renowned offerings included ‘Heaven’, ‘The Ghost in You’ and ‘Don’t Believe’ with a number of new tracks from the 2020 release Made of Rain making it to the final list. For me, it was their pitch perfect execution of ‘Pretty in Pink’ which made me look back and realise how much of a classic band The Furs are. The spotlight settled on Richard who was on his haunches, singing to a die hard fan who was singing it back at him, word for word, what a moment!

After a rollercoaster of a show, they took a short break before taking to the stage once again to perform 2 tracks that kicked off the original self titled 1980 release, Sister Europe and India which both went down a storm.

Richard and the band seemed genuinely happy to be back on stage again and he had the entire room eating from his hand as he prowled the stage from left to right, swaying and shimmying through the set in only a way that Richard can, what an energy, what a sound, what a show!

Words by Glenn Morrison, Steve Muscutt & Mike Shuffell

Pictures by Glenn Morrison & Steve Muscutt