Bauhaus - Golden Hall

OK, I confess.  I went to the Bauhaus reunion tour, billed as Resurrection98.  It's not like I went to the Madness reunion or the B52's/Pretenders, and it's not like I'm going to go to Culture Club/Human League/Howard Jones!  Bauhaus is one repackaged 80's music nostalgia product I can live with.  The show was actually quite good, unsurprising since it was basically a compilation of all of Bauhaus' biggest songs.  My favorite was the cover of Bowie's Ziggy Stardust; I loved it back in high school and I got a huge rush hearing it live.

One surprise for me was the size of the crowd.  I never imagined that there were so many Goths in San Diego, but they turned out in full force.  People also came from Los Angeles and Orange County, having been unable to secure tickets to the three sold out shows at the Hollywood Palladium.  I have to believe that much of the audience didn't like Bauhaus when they were around the first time, whether due to age or ignorance or the band's low profile during the 80's.  (Low profile in the mainstream that is - I liked them before there even was a Love and Rockets.)  Anyhow, everyone was definitely into the band in a big way, and most people seemed to know most of the material.

I must admit, however, that I do feel a little guilt with my pleasure.  It feels cheap to see a band for the first time fourteen years after it breaks up.  Especially since the band's motivation for the reunion reeks of insincerity.  It seems obvious that, after none-too-successful solo careers by Peter Murphy, Daniel Ash, and David J, and the fizzling out of Love and Rockets, the band members just ran out of money and needed to do the reunion to pay the bills.  At $30 per ticket, 4000 tickets per show, and at least 30 shows, the gross should be enough to keep them in the green for a while.  That's not even including merchandise sales (I saw a lot of $25 shirts sold) and increased CD sales.  Watching the band perform, with the attention and spotlight always on Murphy, it seems obvious why the band split in the first place.  The clash of egos when Ash and J tried to become more than just the backing band for Murphy was apparently too great.  For my part, I think Ash and J definitely have talent on their own; my favorite work from the collective recordings of these guys is the 1985 Love and Rockets release Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven.