Gig review: Editors, Glasgow
An interesting but underdeveloped moody start, with stately Vangelis-like keyboards and some delicate cooing from frontman Tom Smith gave way to a set of manicured arena angst rock, which was superficially impressive especially when punctuated by a lavish strobe and spotlight display, but built on flimsy foundations.
Some of these big-for-the-sake-of-big tracks were blessed with more stomping momentum than others. Fans seized on these moments and worked themselves into a tizzy as Editors spun the illusion of urgency over mild-mannered melodies. Smith made a wired show of it too, like an animal whose only defence against being eaten alive by stronger beasts is to make itself look larger than it really is.
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Hide AdThere was a welcome move away from indie worthiness into the more entertaining realm of pomp rock during one booming pseudo-gothic chant, and a brazen bash at U2 rocker territory with A Ton Of Love.
Smith applied a coating of melodrama to the banal premise of Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors during a brief solo acoustic stint before they returned to the safe indie haven of early hit Munich – in retrospect, still one of their strongest hooks.