Looking at this fall’s concert slate, it’s starting to feel like 1985 in the best way possible. No less than four legendary European New Wave/post-punk bands that contributed some of the ‘70s and ‘80s best albums will be visiting South Florida for exceedingly rare performances.
Some are honoring albums from their creative peaks, and others are hoping to chart new ones with brand-new music; still others are redefining the live concert experience. But they have this in common: Five years ago, it’s unlikely any of them would have included “America’s wang” into their tour schedules, because our purportedly small audience wouldn’t have offset the travel expenses. Au contraire: Expect packed houses for all of these.
Sept. 29: Kraftwerk 3D concert at Olympia Theatre, 174 E. Flagler St., Miami, 11:30 p.m.; $58.50-$78.50. As much a performance-art project as a band, forever-futuristic Krautrock pioneers Kraftwerk have spent more than 45 years contemplating the synergy of man and machine—sometimes on custom- or self-made instruments. Acts as far-flung as Blondie, Coldplay and Nicki Minaj have famously cited or sampled Kraftwerk’s music, which helped create the nascent genres of techno, hip-hop and electronica. What exactly is a 3D concert? It’s hard to say exactly, but the only remaining original member of Kraftwerk, Ralf Hutter, told Rolling Stone “We translated our performances to 3D, and in surround sound, kind of like 3D sound.” No word whether glasses will be required.
LISTEN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAxu2eMhuSQ
Oct. 2: The Jesus & Mary Chain at Olympia Theatre, 174 E. Flagler St., Miami, 8 p.m.; $40-$75. This booking at one of Miami’s most surprising indie-music hubs is arguably even more interesting than Kraftwerk, because I cannot recall J&MC ever visiting South Florida. Formed by Scottish brothers Jim and William Reid in 1983, the band is responsible for making noise-rock palatable, marrying a feedback-drenched aesthetic with a honeyed pop sensibility. It’s been a remarkable 30 years since the Jesus and Mary Chain released its debut album “Psychocandy,” a record that hasn’t aged a day; its sonic fingerprints are all over the past three decades of indie music. To celebrate, J&MC will play the album in its entirety, preceded by a curated selection of other hits.
LISTEN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2bzrCCKDwc
Oct. 29: Gang of Four at Grand Central, 697 N. Miami Ave., Miami, 8 p.m.; $25. In the late ‘70s, Leeds’ Gang of Four essentially invented dance-punk music, giving the nascent energy and radical snarl of the Sex Pistols a metronomic foundation and a danceable backbeat. The politics remained as a provocative as anything released by the Pistols or the Clash, if not more so: The songs on Gang of Four’s still-seminal 1979 debut “Entertainment!” touch on fascism, chemical warfare, consumerism and sexual inhibition. Quaint as it seems today in the age of the salacious rap video, the band walked off the popular BBC music program Top of the Pops when the producers asked them to change the word “rubbers” to “rubbish.” Since 1983, Gang of Four has split and reformed, unable to capture the consistent pulse of its early albums. But with a new LP to offer (What Happens Next?) and a new lead vocalist (John Sterry), the band seems poised to reestablish itself in the 21st century.
LISTEN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPJHQmJAiKA
Nov. 5: Public Image Ltd. at Culture Room, 3045 N. Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale, 8 p.m.; $25. The very year the Sex Pistols’ brief but influential existence flamed out in the death of its co-founder Sid Vicious, its other leader, John Lydon, was back in the studio, making a record that was markedly different than his former band’s gnarled fury. Inspired by reggae and world music, he formed Public Image (later adding the “Ltd.”) with three players as progressive and boundary-pushing as he was, and released the moody, challenging, astonishing debut “First Issue.” Lydon topped it the following year with his magnum opus “Metal Box,” a scary, uncompromising affront to pop structure. Like everybody else’s, Lydon’s music has mellowed in a more commercial direction in the 35 years since its release, but it hasn’t lost a shred of its relevance. PiL is supporting its second album since its 2009 reformation, the snaky new tunes mixing agelessly with the vintage ear-scorchers.
LISTEN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6Bv887-JlM
