On 18 Aug 2006, at 21:42, Evet S. wrote:

>
> If you want to see Bauhaus in thier prime get your hands on the U of
> London show - very raw with early versions of Dancing and Poison Pen,

An mp4 video of Poison Pen from that gig can be downloaded from:

http://www.thesoundofindie.com/?p=182

Not seen it myself yet, but internet reviews are, 'ow you say..."mixed"?

> I think the band blew a golden opportunity back in 98 when they were
> selling out shows they should have kept going and put out a new
> album, and kept touring.

Apparently they had contractual commitments, individually, which
prevented them from doing so. By the time they'd discharged those
commitments, all the steam seemed to have gone out of the idea.

> This last tour
> seemed hastily put together and didn't seem to have much vibe so I
> decided to not spoil my memories of 98.

I saw them twice in '98 and, while they were absolutely fantastic
then, I have to say the first of the recent London gigs was the best
I've *ever* seen them. Some people were carping about the 'best of'
nature of the setlist - but for people who've never the band before,
that's kinda what they expect. Anything else would be cheating them.

The following night's gig was a bit of a disaster, sadly, apparently
for technical reasons - but when they *were* playing, they easily
showed that they've still got it. Spurning that seems like cutting
off your nose to spite your face if you ask me, but some people look
better that way.

> You can tell the band is no longer active I hardly see any posts
> here

But this is utter cobblers, I'm afraid. The reason hardly anyone
posts here anymore is that the internet has moved on - everyone's
over at the forum on the official site, which is regularly buzzing!
Yahoogroups is dead, it just doesn't know it yet. Email? Pah. (A
shame, really, as I far prefer typing into my mail client than a web
interface, but that's Web 2.0 for you.)

> and the DVD debacle was another missed opportunity.

What, the Shadow/Archive fiasco? Yes, but it's worth bearing in mind
that the band had nothing whatsoever to do with that travestastic
release. INALB they didn't even make a penny out of it, AIUI - they
sold the publication rights to the vast majority of their back
catalogue some years ago, so when you buy a Bauhaus album (except
Gotham, natch), they no longer get residuals/royalties.

> Gotham left
> out the awe inspiring version of "Severance" as well.

Disc 1, Track 9 of the CD release, though. Yes, I know it's not the
same.

Cheers,

b.