Richard Butler Touched My Hand

Richard Butler - Psychedelic Furs

 

It’s crazy imagining that,  after all these years, the impact of Psychedelic Furs’ frontman Richard Butler reaching out to you from the stage and shaking your hand mid-song would still be electrical. 

That is, unless you’ve seen the Furs perform live on their 2010 tour. 

Last night’s performance at the White Rabbit in San Antonio was nothing less than electrical.  The Brothers Butler – with help from Mars Williams, Paul Garisto, Rich Good, and Amanda Kramer – filled the stuffy hardcore venue with energy that seemed to stem directly from the Furs’ 1981 American debut; and the relevance and potency of their music after close to 30 years was palpable.  Every head in the crowd bobbed, every body in the room swayed, and not a moment of it was lost on the variously aged audience that stood enthralled before the stage; for well over an hour, teens, 20-somethings, 30-somethings, and beyond wouldn’t give up an inch of floor. 

Rich Good and Richard Butler

 

Unlike openers, She Wants Revenge, the Furs didn’t stack their setlist with the most popular, accessible songs toward the end.  In fact, they ripped right into the audience with one of their most identifiable tracks, “Love My Way,” followed it up shortly therafter with “Ghost in You,” and never looked back.  All smiles and laughter, Richard Butler danced and weaved about the stage during every song, pleasing the audience with his signature ‘elbow-leaning-on-the-mic-stand’ and ‘prayer-hands-above-the-mic’  moves.  He even spun around during “Heaven”… f— yeah!  If his charisma and energy grew throughout the set, it was hardly noticeable, as he hit the ground running with high-intensity, effortless dancing and nonstop crowd engagement. 

Mars Williams

 

But saying that Richard Butler’s presence was the only memorable part of the experience would be a tragic error.  Mars Williams wailed his saxaphone to life on songs like “Heartbeat” and “Sister Europe,” often leaning into the crowd in an amazing spectacle of strained neck veins and flash-fingered fury.  Tim Butler, cool behind dark sunglasses, galloped across the stage and interplayed with Rich Good, who was tearing up the strings of a smooth white-on-white Fender Jaguar.  Meanwhile, Garisto adroitly laid the thumping framework of each song as angelic Amanda Kramer (Information Society), stood smiling behind two massive synthesizers. 

 A band as successful as the Psychedelic Furs can’t very well stack a setlist when their entire discography is loaded with cult hits and chart-ranked songs; the whole set was stacked.  They showcased a range of styles from the rough-edged “President Gas” to the melancholic “She Is Mine” and finally arriving at the infectious “Pretty in Pink.”  And when they, at last, thanked the crowd (for the umpteenth time and after returning for an encore), the White Rabbit was that much more empty for them having left the room. 

Look out, Austin… here come the Psychedelic Furs.