Miki Berenyi Trio
Great American Music Hall, San Francisco
June 1, 2024
Photos by Raymond Ahner
When the Miki Berenyi Trio took the stage at the Great American Music Hall, they did so to a rapturous applause. Lead by Miki Berenyi and featuring Ollie Cherer on guitar and Mick Conroy on bass (a lineup specific to this tour), it was the first time that Miki had played in San Francisco since her old band Lush did a short reunion tour in 2016. Since then, shoegaze and dream pop has grown in popularity due to social media apps like TikTok and Instagram, exposing younger generations to the kind of music that Miki has been so intrinsically tied to. Due to this, there were more than a few members of the audience that probably weren’t even alive when Lush was originally together.
And just like that, the trio opened with two Lush songs: “Stray” and “Leaves Me Cold.” They wouldn’t be the only Lush songs played throughout the evening, but they, along with the rest played during the show, felt less like Miki retreading old ground and more like her and her band reinterpreting these songs in a new way. The most obvious change is the lack of live drums, but Ollie’s playing style is a bit different than Emma Anderson’s, and it was interesting to hear his take on her original guitar parts.
I love Lush. I would put them on the Mount Rushmore of shoegaze and dream pop bands and seeing their reunion show is probably in my top ten concerts I’ve ever been to, but what I was most eager to hear were the new songs that the band had worked on. With only one of them having a proper studio release so far (“Vertigo”), I intentionally didn’t watch or listen to any of the band’s live sets because I wanted to be surprised. And surprised I was. Miki, her husband Moose (who usually plays in the trio but was absent for their North American tour), and Ollie have crafted songs that could go toe to toe with some of Lush’s classics. The first two up were the more uptempo “Hurricane” and the aforementioned “Vertigo,” two of the strongest examples of the new material.
It wasn’t just old Lush songs getting dusted off and performed by the trio. Early in the set the band the band performed a cover of “Love At First Sight” by the band The Gist, which came as a complete surprise. Also performed were two songs by Piroshka, the supergroup that Miki and Mick were members of with the aforementioned Moose and Justin Welch of Elastica. The band never toured in North America, so to be able to see “V.O.” and “Everlastingly Yours” (my favorite Piroshka song) being played live felt like a true treat that I may never get to witness again.
Miki was in great spirits throughout the entire show, saying “Thank you!” with a big smile after nearly every song. Once they finished a Lush number, she jokingly said to the cheering crowd, “Oh you’re showing your age!” Later on in the set she told the audience, “You can dance to this next one if your body is feeling up to it,” before blasting into the dancey “Big I Am,” which was a highlight of the Trio’s new songs. Following that, the main set of the show came to a close with a rousing rendition of the Lush single “Ladykillers,” a song that the band hasn’t performed until recently. Miki’s voice is just as powerful as ever, and after finishing the song the crowd erupted.
“Now, we don’t do encores, so just pretend we went offstage and came back,” Miki said to the crowd as the three band members stayed in their positions onstage. The first of the two final songs in the band’s set was a cover of “Suzanne” by Moose, a band founded by Miki’s husband and trio member Kevin “Moose” McKillop. Miki dedicated the song to him, and it was a touching tribute. The show was closed with a performance of one of my favorite Lush songs, “Baby Talk.” A harrowing song made even more disturbing having read Miki’s memoir, the song was performed with just as much venom and power as the original, Miki and Ollie tearing through their respective guitar parts. It was a showstopper in every sense of the word, the kind of song that I wouldn’t even know what to follow up with given the chance. And the band didn’t. They left the stage to yet another rapturous applause, just like the kind they had come onstage to. They deserved every clap and holler thrown their way, and hopefully the Miki Berenyi Trio’s album comes out soon and they return. Until then, I have the memory of seeing one of my favorite musicians yet again.
Opening the show was Lol Tolhurst x Budgie, a duo comprised of the respective drummers of The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees. Touring in support of their album Los Angeles, a song produced by Jackknife Lee which featured guest vocalists on every song, the duo performed on electronic drum kits to backing tracks of the songs, including said vocals. The voices of James Murphy, Isaac Brock, and Arrow DeWilde filled the venue, but my attention was locked firmly on seeing the two percussive powerhouses play their respective instruments. Budgie’s style was more loose, reminding me of his performances in music videos like “Spellbound” and “The Passenger,” while Lol’s approach to drumming felt more machine-like and regimented, harkening back to the locked-in drumming of The Cure’s Pornography album. The duo didn’t spend the entire set behind their kits, first with Budgie coming to the front of the stage to play harmonica during the song “Uh Oh.” The biggest reaction from the crowd came when Lol stood behind a keyboard and began playing the opening notes to the signature Cure song “A Forest,” only for Budgie to launch into it behind him. I never in my wildest dreams thought that I would see Lol Tolhurst and Budgie onstage together, let alone playing one of my favorite songs by The Cure. After closing their set with “Skins,” which saw Lol playing some sort of electronic taiko drum, the band left me hoping to see them play a headlining set in the future.
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