Claudia Brücken

Old St. Pancras Church, London - 24 September 2014

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"The elation could be felt throughout the audience"

So it’s a Wednesday night and I find myself leaving work to go to church, on arrival there are a few people standing around and chatting whilst we wait for the doors to open. After a while the doors do open and we enter this old Victorian church that is still in use, but in this case not to worship god but the divine Ms Claudia Brücken.

Now I have to say I have not seen her perform since the days of Propaganda (about thirty years ago) but I have been a constant fan of her music and I still have a VHS tape on developments in electronic music which showcased her work with Thomas Leer as Act, and their album (Laughter, Tears and Rage) that is sumptuous and beautiful. I also have her solo album (Love: And A Million Other Things) and the work she did with Paul Humphies as Onetwo (Instead). So I was fairly confused when the first couple of tracks were new to me, it was only then she announced a new album is due out in October. 


Photos L-R: The venue, Claudia Brücken, the band, the setlist

The band's set up for the gig was fairly minimal with a keyboardist and guitarist and Claudia on vocals. The new tracks were very sophisticated and there were a lot of harpsichord and string sounds that gave it an almost folk edge, but Claudia’s vocal power perfectly complemented these sounds. However, it was only when Claudia performed some of her earlier tracks such as Cloud 9 (a track she co-wrote with Martin Gore of Depeche Mode) that the elation could be felt throughout the audience. This came to a climax when she performed Dual – undoubtedly the song she is best known for. The encore consisted of P-Machinery (another Propaganda song) and then Sweet Sound Vision. Afterwards Claudia happily met with members of the audience and chatted and it was an extremely enjoyable evening and a great intimate venue. 8/10

Setlist: I want You, Nothing Good, Lay all Night, Day is Done, Walk Right In, Never Mind, Cloud 9, One Summer, Moon Song, Letting Go, Time to Make Changes, Everyone Say Hi, Duel, P-Machinery, Sweet Sound Vision 

Review + Photos: Mark Smith

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