Artist: The Psychedelic Furs

Venue: De La Warr Pavilion

Town: Bexhill

Date: 30.10.25

The brothers Tim and Richard Butler are the enduring core of The Psychedelic Furs from their inception in 1977, coming on to the De La Warr stage with their breakthrough song in the UK up to that point "Heaven", how must it feel to have such a rich smorgasbord of songs to select their set from? "Heaven" probably was at their peak in terms of world domination during the mid eighties, though strangely this song wasn't released in the USA as surely would have been a bigger smash than "Here come Cowboys"? Their next album Midnight To Midnight also charted well in the USA but was the arduous toil and constant rock and roll cycle showing cracks in their artistic product?

With eight original albums released, including a much later excellent return with 2020's Made of Rain, the songs selected at The De LA Warr show were varied. All examples of how magical the band were at producing interesting melodic classics, through many ensemble changes over those years.

Highlights were "President Gas", "Love my way", "Run and Run", "Pretty in Pink" (of course) and the encore of "India", written at what was a different time and lineup, when they were under the spell of The Velvet Underground. Sadly no other songs from the debut LP but as mentioned you can't play everything in your repertoire. "India" did receive a lot of knowing nods and broad smiles as it kicked into life.

Richard Butler thanked and sent love to the crowd at the end, The Psychedelic Furs head to London next for the last UK date, I am so pleased I was in Bexhill to witness a band that brightened my teens with their musical colour.

The Psychedelic Furs Website

Review and Photographs for Return To Sound by Dan Reddick