Last night at The Beacon Theatre, London, England’s The The returned to New York City for only the second time in 24 years (I attended the 2018 Brooklyn Steel show) with a full performance of characteristically moody & thoughtful comeback LP Ensoulment in a two-plus hour show that The The founder and sole constant Matt Johnson called “two sets for the price of one,” to the delight of the reverent audience, many of whom had never seen The The.
Johnson has always followed his muse, as chronicled in 2017 documentary The Inertia Variations, which explained the circumstances of his life since he put The The on hold in 2003, overcoming chronic illness and family deaths while focusing on composing for film soundtracks (and popping up in cameo roles in The The fan J.J. Abrams’s Star Wars films; Abrams was in attendance) and a brush with death that required emergency throat surgery in 2020, which seems to have catalyzed the new LP’s meditations “Where Do We Go When We Die?” and the rousing “Life After Life.”
Since his earliest days on 4AD, Johnson has attracted a fascinating cast of talented star collaborators (including Marc Almond, Sinead O’Connor, Jules Holland, Neneh Cherry, & JG Thirlwell AKA Foetus, also at the show) and band members, most notably Johnny Marr, and this tour lineup includes longtime associates bassist James Eller (Nick Lowe, Julian Cope) & DC Collard on keyboard/harmonica/backing vocals (Subway Sect, Alison Moyet), Little Barrie Cadogan (now famous for the Better Call Saul TV theme, Marr recommended him for the 2018 tour) on guitar/backing vocals, and drummer Chris Whitten (The Waterboys, World Party, Paul McCartney; Whitten joined the tour in September to fill in for longtime drummer Earl Harvin, who is on the new LP).
For the opening Ensoulment set, an Ascot-capped, dark-suited Johnson stood mostly in front of his two vintage/one wireless vocal mic station, a professor of poetic expression plumbing the existential emotional depths of aging with his signature take on the personal (“Zen & The Art of Dating”) and political (“Kissing the Ring of POTUS”) in his rich and deep baritone voice while his ensemble teased out the cinematic, tension-building bluesy rhythms and riffs, especially from Cadogan with his masterful reverbed hanging arpeggios and even bowed sustain on “Linoleum Smooth to the Stockinged Foot.”
After a brief intermission, The The returned for the retrospective portion, with Johnson shedding the jacket and hat to roam the stage in his shaven-head black-clad doomsday prophet persona as the band kicked up the energy, with intense versions of 1983 LP Soul Mining’s “Infected,” optimistic Omnichord hook hit “This is the Day,” “Uncertain Smile” with Collard deftly taking on Holland’s nearly 3-minute rollicking piano solo with the extra attack, and a final encore of the formerly rarely-played “Giant” with a new great clipped funk guitar riff by Cadogan. Other highlights included a gritty, rocking “Dogs of Lust,” the touching gospel-tinged “Love is Stronger than Death,” and philosophical “Lonely Planet” from 1992 LP Dusk (a stripped-down revamp of my favorite Dusk song “Slow Emotion Replay” was interesting, but I missed the sparkling Smithsy guitars) and a sadly still-relevant “Armageddon Days Are Here (Again)” from 1989 LP Mind Bomb.
Hopefully, this incarnation of The The will continue to record and tour after the Ensoulment world tour ends in November, and we will get a chance to hear more magic from Johnson (including my favorite The The single “Jealous of Youth”).
Setlist 1: Ensoulment
Cognitive Dissident
Some Days I Drink My Coffee by the Grave of William Blake
Zen & the Art of Dating
Kissing the Ring of POTUS
Life After Life
I Want to Wake Up With You
Down by the Frozen River
Risin’ Above the Need
Linoleum Smooth to the Stockinged Foot
Where Do We Go When We Die?
I Hope You Remember (The Things I Can’t Forget)
A Rainy Day in May
Setlist 2: Retrospective
Infected
Armageddon Days Are Here (Again)
The Sinking Feeling
Heartland
The Whisperers
Love Is Stronger Than Death
August & September
Slow Emotion Replay
This Is the Day
Icing Up
Dogs of Lust
Sweet Bird of Truth
Lonely Planet
Encore:
Uncertain Smile
GIANT
