LIVE: The Psychedelic Furs and Royston Langdon @ Empire Live, 03/21/2022

By Leif Zurmuhlen On Mar 22, 2022

Former Spacehog, former Arckid, former Leeds and ex-son-in-law of Steven Tyler, Royston Langdon took the Empire Live stage solo armed with his acoustic guitar, cowboy hat, and white sunglasses on Monday night breaking the ice with his new song about having sex with a “Nazi Girlfriend”: “So I can make a full report” from his 2021 release “Chains”. Langdon followed up with the Spacehog hit “In The Meantime”, Tin Machine’s “Amazing”, Arckid’s “Germany” and ended with a cover of David Bowie’s “Ashes to Ashes” after a tribute to the late icon and the loss of a guitar string which failed to slow down his strong opening set.

Backlit and rocking The Psychedelic Furs commanded the stage from the start with song after song-“The Ghost In You”, “Pretty In Pink”, “Love My Way”, “President Gas”, “Heaven”, “Heartbreak Beat”-reminding the John Hughes-bred crowd why these songs were in constant rotation as they were struggling through art school in the ’80s. Richard Butler’s corrosive rasp was in fine form as he raffishly draped himself over the band members, raised his arms in artful poses, and easily lowered himself into deep bows belying his 65-year-old knees. New songs “Wrong Train”, “The Boy That Invented Rock And Roll” and “Don’t Believe” from “Made Of Rain”, the band’s first release in almost three decades fit right in stylistically with their classics. The night was drenched with synth and sax. With hardly a beat between songs and minimal banter, the Furs delivered a tight, propulsive presentation encoring with Sister Europe and India, both from their excellent 1980 eponymous debut.