With Poptone, Daniel Ash and Kevin Haskins are able to bring to a stage their vast catalogue of music derived from all three of the iconic bands that they were founding members of: Bauhaus, Tones on Tail and Love and Rockets. With the addition of the ethereal Diva Dompé, Haskins’ daughter covering their heavy basslines, synths as well as vocal harmonies, Ash (vocals, guitars, saxophone) and Haskins (drums) have formed an act that focuses on their astounding career retrospective spanning nearly four decades.
Having been set to play two shows in New York this summer, the band cancelled the first show at Mulcahy’s in Long Island on the day of due to Daniel Ash’s sudden flu. They resumed their tour the following day and took the stage at Brooklyn’s Warsaw on Thursday, June 28th, as scheduled.
Warsaw (QRO venue review), a music venue located inside of The Polish National Home, is a refreshing change from the many cramped establishments where NYC houses live acts. With enough room to wander around and even a dining area that serves homemade Polish food, Warsaw is probably the only place on planet Earth where you can enjoy some goth-rock classics while eating cheese and potato pierogies prepared by someone’s very own cute, little babka.
When eyes were set to the stage, one can see the Poptone aesthetic and it’s stark simplicity. The band’s ensembles are limited to a palette of black and white, as Bauhaus wore black and Tones on Tail wore white. Accentuated further by a stage lit by such an intense black light, one might wonder if they were about to embark upon a game of laser tag. Bathed in the deep purple hue, Daniel Ash’s glowing white acoustic and white-rimmed glasses take hold of sight. No shock to the audience, Ash is still glitzy in presence. Dressed up in pinstriped trousers and sporting a black Mohawk, he’s always been quite the distinctive one. Not only is he musically innovative, he is constantly displaying an essence of youth while remaining a bit intimidating, as he should. More than likely, he is the reason you had that dark and large haircut during your goth phase in high school. Many may even owe a lot to both Ash and Haskins for a majority of great music that has come about since all of their many incarnations. They have been cited as the inspiration for countless artists in the ‘80s and ‘90s, who in turn, inspired artists of today, creating a domino effect that results in keeping Poptone’s set list sounding fresh and far from outdated.
Dompé opened the show with a minute long slow and steady bassline as they began the night with “I Feel Speed”, followed by “Haunted When the Minutes Drag”, two Love and Rockets fan favorites. After the band played another Love and Rockets song, “Mirror People”, they dove into a few Tones on Tail tracks, “Happiness” and “Movement of Fear”. Tones on Tail in particular have a sound that could best be described as, ‘If Doom and Gloom felt like going out dancing;’ very dark, but very quirky at the same time. Prior to Poptone’s formation last year, it would’ve been nearly 35 years since an audience could hear a Tones on Tail song played live.
All was well as the band played a few more songs, including, “Love Me” and the hauntingly epic, “Burning Skies”, until the performance of, well, “Performance”. Ash’s sickness finally comes to a head when he flubbed a verse ever so slightly, but irked him enough to address it to the audience. He wholeheartedly apologized for, “Whatever that was,” and went into a little about his agonizing flu before playing a cover of the Temptations’ “Ball of Confusion”. Midway through and visibly not up to par, Ash departed from the stage. Much to the audience’s surprise, he resurfaced moments later for an encore and went straight into the crowd favorite, “Go!”, which again was abandoned as he exited the stage for the last time. At this point, the audience was pleased enough with the performance. Ash had the determination in his attempts to persist despite his illness, and seemed omnipotent for a great duration of the show, playing twelve songs in total. The night was over around 10:30 but only someone with the emotional capacity of Robert Durst could take issue with this.
The band(s) still maintain, and will always maintain, a very cult like following. So much so, a few women went as far as to squabble and fight over the set list, which led them to getting thrown out. And shortly thereafter, as they remained rowdy, they managed to get kicked out of… outside. It wouldn’t surprise me if someone tried to rub their hands and face on Ash’s saxophone in hopes to contract the virus so that they can run and tell all their friends from the goth club with a dark and large haircut, “I caught Daniel Ash’s flu!”
Set list:
- I Feel Speed (Love and Rockets)
- Haunted When the Minutes Drag (Love and Rockets)
- Mirror People (Love and Rockets)
- Movement of Fear (Tones on Tail)
- Happiness (Tones on Tail)
- No Big Deal (Love and Rockets)
- Lions (Tones on Tail)
- Love Me (Love and Rockets)
- Burning Skies (Tones on Tail)
- Performance (Tones on Tail)
- Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today) (The Temptations – covered during Love and Rockets era)
- Go! (Tones on Tail)
