Curve
Showbox, Seattle - Monday, June 29, 1998
When Curve powered down in 1994, after an emotionally punishing schedule which effectively drained the duo, many fans of the band surely thought they had seen the last of them, which would have been unfortunate seeing as they did at least help push progressive rock music into a different space, one which also accomodated elements of a decidely electronic nature.
But after the release of their first new album in over four years, Come Clean, with its many and varied sample based grooves and electronic treatments, you would have been forgiven for expecting a new technofied version of Curve, complete with DJ's, full on electronics packed ADAT backing tracks and a keyboard player.
As it turned out the band opted for the traditional rock and roll touring setup, with the usual bass, drums, lead guitar and singer. But at least that's where the traditional rock and roll bit ends.
As far as I could make out almost every single song had a backing track, but very rarely was it easily discernable. Consisting mainly of extra percussion, including bass and drums, lots of atmospherics and moody stuff plus an assortment of general sound effects which basically helped put the groove wherever it needed to be at any point in time quickly and painlessly.
High points of the show for me included Alligators, Beyond Reach and one of the encore songs Recovery. These three primarily because the electronic elements played a bigger part than usual.
But nothing helped supply the magic more than Toni Halliday's voice, which effortlessy carried each meticulously constructed song and captivated an audience which seemed well and truly happy to have witnessed such an inspired performance.
