BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.3.1//EN TZID:America/New_York X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York BEGIN:VEVENT UID:742@jointherevolution.net DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251011T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251011T230000 DTSTAMP:20250424T231552Z URL:https://www.jointherevolution.net/concerts/andy-bell-of-erasure-2/ SUMMARY:Andy Bell of Erasure DESCRIPTION:ANDY BELL - TEN CROWNS\n\nWhen you reach a milestone in your li fe\, what’s the best way to mark it? By embracing it\, glorying in it – crowning it\, in fact – with an album of euphoric songs produced an d polished in Nashville\, of course!\n\n \;\n\nThe name of Andy Bell ’s third solo album\, Ten Crowns – like its cover art\, featuring hi s head on a glistening gold coin – is making Andy smile today: "It sound s like a pub!”\, he jokes. But behind that title lies ten songs of dazz ling\, joyous pop\, inspired by the dancefloor and gospel\, completed in t he year he turned 60. \n\n \;\n\nThe name also refers to the tarot\, he says: “The ten crowns on the tree of life\, which is a very powerful card to have. And I’d just got my crowns on my teeth done in Miami when I was trying to think about a title!”\, he laughs.\n\n \;\n\nAfter E rasure’s last two fabulous albums – 2020’s The Neon and its 2021 com panion piece Day-Glo (Based On A True Story)\, full of fascinating experim ental reconstructions of The Neon’s tracks – Bell threw himself into w riting with Dave Audé\, a producer with whom he’s been close for over a decade. Dave met Andy while DJing at a club in 2010 run by a mutual frien d\, Stephen Moss\, who became Andy’s partner and husband (Stephen and An dy live together in London and Atlanta).\n\n \;\n\nWorking with someon e who is not Vince Clarke introduces a new set of dynamics\, Andy says – although Erasure fans should know that forty years on\, they are still go ing strong and recently reunited to begin work on the next Erasure album. “I still love working with Vince\, but when you're writing with another person\, it’s like the same feeling as going to another country or movin g to America. You can just invent who you are\, become a brand new person. ”\n\n \;\n\nAndy and Dave have already released two US dance chart n umber ones together: 2014’s ‘Aftermath (Here We Go)’ and 2016’s ‘True Original’\, the latter arriving in the same year that Dave won a Grammy for his remix of Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ Uptown Funk’. Aft er those dance tracks\, the pair “just kind of carried on writing as an exercise”\, Andy explains\, “and after that\, Dave moved his family to Nashville because LA was so expensive\, and so our writing took this kind of gospel-tinged Nashville twist."\n\n \;\n\nHe describes how in Nash ville there’s a church on every corner (“it reminded me of singing in choirs and cathedral school as a child\, where the spirit of the church is imbued in the music"). Not that Ten Crowns is a sombre\, spiritual set. I t’s propulsive\, electronic\, passionate\, driven by the need to encount er new emotions and experiences as life races on. “I mean\, I’ve got e verything I could possibly wish for\, you know\, I really have\, but that ’s not to say I’m always fulfilled\,” Andy adds. “This album’s a bout picking yourself up\, dusting yourself off\, embracing life – and a bout taking that feeling on even when you’re fighting demons in the worl d\, like homophobia\, and fighting demons in yourself. It’s about being celebratory and uplifting.”\n\n \;\n\nTen Crowns also features Andy ’s ultimate pop heroine – one he sang about on a track back in 2010\, ‘DHDQ’\, and now sings alongside on the yearningly wistful ‘Heart's A Liar.’ “To have Debbie Harry singing with me – you know\, I still can’t quite believe it.” He’s known Blondie for years\, he explains\ , and they have always been kind to him\, inviting him backstage at their gigs\, Chris Stein giving him hugs\, Debbie “sitting in the corner\, tea sing me... she knows how much of a fan I am of the band”\n\n \;\n\nD ebbie's an inspiration to Andy in other ways\, too – although he hasn't got the energy to emulate her\, he laughs. “I mean she’s eighty this y ear and one minute she’s in Australia\, the next she’s at Paris Fashio n Week. Bloody hell!” The song is Andy’s rewrite of a track by English -Italian singer-songwriter and regular Dave Audé collaborator Luciana\, w hich Andy imagines being about two lovers being no good for each other. “Debbie gives it this gravitas and this coquettishness\, but she’s sti ll very in command. And she recorded her vocals in the studio on Gay Pride \, which I thought when I heard it\, oh\, trust her!”\n\n \;\n\nTen Crowns begins\, however\, with a cosmic flash. ‘Breaking Thru The Inters tellar’ sees Andy dance us “towards another paradise…ready for a ne w dimension / On our galactic journey”. Inspired by Andy’s love of rea ding BBC science magazines\, and the possible existence of wormholes that allow travel through space\, the song also reminds him of Boney M’s ‘N ightflight to Venus and Leila K’s ‘Open Sesame’. “It's on first be cause I wanted to let people know we're going to go for a ride now\, you k now!"\n\n \;\n\n‘Lies So Deep’ follows\, a song about getting over the intensity of heartbreak\, where your heart is like a toffee apple but you’re desperate for somebody to come along and break it. Parts of it r emind Andy of Stevie Nicks and Adele\, and he’s joined for the middle-ei ght by another Audé collaborator\, Sarah Potenza\, who broke through in t he US on The Voice. “I wanted someone who was like Whitney Houston cross ed with Yazoo\, and Sarah’s thing was country and gospel. But as soon as I heard her sing these lines\, I was like\, Oh\, my God – that’s it. She brings its emotions to life.”\n\n \;\n\nThe album’s full-bloo ded spirit continues thereafter. ‘For Today’ is radio-perfect\, Human League-style electronic pop. ‘Dance For Mercy’ uses the bassline of Sh eila and B Devotion’s ‘Spacer’ as the brilliant foundation of a trac k about reconnecting with your time on earth (“my feet never touched the ground / Walked through the tunnel / Went towards the light / But they sa id that it wasn’t my time”). There’s a lot of dancing on this album\ , Andy points out. “Even in Peterborough when I grew up\, with my mum an d dad in working men's clubs\, I would dance the whole evening. And my hea rt's always been in dance music\, even if" – he rolls his eyes with sel f-deprecation – "I don’t really go to clubs anymore!”\n\n \;\n\n Some songs hint at the emotional journey Andy has been on in his life. “ It’s so very hard to say hello / When your whole world comes crashing do wn\,” he sings\, movingly\, on ‘Don’t Cha Know’ (“the most ABBA song on here”). ‘Godspell’ moves from feelings of rapture to castiga tion in its pounding rhythms and fabulous lyrics: “Get thee behind me\, charlatan / Get thee behind me\, sycophant / Get thee behind me\, false pr ophet.” \n\n \;\n\nComments on modern life also sparkle lightly aro und Ten Crowns' golden edges. Featuring a chorus written by Sisely Treasur e of the band Shiny Toy Guns\, ‘Put Your Empathy On Ice’ sharply satir ises today’s overwhelming online world (“No-one can make up their mind s / Because their minds are made up for them”). The stunning ‘Dawn Of Heaven’s Gate’ begins differently\, with a dream: “If there’s anyt hing I could do for you / Absolutely anything / I would get down on my kne es / And pray to the highest power / It wouldn’t be just any power / It would be the power to believe / That we could change everything.”\n\n&nb sp\;\n\n"That song's partly about this idea of wondering why in the hell w e can't all get on\,” Andy explains. “The whole album is like asking f or salvation\, really\, in a world where everybody ultimately wants to be loved.” Ten Crowns concludes with a very moving moment\, a song that And y thinks might partly inspired by his mum\, called ‘Thank You’. It's a bout seeing the light as the end of life approaches\, directed to “all t he people and friends / that came along for the ride / I thank you truly ”. As euphoric funeral songs go\, it’s hard to think of any better.\n\ n \;\n\nTen Crowns marks a properly majestic moment in Andy Bell’s f orty-year career. His joy about what that holds\, and where it can go\, cl early excites him. “It’s my third sort of solo record [following 2005 ’s Electric Blue and 2010’s Non-Stop] and in Erasure\, our third album was our most successful out of all that we’ve done\, so maybe I’m tak ing that spirit with me!" \n\n \;\n\nTravelling into new dimensions a nd possibilities with gospel in the heart and dancing in the soul clearly suits him. Ten Crowns is Andy Bell imperial\, gleaming\, ready for his cor onation. \n\n \; ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.jointherevolution.net/wp-content/upl oads/2025/04/image-18.png CATEGORIES:All Ages,Concerts LOCATION:Revolution Live\, 100 SW 3rd Ave.\, Fort Lauderdale\, FL\, 33312\, United States GEO:26.121358;-80.1461974 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=100 SW 3rd Ave.\, Fort Laud erdale\, FL\, 33312\, United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=Revolution Live:geo:26.121358,-80.1461974 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York X-LIC-LOCATION:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20250309T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR