Show Review: Erasure at Fox Theater Oakland

Andy Bell was in top form this past Saturday night.
Andy Bell was in top form this past Saturday night.

Reading up on Erasure, before they performed to a sold out crowd at Oakland’s Fox Theater this past Saturday night, I discovered that they didn’t really break through into the mainstream’s consciousness until their third album was released in 1988. Could you imagine such a scenario in today’s modern-day music industry? Luckily, Mute and Sire records were good to them and foresaw the longevity in classic hits such as “Oh L’amour” and “Who Needs Love Like That.”

Andy Bell and Vince Clarke, the latter formerly of Depeche Mode, have been performing together since the 1980s. They’ve conquered adversity, the pitfalls of fame, and HIV (Bell was diagnosed in 1998). They also may not have had a proper hit in a decade, but that doesn’t diminish their invaluable contributions to the LGBT community or the staying power of the music they’ve created.

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