Editor’s Note: The Albumism staff has selected what we believe to be the 50 Greatest Live Albums of All Time, representing a varied cross-section of genres, styles and time periods. Click “Next Album” below to explore each album or view the full album index here.
BAUHAUS | Gotham
Metropolis (1999)
Selected by Rayna Khaitan
An awakening took place during my first Bauhaus show—legions of fans were reborn and casual acquaintances of the band (like myself) were eternally swayed. In July 1998, the British four-piece played again after 15 years apart. And the result was a true resurrection, as the tour is rightfully named.
For time means little to the undead. That night revealed a band in full control of their otherworldly powers, as if the 15-year separation intensified their collective charm. Guiding us through classics, from gothic waltz-y “She’s in Parties” to the slower, prettier, dreamier “All We Ever Wanted Was Everything” to their best-known vampiric vesper “Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” Bauhaus conjured darkness and drama with merciless delight. For two hours, a hypnotic, hallucinatory energy pulsated through the Hollywood Palladium, as if we were all privy to a shadowy realm.
Recorded later that tour in New York City, Gotham (1999) glows with the surreal radiance of that intoxicating night.