1999-11-09 Eurythmics - Peace - Madison Square Garden - New York - The USA

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Artist : Eurythmics

Date : 1999-11-09

Tour Name : Peace

Country : The USA

Town : New York

Venue : Madison Square Garden

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NY Rock.COMAnyone who knows anything about the Earth's atmosphere understands that there are five layers, the highest being the exosphere, which extends to 40,000 miles above the planet's surface. Likewise, anyone who's ever studied the layout of Madison Square Garden knows that this is where the cheap seats reside. I know I shouldn't complain, since our tickets came courtesy of Arista records, but I must say it's damn hard to write a rock review with the Ozone staring you down the back of the neck.

Nonetheless, write I did and here's what I have for you. Can't tell you what the Eurythmics' first song was. Missed it. (Was busing traversing the 15 or 16 escalators to the top of the pops at the time.) The second number they performed, however, was "Original Sin" – and it sounded splendid.

For their "Peace" tour, Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart sported matching homeboy parkas over what I understand are becoming trademark Army fatigues. Annie's pipes – really the main attraction of the band when push comes to shove – were in tip-top shape. Annie's pipes, I'm inclined to add, should really be encased in the Smithsonian somewhere. If you've ever suspected Lennox of being an alien of some sort, I can confirm it here. Otherwise, she couldn't possibly sing with such otherworldly beauty and power.

This is not to take away from Dave Stewart – whom I suspect is something of a George Martin to Lennox's raw talent. There's just simply no other explanation for the relationship between the two.


The fourth song was "When Tomorrow Comes." (Just thought you might like to know.) During Song #5, "Be Yourself Tonight," Annie and Dave removed their parkas to fashion their camouflage "Peace" outfits to their throngs of adoring fans, which by the looks of things at the Garden, the Eurythmics have no shortage of.

I'd like to touch upon a point here that I made earlier when I briefly entertained the possibility that Annie is some kind of extra-terrestrial. You may think that this is something of a harsh judgement but it would certainly explain a lot: the voice, (as I mentioned earlier); the fey appearance; the appealing but odd stage movements; the celestial choice of melody in her compositions; and last but not least, her strange obsession with "peace" when there is currently no major war going on.

Song #7 (or 8, I'm really losing track here) was "Who's That Girl."

The Eurythmics' stage show, I might mention, is your usual mix of dry ice and stage lights – plus a few freshly slaughtered trees thrown in, in honor of their "Peace" tour. On Tuesday night, Annie and Dave delivered a spirited set to the packed stadium, crisscrossing on their respective ways to stage-right and -left during the course of the show. Stewart does not share in the vocals but, nonetheless, is a competent musician, alternating between acoustic and electric guitars through the night and doing a nice little flamenco thing during song 8 or 9, "Would I Lie To You?"

Song 10, 11, 12 or maybe even 13 (sorry, I drift off) was "17 Again," from the new release, appropriately titled "Peace." Hmm, what else can I tell you? "I Need a Man" was definitely song 14; "Walkin' on Broken Glass" was, without a doubt, song 15.

Annie and Dave wrapped up the evening with several encores, during which Annie took the opportunity to try to recruit the entire stadium into the Greenpeace organization (whose banner, by the way, was on proud display at stage-left, right next to the one belonging to Gulf Oil. I kid you not.).

One more thing: The last song of the night was the obligatory "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)." It lasted 4.483 minutes.

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