Review: In Dreams, Colston Hall

Director David Lynch described his cult 1977 nightmare Eraserhead as ‘a dream of dark and troubling things’. And that nightmarish spirit was very much alive, bathed in rich blood-red lighting, during the In Dreams tour at the Colston Hall, one showcasing Lynch’s longstanding and memorable partnership with composer Angelo Badalamenti.

Since they first worked together on controversial 1986 sensation Blue Velvet, Lynch and Badalamenti have become dark-hued partners in crime across the likes of Twin Peaks, Wild at Heart, Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive. In keeping with the director’s style, Badalamenti’s music is often encased in a brooding sense of dark, synth-led menace whilst also occasionally breaking cover into jazz and pop. And these complex facets were very much apparent during this striking live performance, which gathered an eclectic array of cutting-edge musicians under one quirky umbrella to celebrate this most unsettling of collaborations.

From the attention-grabbing vocals of Tindersticks frontman Stuart Staples to the oddball dayglo attire of psychedelic group Stealing Sheep, this was an event that both turned Badalamenti’s music inside out whilst also honouring its brooding soul. Highlights included vocalist Sophia Brous’ sultry rendition of Blue Velvet being interrupted by the aggressive guitar stylistics of Kirin J. Callinan (mirroring the sudden violence of the film’s narrative); David Coulter’s bowed saw underpinning the iconic Twin Peaks theme; and Terry Edwards’ beautifully sexy trumpet arrangements on Eraserhead staple In Heaven Everything is Fine.

In keeping with Lynch’s movies themselves, it was a show that intentionally veered between the threatening, the comical and the flat-out absurd, with oddball New York duo Cibo Matto generating plenty of laughs from the audience. But it wasn’t all about the groups: Jehnny Beth, leader of post-punk collective Savages, generated a fiery rendition of Up in Flames from Wild at Heart. Creator of Irish folk group Villagers, Conor O’Brien, brought the house down with his emotive take on In Dreams, which momentarily looked like it was going to shift into atonal territory before settling back into a lush groove.

With an ensemble of instruments as rich as the line-up of musicians (synths, harp, electric guitar, violectra, percussion), nothing but a varied and unpredictable evening was guaranteed. And that’s exactly what the eager audience got. An enjoyable dabble in the dark side, the spirit of the evening was perhaps best summed up in the conclusive performance of Chris Isaak’s smouldering Wicked Game: “What a wicked game you play to make me feel this way.”