Photo-memoirs of The Dears July 2012 Istanbul concert

This was one of the best live events of 2012 I’ve been to so far. An exceptional combination of a delightful performance, a receptive audience, and a charming concert area with the old city view in the background made its way into the concerts I’d be willing to replay and enjoy again.

This piece gathers a few of my thoughts about the Dears and their Istanbul concert, along with some photos I took during the performance.

The Dears has been around for some time. Murray Lightburn (the lead singer) said during the Istanbul concert ‘’we’re actually an old band’’. They’re not so old but they’ve been creative for quite some time. Formed in 1995, their first studio album, ‘End of a Hollywood Bedtime Story’, came out in 2000.

Despite the years and their rich discography (five albums), they remained a bit exclusive and too underrated, in my view…I think they suffered from several things at the same time…

Reborn through splits…Apart from frequent changes of band members, the group underwent a crack somewhere between their third and fourth albums, following the wide scale tour of Gang of Losers album (2006). However the core team, the vocalist Murray Lightburn and and keyboardist/vocalist Natalia Yanchak succeeded in keeping the band alive through the fractures, and even bringing back the former members Arquilla, Krief and Benvie.

They re-emerged and headed to their fourth album ‘Missiles’ (2008), after which also the drummer Luciano joined the band, and it came to be what it is today.

The fact that Lightburn and Yanchak (who actually got married) kept their spirits high and remained dedicated to the project paid off. I think it was a turning point that they could restore their ambition and let creativity roll into a fine record, Degeneration Street (2011), which combines so many strong pieces.

Endless comparisons…Murray Lightburn and the Dears (the Ds) have been often compared to Morrissey (Murray even called the black Morrissey), the Smiths and a bit of Blur and Muse. I think these superficial comparisons may have overshadowed the quality and the originality of their music to some extent. Although there are a few songs that may remind you of these names, the Ds is so much different.

Their albums have a great variety of instrumental texture and orchestral sound (at times jazzy), and the lyrical content is never ordinary. With a complex and prosperous musical quality (the song ‘No Cities Left‘ is a good example (http://grooveshark.com/s/No+Cities+Left/4zx34u?src=5), the Dears deserves to stand on its own without a need for comparison, in my view. I also find Murray Lightburn’s vocal quite unique. It carries a wide spectrum, and the fact that he is found similar to quite different singers like Damon Albarn or Morrissey may be a result of this.

The Dears has also a female vocal, Natalia Yanchak (the keyboarder), who surely enriches the group’s sound. Natalia’s voice carries a smoothness that resembles to Aimee Mann‘s (so I go and make another comparison myself – I guess this is something writing about music cannot totally escape from – but should not solely consist of ) and brings out a fine combination with Murray’s velvet tones ( a good example is The Death of All the Romance http://grooveshark.com/s/22+The+Death+Of+All+The+Romance/4zx1Sh?src=5).

As I got to appreciate their music, I also realized how underrated they were. Also because I think it is a band that is seeking to hit the headlines solely through its music but nothing else; no big, controversial or politic statements. It even feels like they would not mind staying a bit exclusive if that’s what it takes..to be themselves, to keep ‘the Dears’ as pure as possible…

My first Dears live experience…They had toured very extensively, especially in 2003-2006, and their live performances were praised widely. At that time, NME had tagged them as ‘probably the best new band in the world’.

Their original Turkey concert was supposed to happen near that time, too, in 2007. Yet, the concert was cancelled, and Murray funnily dedicated one of the songs to the people, who ‘prevented this from happening’. From Murray’s blog I understand that this was someone from the crew back then, who is no longer part of the Ds http://murraylightburn.com/page/5 . (By the way, Murray keeps a cool log of his life in his blog, while Natalia also writes at http://nataliayanchak.com/ and since recently also in Huffpost Canada http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/natalia-yanchak/).

I could sense that this is a band whose live performance supersedes its studio performance. As I really enjoy listening to their albums, which are rich with musical layers, my pleasure in the concert was doubled when I finally saw them on stage and with full of energy.

Murray was really fun and interacting much more than any of the recent performers I watched, and the dialogue between the crowd and Murray was rare. He was so light-hearted that in the middle of the concert he got down from the stage and continued the song in the middle of the crowd.

One of the funny moments was also when someone from the audience screamed ‘lights off’ (http://grooveshark.com/s/Lights+Off/2RNOp6?src=5) and Murray replied ‘Dream on!’. This is also one of my favourites (Missiles album), yet it is about eight minutes long and long songs remain mostly left out on live occasions. But I will dream on! (with lights off…)

So pleased to meet you…At the end of the concert Murray came and shook hands with the front row people, where also I had headed towards the end. So it was a real pleasure hi-fiving with the front man, to whom I thought we owed a great night of music.

The concert area definitely a plus…Although the sound quality may have been better, the Istanbul Modern garden is a perfect place for open air concerts. Along with a combination of a cheerful band and audience, it definitely contributed to a peculiarly outstanding performance. The group and especially Murray Lightburn radiated a unique energy that made the concert epic along with the view of Topkapi Palace and passing ferries in the background.

Definitely food for soul/thought…Here is a list of my favourite songs by the Dears (http://grooveshark.com/playlist/The+Dears+sing+To+Me/75286519) about half of it was my wish list for the concert. The setlist in fact covered plenty of them.

Short before publishing my post, I came across to this documentary about the Dears: http://music.cbc.ca/#/concerts/Never-Destroy-Us-The-Dears-at-Pasaguero-Documentary-2012-07-27/videos/Never-Destroy-Us-The-Dears-At-Pasaguero . It is a great documentary that goes through the evolution of the Ds and shows bits from their live shows.