We’ve not posted much this week as I’ve been taking time off work since my old friend The RAHB trekked in from The Piedmont of North Carolina to see EXTC with me at The Grey Eagle last Tuesday evening. We were both XTC fans from the high school days. My first XTC album was “Black Sea” and I’d imagine he might have started his story there as well. I was initially ambivalent to the notion of seeing XTC’s original drummer perform a set of XTC songs but given the complete lack of XTC tours from 1982 until they ceased to exist in 2006, eventually the though that this might be a fun night of song’s I’ve never heard live began to take hold. That’s not unusual when a band you first like ceases touring within two years of them catching your ears; yet continuing to exist as a studio proposition for another quarter century.

We reached The Grey Eagle at a quarter after seven when were open for the 8 p.m. show. As I often see shows there with scant crowds in a “pearls before swine” situation far too often for my tastes, I wondered what this night would bring. Parking was a little dicey but I’ve had worse. We entered the club and scanned our tickets to see a light crowd but already far more than the tiny crowds I’ve seen shows with there. I did a ad hoc head count and there were about 80-90 there it seemed.

As I can’t help but scan merch tables, I was noting Terry Chambers autographed drum heads, as well as the usual T-shirts and, gloryoski… an EXTC “Live in the US” CD that was apparently recorded on their US tour in 2024. I made a mental note and we moved to enter the main room from the hallway. I shouldn’t buy any more CDs as I’ve currently got about 1000 discs culled from the Record Cell in boxes to eject from the collection. And I’ve so many tour shorts that the cabinet needs a culling as well!

The club had not listed an opening act for this show so I was not expecting one. The Grey Eagle don’t play that game with their clientele. The only seats were at the edge of the wall next to the restaurant/bar area and at the VIP area in the opposite corner. So we stood around until at the zero-minus-ten-minute lark, a staffer went to the storage closet and began removing stacks of heretofore unseen chairs for the show. I’m guessing that he “read the room” and saw only retirement-aged patrons ready to bust out the ibuprofen for the evening’s fun. So he set up about 30 seats at stage right.

My companion, The RAHB, gravitated there but I was concerned that sitting right under the speakers would be too harsh for me. And then there’s that partial deafness in my left ear to consider. As I would be using high end attenuating earplugs for this and every other show I attend, I opted to my usual placement in front of the sound board. Eventually, my friend considered the notion and joined me at the back of the room as well. The show began right on the mark at 8:00 p.m. as the trio walked onstage.

I was happy to see that bassist Terry Lines, who favors sharp attire, didn’t let us down this evening with a nicely cut gray suit. The band got right into it with XTC’s very second 7″, the metasong that was “This Is Pop.” The lack of keys wasn’t a big issue, given how intrinsic Barry Andrews was to the early sound. Possibly the bigger issue was…how will these songs feel without Partridge and Moulding singing them? The RAHB pointed out [accurately, I felt] that primary vocalist Steve Hampton resembled The Basher himself; Mr. Nick Lowe vocally. I had to concur.

I’ve never seen a band where the original lead vocalist was not present in the primary performance, but this kept its distance from the slightly queasy ground surrounding “tribute acts” in that neither vocalist was trying to impersonate the original members at all. They were singing in their own voices, thank goodness. But it must be said that the drumming was positively ripped from the songs! Terry Chambers was the glue that held this proposition together.

To have an early single followed by an imperial period deep cut was pretty audacious, but they did just that by unleashing “No Language In Our Lungs” from my beloved album “Black Sea.” That was about as deep a left turn as musically possible so we were being warned up front that anything could happen. Next came the taut, clipped pop of Colin Moulding’s “Ball + Chain” from “English Settlement.” Terry Lines joined Steve Hampton to sing the song in powerful unison in the chorus while trading off on the verses. I was living it by this time as “Ball + Chain” was beginning to resonate with me of late. It was a late booming fave rave cut from that album and Mr. Hampton’s deft guitar work replicated the elegance that Dave Gregory had originally brought to that one!

Then, another deep cut – this time from “Drums + Wires” with “Reel By Reel” as sung solo by Terry Lines. I liked the Ska-Pop bounce of the tune and Terry had a natural timbre that was closer to what Colin Moulding brought to the mic, but again; this wasn’t impersonation. That would have made me break out in a cold sweat.

More goodness from “Black Sea” manifested with “Towers Of London.” Then we got the show stopping Pop of “Senses Working Overtime.” No matter what I think of the overly long “English Settlement,” this single clearly justified the whole album! It may be the best single that Partridge ever penned…no, it is the best one! By this point in the show we were all singing along with these fantastic songs.

Next came another “Black Sea” curveball with the breathlessly rapid “Burning With Optimism’s Flames.” Though the singers were mostly dividing up the Partridge/Moulding songs along guitarist/bassist lines, this time Mr. Lines took the lead on the extremely Partridge number. Much to Mr. Norman’s apparent relief.

The group next broke out to a mini set of Post-Chambers XTC material with the trio of “Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead,” “King For A Day,” and “Mayor Of Simpleton.” Until now they had been playing material that Terry Chambers had drummed on in the studio, but on these numbers the difference immediately stood out. One could divine the drum machine demo origins of the music quite apparently as the rhythms were much simpler and more perfunctory. Though the elegant “King For A Day” was the personal jewel in this crown. Had I not heard them juxtaposed against earlier material in a live setting I may have never noticed this crucial difference, yet there it was!

I was happy to hear another “English Settlement” fave next with the extroverted “No Thugs In Our House” with Steve Normal giving as powerful a bellow as Andy Partridge had done on the record. Then the show took a hard right turn into a “Black Sea” mini-set with four classics in a row. “Sgt. Rock Is Going To Help Me” was a single, so I got that, but following with”Rocket From A Bottle” and “Living In Another Cuba” was never even on my wish list. The latter segued into my fave rave “Generals + Majors” to cap off their dive into 1980’s XTC album.

They actually performed six of the ten tracks in this show and I was thrilled. If anyone had asked me what album I wanted represented the most this evening it would have been “Black Sea.” No contest! Then came the Dub Pop of “Making Plans For Nigel;” the first XTC cut I’d heard [inconclusively, at the time!] only by now it was a favorite track. After that one Steve said that they would normally leave the stage and we’d have to stamp our feet but that we’re all too old for that so they played the encore immediately afterward.

The last of the latter-day XTC tracks with “Stupidly Happy” from “Wasp Star.” The final XTC album. The it was time to take it home with “Life Begins At The Hop” and we were bounding along for the show’s climax. Then it ended at 9:30 as we were up from 4:00 that morning and appreciated the kindness. As did the reasonably full house which I’d call 250-300 happy XTC fans getting to hear this stuff live for the first time ever.

Another kindness that the show had was absolutely superb mixing at reasonable levels of volume! A rarity in these, the end times! I might have gotten by without earplugs, but as I’m attempting to preserve what’s left of my hearing, it’s a foregone conclusion that I’ll use my trusty Earasers™. They’re so good when I install them I can hear my body’s noises. But the show was free from bass frequencies shifting my organs and it was simply a wonderful night.

My friend and I left to go home and I looked at the CD beckoning me at the merch area, but the lack of Square® meant cash [or Paypal] only and I found the will power to resist then and there. We drove home and were in bed by 10:00 which was great because I had poor sleep the night before!

I now had two experiences with band members playing a set of their old material under my belt and even though “tribute acts” make me livid with rage these days [it’s most of what seems to fill the clubs where I live!] the experience of Jerry Harrison and Adrian Belew playing TVLKING HEVDS material two years ago and now Terry Chambers with EXTC had been happy-making events. If I can flex my biases enough to meet such things halfway, I’d better watch out! I may enjoy myself!

EXTC SET LIST | THE GREY EAGLE | 5-27-25

1. This Is Pop
2. No Language In Our Lungs
3. Ball And Chain
4. Reel By Reel
5. Towers Of London
6. Senses Working Overtime
7. Burning With Optimism’s Flames
8. Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead
9. King For A Day
10. Mayor Of Simpleton
11. No Thugs In Our House
12. Sgt. Rock Is Going To Help Me
13. Rocket From A Bottle
14. Living Through Another Cuba
15. Generals + Majors
16. Making Plans For Nigel
17. Stupidly Happy
18. Life Begins At The Hop

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