EDBZ BLOG #37
- tallmanpr
- Jul 2
- 5 min read
Friday, July 4th is the beginning of Eardrum Buzz Radio’s Fifth Anniversary! We have a special Vapour Trail from Greg Peters, a show from Gunnar Malmquist, aka DJ MQT, Gretchen DeVault of The Blue Herons and shows coming in from Sean F. Schultz, aka Sonder, Goran and Ronny from Damokles, Contrarian Speaks with Goran Karlsvik, DJ Jimi C aka Jim Biggs of Black Nite Crash and DJ Knillz and a show from Meagan Masingill as well. Keep looking for updates on Facebook at facebook.com/eardrumbuzzradio and facebook.com/groups/eardrumbuzzradio.
We’ll also have our regular shows on Saturday from DJ Wednesday, Nico Beatastic, and Rob Levy and our Sunday shows with DJ Wampas, David Kasheta and Brandon Dudley, so check the schedule below the player at eardrumbuzz.net to be sure not to miss out.
I’ll be giving away items from our merch store, so head over there and maybe you’ll find something fun to wear, drink from, something to stick on your stuff or something to carry your stuff around in: eardrum-buzz-radio.printify.me
Every dollar helps keep Eardrum Buzz Radio going, from a gifted album on Bandcamp, to a few dollars via Paypal or even a yearly subscription on Patreon! You’ll hear my archived live Friday I’m In Love shows before the rest of the world along with exclusive mixes and discounts on our store.
Cruel World Fest 2025 was a blast! I got to see Daanon DeCock and Anthony Michalopoulos for the first time in a year and met Al Koehly, whom Daanon met at another show. It was cloudy and gloomy but I had hopes for a dry, if not warm day. It began to drizzle during Midge Ure's set and he and the next few acts, who all happened to be from the UK apologized or commented on the English weather. At least it wasn't hot and sweaty!
We lunched, chatted, took the shuttle to the Bowl, enjoyed Midge Ure, who sang songs from his solo career as well as from Ultravox and Visage. Midge was in fine form belting out the lyrics to Vienna and We Fade to Grey.
Blancmange was Neil Arthur performing for the first time in over 30 years and Tara Busch on synths, creating a danceable racket loud enough to get the attendees moving for songs like Dancing on the Ceiling, Blind Vision and Don't Tell Me, easily swinging from Industrial menace to Synthpop bliss.
It was a real joy to see Alison Moyet for the first time. Her band performed songs ranging from her time in Yaz to the last decade or so, with highlights Situation, Love Resurrection, Nobody's Diary and Don't Go plus It Won't Be Long and When I Was Your Girl. Moyet was sexy and has a voice you remember in your bones.
'til tuesday reunited for the first time in almost 40 years, sounding fine. They did a cover of Drive by The Cars as well as lively renditions of What About Love, Coming Up Close, Love In A Vacuum and Voices Carry. There were quite a few people singing along, including myself. Aimee Mann went on to have a successful solo career and her song Wise Up from the Magnolia soundtrack was ingeniously and emotionally used at the climax of the movie. I do wish they'd played that song, but it was fun seeing the band for the first time. As they got to the climax of Voices Carry the stage began turning to set up for the next act, leaving 'til tuesday to finish the song and thank the audience from the other side of the stage back. The crew should have let them finish!s
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (OMD) were excellent. I'd heard them from afar at the Darker Waves festival but this was the first time to enjoy them up close. Andy McClusky and Paul Humphreys plus a drummer and second keyboardist performed so many great songs and even two they weren't planning on playing. McClusky played bass on a few tracks and Humphreys took over on vocals for a few songs. There is a reason they're so beloved and the fact they still sound terrific and continue to tour is a testament to their talent and catchiness. We sang along to If You Leave and Electricity and Joan of Arc and Enola Gay and So In Love and Dreaming!
After OMD we hoofed it to the Sad Girls stage to see a little of Clan of Xymox who did their European Darkwave thing, then we got a good spot at the Lost Boys stage for Devo. This was the second time Devo had played Cruel World, but since it was still sunny the last time, their multimedia goings on behind them wasn't as effective. With the clouds and gloom, this time they were somehow even better, louder, angrier, more angular and just simply the best band and performance of the day. Again. I asked Tony what a Devo show back in the early 80's at a small club must've been like and we could only think it would have been dangerous and full of violent energy. The band ran through Whip It, Uncontrollable Urge, Jocko Homo, That's Good, Girl U Want, Mongoloid and Gates of Steel and were just truly amazing. If you haven't yet seen Devo live, you haven't seen one of the best bands AND best live bands around.
The Go-Go's were another band I'd never seen live and they completely blew us away with a noisy, punky, flashy, colorful set of songs from their teen years through their pop heyday. There were pictures of them with musicians of the day, candid pics of them goofing around on tour, a travelogue of their looks and hairstyles with the visuals adding even more fun and gravitas to a band that started out as spiky punks and became icons. It was so much fun to see the band in shiny and fluffy and glittery outfits playing distorted guitars and singing sweetly to such songs as Vacation, This Town, Tonite, Head Over Heals and closing out hard with Our Lips Are Sealed and We Got The Beat.
Seeing The Go-Go's would have been enough for me and Tony but we went to see New Order headline the main stage. It was fun to hear songs like Temptation, The Beach and Bizarre Love Triangle, but my back and my feet were hurting and my ears were tired as well. There was still a huge crowd of thousands out under the clouds and while it did drizzle for a few hours it wasn't hot and uncomfortable, making for an easier festival to live through.
I think this was the best year so far, at least for me. There were more female acts and musicians represented than any other year, which gives me hope for even more diversity next year. Who will play, who will headline, who will we manage to see for Cruel World 2026? The next day I recuperated, resting my feet and back and dealing with the increased ringing in my ears thanks to another great day of music and friends.
You can see photos in the Cruel World 2025 photo album HERE
Written by Bret Miller
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