It’s only when the ‘woah oh oh oh’ opening strains of epic 1991 smash Love To Hate You burst into the famously circular auditorium that I realise there’s something special in the air tonight.
In fact, a collective energy seems to have taken over the sold-out Roundhouse as the packed crowd, in unison, belts out every line word perfect: ‘Love and hate, what a beautiful combination.’
And happily there are few caterwauling amateurs. Lots of Erasure fans, it transpires, can really sing: behind us are a couple of professional voice coaches (we later discover) who add a London Gay Men’s Chorus-style layer to the joyous proceedings. To paraphrase Andy Bell: it sends shivers up and down my spine.
Let’s rewind to the start of what’s a clammy, overcast bank holiday Monday evening, the Camden venue as hot as you’d expect for the London date of Erasure’s three-date UK comeback tour.
The mostly fortysomething (and older) audience have clearly been making the most of the balmy weather all day, with the carnival-esque atmosphere peaking just before the group take the stage (we even spot blokes doing wacky pints-balanced-on-head selfies). And the bar is quickly drunk dry, with plastic cups sheathing nearly all the draft taps.
The duo arrive to a deafening crescendo. The cabaret-style stage set is pleasingly simple, drenched in dazzling red and blue lasers: a besuited Vince Clarke stands motionless in shades, while energetic gold lamé-clad Andy Bell is backed by two understated female singers.
As Bell appears, a whisper runs through the crowd about how fit the 53-year-old frontman is looking, and to prove it he’s soon in a waistcoat showing off muscular arms, before gratuitously changing top to reveal a tightly worked-out torso. Cue whoops from the entire room.
Bell – whose voice is powerfully on point throughout – tears through three decades of bona fide hits: Breath of Life, Drama (the first big singalong), It Doesn’t Have To Be, breakthrough single Oh L’Amour, Sometimes, Stop. It’s an astonishing rundown of classics, each one received with feverish squeals of delight.
A handful of them may even rate as some of the best synthpop tracks of all time, in particular a soaring rendition of love song Blue Savannah, the transcendent Love To Hate You, and underrated Chorus, for which the stage is bathed in yellow light: ‘And they covered up the sun….’
Typically, the only moments that sag slightly (with smartphones at least mercifully lowered) are when the pair perform quieter tracks from their new album, World Be Gone, only just released and therefore less familiar. While this more introspective work has its own qualities – especially Love You to The Sky and catchy ballad Still It’s Not Over – the boozed-up crowd is baying for hits, and the still-thirsty swamp the bar for yet another round of ciders.
The tempo ups again with a masterful closing triumvirate of Chains of Love, Victim of Love and the populist A Little Respect, released way back in 1988, with its famous opening: ‘I try to discover/ a little something to make me sweeter’.
As the lights come cruelly on, nearly two thousand fans are still belting out the chorus – perhaps a little more hoarsely by this point – as they flood the steps down to the foyer, before pouring out onto Chalk Farm Road.
