Concert Review: Editors

Editors
Sept. 11, 2007
Park West, Chicago
@@@1/2

I'm always a bit unsure when I'm reviewing concerts, especially by artists with whom I don't go all that far back, how much I'm supposed to critique the merit of the band's material vs. the performance of the material. For instance, Editors probably delivered a show drawn from their 2 albums as well as I could have have wanted, yet while I find them a substantive band, something about most of their songs leaves me unexcited. They have a few really good songs; the rest are okay, but sound a lot like lesser versions of the really good ones. They reminded me a bit of Coldplay, who isn't among my utmost favorites, and Editors have a long way to go to be that good. Their performance was strong, probably @@@@, but their music at this point only rates a @@@, thus the @@@1/2 review. Getting just @@1/2 is Biffy Clyro, who preceded Editors (an American band called Ra Ra Riot opened the show). I actually knew and liked much of Biffy Clyro's current album, Puzzle, but live they were a bit rougher around the edges and looked too much like Spinal Tap. At times, they were impressively forceful, but overall nothing too special live.