Yaz’s charm was always in its simplicity, in the elegant blank verse of Alison Moyet’s poetic lyrics and in Vince Clarke’s economic, but melodic musical accompaniment.
It’s a combination that powered the duo’s two outstanding albums – “Upstairs at Eric’s” and “You and Me Both” – and quickly made them staples of WLIR and modern rock stations around the country in the ‘80s, one that established their reputation as icons today, though they played only a handful of concerts ever and split in 1983, before “You and Me Both” was even released.
All of which made the stakes for their current reunion tour extraordinarily high. After all, so much has changed in music and performance in the 25 years since Moyet and Clarke were together, as pop music becomes increasingly complex, both musically, as layers upon layers of sound and rhythm have become the norm, and performance-wise, where vocal gymnastics and platoons of dancers are required of even beginners.
Turns out, though, that all of that becomes secondary in the presence of great songs handled by a great singer. For 90 minutes, Yaz turned out everything from gorgeous, poignant ballads like “Winter Kills” to full-on disco-stompers like “Situation” using little more than the technology of the cheapest cell phone and Moyet’s amazing voice to make them work.
On a sleek, open stage, with only a podium for Moyet and two petite banks of synthesizers for Clarke, they delivered their sweet, often naive, sounding songs in a context that would hold its own against any stadium extravaganza around.
Moyet’s deep, soulful voice has only grown richer over the years, proving immediately with “Nobody’s Diary” and later with the whisper-to-a-scream range of “Midnight” how she remains an underrated musical force. For his part, Clarke really does all his work behind-the-scenes before the tour starts, in the writing and in the programming of the exactly right sounds to make the songs come to life, though on this tour, he does contribute some backing vocals – distorted electronically, of course, since Clarke rarely speaks on stage, either with Yaz or his main group these days Erasure
The show’s star though is Moyet, whose mastery of the material and joy in finally performing it is evident not just in her singing, but her giddy dancing center stage, enjoying the groove Clarke lays down in “Situation” like everyone else in the audience.
Better late than never, right?
PHOTO: Yaz's Alison Moyet at the Beacon Theater by Jin Lee for Newsday [MORE PHOTOS]
SETLIST: Nobody’s Diary / Bad Connection / Mr. Blue / Good Times / Tuesday / Ode to Boy / Goodbye ‘70s / Too Pieces / In My Room / Anyone / Walk Away from Love / I Before E Except After C / State Farm / Sweet Thing / Winter Kills / Midnight / Unmarked / Bring Your Love Down / Don’t Go // ENCORES: Only You / Situation
CELEBRITIES SPOTTED: Martin L. Gore, Clarke's one-time bandmate in Depeche Mode, arrived early but was relatively hard to spot seeing as he was wearing regular clothes and not oversized angel's wings or a German leather bondage outfit. He was gracious to overzealous fans, but then tried hard to blend into the crowd.