Front 242 played Irving Plaza with Cocksure (pics, setlist)

Photos by Greg Cristman

Front 242 @ Irving Plaza 9/24/2014

…a few seconds of quiet, cheers and Patrick Codenys took the stage. He played a minute of beatless music and then Jean Luc DeMeyer and Richard23 ran on stage. What happened next thrilled me. It was Front 242. Electronic Body Music. The two men moved in action just like they did 25 years ago. Massive strobes flashed shadows behind them making them look like giants. It was very clear they were excited to be there and we were in for something really good. Every classic they played blew me away. Surprisingly the newer songs I didn’t know were also great live. The highlight was No Shuffle. As the song played I felt like I was dreaming about how they would do the song far in the future. They crossed each other back and forth on stage without looking at each other. They each took turns as front man. Richard23 traded his small belt held analog delay pedal for some almost psychedelic sounding rack of lush delays. Funk Gaddafi was an experience like watching the “Sprach Zarathustra” time warp scene in Kubrick’s 2001. A funny moment happened during the song Welcome to Paradise when a young person said, “They are singing the samples how cool!” – [Wire to the Ear]

Industrial/EBM icons Front 242 played NYC’s Irving Plaza on Wednesday night (9/24), their first of three select dates in the U.S. this week.The show was opened by Cocksure, the current band from Chris Connelly of Revolting Cocks / Ministry. More pictures of both bands, and Front 242’s setlist, below…

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Cocksure

Front 242

SETLIST: Front 242 @ Irving Plaza 9/24/2014
Moldavia
Body to Body
Lovely Day
Together
7Rain
Headhunter
Take One
Triple X Girlfriend
Loud
Quite Unusual
U-Men
Funkahdafi
Commando Mix
Im Rhythmus Bleiben
Welcome to Paradise
Encore:
Kampfbereit
Punish Your Machine