Orgy self-consciously emphasize Now Romantic synth-pop influences like Depeche Mode and Duran Duran. Onstage, however, witht heir synchronized headbanging, makeup overkill, primped coifs and stage patter ("Make some noise, New York!"), they seemed to recall the hair-metal erca more than anything. Meanwhile, the band's relentless loud/soft dynamics (not to mention a muddy mix that buried Gordon's vocals) made every song sound, to borrow the title of the st's third tune, "All the Same." Even when Gordon ad-libbed the chorus of Dead or Alive's "Your Spin Me Round (Like a Record)," it seemed calculated for maximum Eighties recall. In the end, the band's "dangerous" poses didn't ass up to much danger; the result was like a horror movie without the horror and, um, an orgy without the sex.

Headliners Love and Rockets, despite having actually formed more than a decade ago as a spinoff of goth legends Bauhaus, preferred not to let their live show wallow in the past. The futuristic material off their new album, Lift, eclipsed crowd-pleasing hits like "No New Tale to Tell" and "Mirror People." Songs such as "Deep Deep Down" created a powerfully seductive undertow of swirling modal loops, John Barry-style guitar drones and inventive trip-hop beats. Post-punk guitar hero Daniel Ash shook his God-given ass, dropping to his knees to strangle haunting ambient screams from his six-strings. The evening's greatest moment came, though, when the members of Orgy and almost-former MTV personality stormed the stage for a shambling take on T. Rex's "20th Century Boy," featuring Camp forgetting lyrics and spinning the mike like a spazzed-out Axl Rose. In fact, "20th Century Boy" provided the concert's greatest revelation: Even goths can be as silly as the rest of us.

-Matt Diehl

FROM: Rolling Stone, May 13, 1999