Vocals: Siouxsie Sioux
Guitar: John McGeoch
Bass: Steven Severin
Drums: Budgie
Complete Banshees gig from Rockpalast on German TV, 1981. It’s interesting to compare the opener “Israel” on this video the opening track, with John McGeoch’s thick chorused, guitar sound while Robert Smith’s sound is more waspish/spidery! certainly John McGeoch was one of the best guitar players I experienced a Scottish guitarist who played with several bands of the post-punk era, including Magazine, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Visage and Public Image Ltd. He was described as “one of the most influential guitarists of his generation and he was also considered “the new wave Jimmy Page.
He played guitar on the Banshees albums Kaleidoscope (1980), Juju (1981), and A Kiss in the Dreamhouse (1982). The Banshees’ hit singles of this era featured some of McGeoch’s greatest work, particularly 1980’s “Happy House“, “Christine” and “Israel“, and 1981’s “Spellbound” and “Arabian Knights“. McGeoch’s contribution to the band was important in terms of sounds and style. Singer Siouxsie Sioux later honoured him:
John McGeoch was my favourite guitarist of all time. He was into sound in an almost abstract way. I loved the fact that I could say, “I want this to sound like a horse falling off a cliff”, and he would know exactly what I meant. He was easily, without a shadow of a doubt, the most creative guitarist the Banshees ever had.
In 1996, he was listed by Mojo in their “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” for his work on the Siouxsie and the Banshees song especially on the “Spellbound“.However, McGeoch suffered a nervous breakdown due to the stresses of touring and drinking and collapsed on stage at a Madrid concert. This marked the end of his membership in Siouxsie and the Banshees
This fabulous archive of the German TV show “Rockpalast,” this time for a full, 75-minute concert by the inimitable Siouxsie and the Banshees, filmed on July 19, 1981, in Colgone, Germany, just weeks after the release of the band’s fourth studio album, “Juju”. Check out the full show in the player above, and we’ve got the setlist posted below as well.
Setlist: Siouxsie and the Banshees, Satory Saal, Cologne, Germany, 7/19/81
1. “Israel”, 2. “Halloween”, 3. “Regal Zone”, 4. “Spellbound”, 5. “Arabian Knights”, 6. “Switch”, 7. “Pulled To Bits”
8. “Head Cut”, 9. “Tenant”, 10. “Night Shift”, 11. “Sin In My Heart”, 12. “But Not Them”, 13. “Voodoo Dolly”
14. “Hong Kong Garden”, 15. “Eve White Eve Black”, 16. “Happy House”, 17. “Skin”
