Watch Ride, Jane Weaver, & Joan As Police Woman Pay Tribute To Talk Talk’s Mark Hollis At Royal Festival Hall
Earlier this year, Mark Hollis, reclusive and mysterious frontman of the great British art-pop band Talk Talk, died at the age of 64. Talk Talk broke up in 1991 and never reunited. So the news of a Talk Talk tribute show at London’s Royal Festival Hall, featuring members of the band, was certainly intriguing. Would we see a partial Talk Talk reunion? As it turns out, no. Founding Talk Talk keyboardist Simon Brenner, who left the band in 1983 and didn’t play on most of the classic records, was the only actual band member involved. Still, many of Hollis’ admirers showed out.
The show’s bill reportedly featured people like the Charlatans’ Tim Burgess, Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor, Zero 7’s Sophie Barker, and My Brightest Diamond. And the YouTube user who uses the handle Automorph took a few pretty good videos of the performances. Here, for example, is Ride co-leaders Andy Bell and Mark Gardener covering “Living In Another World,” from Talk Talk’s 1986 album The Colour Of Spring:
Here’s singer-songwriter Jane Weaver talking on another Colour Of Spring song, the single “Life’s What You Make It“:
And here’s Joan As Police Woman doing Talk Talk’s biggest hit, 1984’s “It’s My Life“:
(I’m pretty sure that’s Alexis Taylor on backup vocals in that last video.)