Or perhaps the title should read, Siouxsie & The Banshees with Bernard Butler, as mathematically, this performance is much more this than that. The date was July 12, 1993, the location London’s Clapham Grand, and the occasion an AIDS benefit concert by Suede.
Midway through the set, Brett Anderson excused himself and brought out Siouxsie Sioux and keyboardist Martin McCarrick of Siouxsie & The Banshees to perform a Lou Reed cover with Butler on acoustic guitar. Were this today, there’d be a million high-res videos of the moment on YouTube. But it was 28 years ago, so the fact that there are not one but two recordings of the performance – one much better than the other, but the other with Butler actually visible – is pretty remarkable.
The entire show is actually available to stream, and if you stick around past Sioux’s appearance – around 39 minutes – you can see another legendary frontwoman make an appearance – The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde doing “Brass In Pocket” with the band. What a night.