Yazoo: State Farm

Alison Moyet was only 20 when she and Vince Clarke formed Yazoo and 21 when they disbanded.

So just about 18 months from late 1981 to May 1983, two studio albums and four singles, blink and you missed it, the ultimate shooting star of 1980s synth pop.

I bought and loved all the singles and their debut album Upstairs at Eric’s. Their second and (as it turned out) final album You & Me Both was not quite as top notch as Eric’s but I was still a huge fan. The combination of burbling synthesizers and Alison Moyet’s fabulous R&B voice was like nothing else.

And those singles rewarded my pocket money purchases because they came with B side bangers such as Situation (Only You) and State Farm (Nobody’s Diary), both of which became club favourites after DJs in New York started flipping the records. But I reckon I was flipping first in Hampshire to discover two absolute dancefloor monsters which sounded as great played loud on my bedroom turntable as they did taped to enjoy on my Walkman.

Of course Alison went on to have a hugely successful solo career, kicked off by the million selling and slickly commercial colossuses that were Alf (1984) and Raindancing (1987). I bought these albums and enjoyed them too albeit not with the same level of enthusiasm as I had with Yazoo, and in 1991 I passed on the underwhelming Hoodoo.

However in Bahrain in 1994 my interest was rekindled by Essex, as swiftly followed by the following year’s peerless Singles compilation. The former was a risk-free cheapo Budaiya tape shop purchase, whereas for the latter I went all out with an official Gulf Music Master CD.

Essex was a bit hit and miss but had some fine indie-style Britpop moments and a bona fide belter and hit single in Whispering Your Name, which featured in two versions, in jangly indie style and a “Single Mix” taken full tilt at a Pet Shop Boys canter, which I liked very much.

Essex featured welcome nods to Yazoo too with an acoustic take on Ode to Boy from You and Me Both and also a Vince Clarke remix of Whispering Your Name in very much a Yazoo style. It was the closest thing to a Yazoo reunion, which finally happened in 2008 on the ‘Reconnected’ Tour.

After that the gap between Alison’s albums got longer and my interest waned again, until 2013’s The Minutes and 2017’s Other, which marked a return to electronica.

Fast forward to March 2026 and the announcement of a UK and European Tour entitled The Songs of Yazoo, The Minutes & Other.

In the publicity for the tour Alison described it as a palate refresher, an opportunity not to sing the same old set and if it wasn’t already abundantly clear doubled down on X: for the avoidance of doubt there would be no mid-80s hits: no Love Insurrection, Is this Love, All Cried Out and the long disowned Invisible.

I’ve followed Alison on Twitter (X) for years and love the fact that she digs in and gamely engages directly with fans and non-fans alike in an unfiltered and occasionally spiky manner, no sanitised PR machine for her.

How about this recent example responding to a fan begging for help in understanding the logic in her not playing much loved hits:

“OK. I’ll try. Do you understand that people don’t all like the same songs? Do you understand that at 65 I’d rather stay home than drag my life in a suitcase doing stuff I don’t want to? Do you understand that I used to be in a band called Yazoo that some never got to hear live?”

Bravo!

The mission statement for the tour could not be clearer and felt custom made for my favourite version of Alison Moyet. So the only question was then which date to plump for.

The closest we got to seeing Alison was back in 2022 when she was meant to be supporting Tears for Fears at Longleat but sadly had to pull out with illness at the last minute.

On the West Country front there was Bristol Beacon and Bath Forum but both were mid-week and I fancied something a bit more different after all these years failing to catch either Yazoo or Alison live.

And what could be more different than a night at The Royal Danish Opera House, the Operaen in Copenhagen, one of the most modern and expensive opera houses in the world, in a city where (eventually after getting in on the resale) we could also run the WRRC Copenhagen Half?

I do like it when a gig and a run come together.

So it was game on: I duly turned to Ticketmaster DK for the first (and quite possibly last) time, navigated some tricky Danish pop ups and after a few nervy moments managed to bag us the front row.

Next up was accommodation and I quickly alighted on Paper Island (known locally as Papirøen) a transformed industrial site in Copenhagen’s inner harbour that was once used for storage by the navy and later as paper warehouses for Danish newspapers. The quirkily named 25hours Paper Island Hotel promised a cosy Scandi maritime aesthetic and views of the Amalienborg Palace, the inner canal and The Opearen itself. It looked just the job.

So it was that on Saturday 19^th September we strolled over to the Opearen and joined 1700 well-groomed looking Danes milling about in the splendour of the main auditorium with it sparkling gold ceiling.

It was fully seated and as we waited for the gig to start (there was no support) it was clear were not at the O2 Academy anymore; it all felt very grand and a bit too formal, not our usual gig thing.

But at 8PM precisely we forgot all that. Because in that beautiful space the sound on the opener Alive was absolutely perfect, with everything in its right place, Alison’s vocals cutting through the heavy synths and bass throb with utter precision, every word crisp and clear. It is probably the best acoustics and sound mix I have ever experienced at a gig and the audience was suitably rapt and appreciative.

And during some of the rawer and slower torch song style numbers that followed the pin-drop quiet reverence became almost overwhelming, with Alison’s explanatory stories and anecdotes only adding to the intense and intimate theatrical experience.

But this was something of a false flag because when the Yazoo bangers arrived, the audience abandoned all such reserve, with giddy roars of recognition and joyful whoops and shout outs greeting the likes of Bad Connection, Nobody’s Diary, State Farm, Only You and In My Room.

And when Alison returned for the encore to deliver a closing home run of Goodbye 70s, Situation and Don’t Go (the latter jokingly described by Alison as a deep cut), we were all out of our seats and the Opearen was bouncing like a 80s night club. Definitely no Night at the Opera now.

It was a euphoric finale to a great gig.

But when it comes to clubbable energy it is State Farm from earlier in the set which just gets the nod from me as top Yazoo dog; a magnificently barmy stomp which showcases the wild contrast between Alison’s gloriously bluesy rasp and squelchy Fisher-Price toy synths.

It shouldn’t work but it does, and it sounds as fresh and funny and funky as when I first flipped Nobody’s Diary back in May 1983.

High & dried, tyre rubber starts burning

Fill her up now before the table starts turning

Souped up, jacked up, cracked up, stacked up

Louie’s got the gear

And Charlie’s got his back up

And don’t it make you feel good?

Says she’s a dirt box

You’re like a cannibal

Somebody feeds her, sure ain’t the State Farm

Who buys the tickets and who buys the clothes

Puts the liquor in her stomach and the powder up her nose