Erasure: Town & Country, Leeds

SIZE IS everything in Erasure pop world. For their last tour, they put on one of the biggest shows on earth, a theatrical triumph of preposterousness complete with exploding tutus, a horn section that was like something strapped on one of Andy Bell's more risqué costumes, and a device that enabled Vince Clark's enormous keyboard to soar over the crowd. This time around, everything was stripped down to a bare minimum. The venue was smaller, the lighting more minimal and Bell's costume department no longer enough for a small African republic. In practical terms, this just meant that the tunes themselves sounded bigger than ever.