NEW YORK (AP) — When Tears for Fears hit the stage at Firstbank Amphitheater in Franklin, Tennessee, on July 11, 2023, there have been no tears however some fears.

“We walked on stage and I felt like a deer caught within the headlines,” says singer and guitarist Roland Orzabal, half of the duo. Curt Smith, his musical accomplice, agreed: “We placed on a courageous face.”

The explanation the duo have been uneasy was as a result of cameras have been about to seize, for the primary time, a Tears for Fears live performance destined for the massive display. “Tears For Fears Dwell (A Tipping Level Movie)” premieres in over 1,100 film theaters worldwide on Oct. 24 and Oct. 26.

“We usually look way more relaxed and are having fun with ourselves way more. We weren’t as a lot that evening as a result of we have been very acutely aware of being filmed and being recorded,” says Smith. “However, consequently, it was in all probability the most effective performances we ever did.”

The irony is that any nerves aren’t evident, with Smith at one level in the course of the present quipping, “This younger man to my proper, his identify is Roland. I might say his surname however I can’t pronounce it.”

Outdated and new and reside

The live performance is a mixture of outdated and new songs, with loads of room given to the duo’s 2022 album “The Tipping Level.” Followers will even hear the classics: “Everyone Needs To Rule the World,” Shout” and “Head Over Heels.”

“We listened to a variety of the tapes and a variety of the performances. And there was one thing about that evening — as a result of we have been so rattling nervous, we truly performed higher,” says Smith.

The live performance movie is just the newest output from the duo who have been comparatively quiet for 17 years earlier than releasing “The Tipping Level,” which peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard 200, the identical spot their “The Seeds of Love” reached in 1989.

Tears for Fears have turned the live performance into an album — “Songs For a Nervous Planet,” out Oct. 25 — and added 4 beforehand unreleased songs with it, like an EP on prime of the reside set. In addition they plan a three-night live performance on the Fontainebleau Las Vegas on Oct. 30, Nov. 1 and Nov. 2.

Orzabal jokes he and Smith are discovering a brand new gear after “a protracted gestation interval akin to that of an elephant.” They switched managers — the outdated one insisted Tears for Fears modernize and hunt down hits — and “it’s nearly just like the brakes have been taken off.”

4 new songs

The brand new songs embrace Orzabal’s love music to his new spouse “The Woman That I Name Dwelling” and Smith’s ethereal “Astronaut,” which was left off “The Tipping Level.”

That album was closely knowledgeable by grief, loss and psychological anguish. The title monitor is about dementia, “Break the Man” is about patriarchy, “My Demons” is an examination of violent extremism and “Rivers of Mercy” is a prayer about social unrest.

The 4 new choices have a special really feel, extra constructive. “I feel that it does offer you just a little perception into the place we are actually, whereas ‘The Tipping Level’ type of was pushed rather a lot by ache,” says Smith. “These new 4 tracks will not be and I feel they’ve a separate life.”

Orzabal and Smith determined to make a reside album and live performance as soon as they fitted songs from “The Tipping Level” into their live performance set. One factor they seen was the title monitor had rather a lot in rhythmic widespread with “Everyone Needs to Rule the World.”

“Placing the brand new songs in opposition to the outdated songs was nice as a result of they not solely sounded extraordinarily coherent, they have been pretty much as good as they have been quality-wise,” says Orzabal.

Each tasks function guitarist Charlton Pettus, drummer Jamie Wollam keyboardist Doug Petty and singer Lauren Evans. Tears for Fears received concert-ready by “flying below the radar,” as Orzabal calls it — enjoying wineries, casinos and festivals.

“We had a reasonably good set and a working order,” he provides. “All we then needed to do earlier than the final tour was slotting ‘The Tipping Level’ songs.”

The duo made their mark among the many first wave of electronica that dominated the early Nineteen Eighties airwaves, with hits together with “Mad World,” “Pale Shelter” and “Shout.”

Subsequent yr marks the fortieth anniversary of their 1985 No. 1 album “Songs From the Large Chair,” with its mesmerizing hit music “Everyone Needs to Rule the World.”

“I’m form of drawn to the simplicity of it, you already know?” says Smith. “It truly is open and ethereal and welcoming, despite the fact that it has fairly darkish lyrical content material. It’s form of vivid and breezy.”