MARKING SIOUXSIE SIOUX'S SHOCK RETURN TO THE STAGE, WRITERS AND BAND MEMBERS SALUTE THE POST-PUNK ICON'S MASTERY AND MYSTERY, AND CELEBRATE THE SWIRLING, SHADOWY SOUND OF HER BANSHEES. BUT FIRST, MARK PAYTRESS ON SIOUXSIE’S RISE, REVIVAL AND THE WOMAN BEHIND THE IMPERIOUS PERSONA: “I’M NOT THE CARTOON CHARACTER EVERYONE WOULD LIKE ME TO BE.”

Make way for the mother superior: Siouxsie Sioux in 1979; (opposite) on-stage at Cruel World Festival, Pasadena, May 21, 2023.

Fin Costello/Getty, Jason Zinn

HER HEAD BOWED AND HOODED, SHE CUTS A SOLEMN, IMPASSIVE figure as a grave, bass-heavy fog of sound slowly brings her to life. The crowd greets her as they’ve always done in this part of the world: “Sook-zee!”, they yell, a bizarrely pet-like take on one of the most imperious names in rock, before the name-calling melts into a rapturous roar of approval. For The Icon, head to toe in shimmering silver like a space-age nun, is at the mike and beginning the First Lesson. “Only at night-time I see you…”

Nightshift – key lines “Fuck the mothers/Kill the others” – is prime ‘Imperial Era’ Banshees, a long and grinding beast from Juju, the band’s 1981 Top 10 album and as archetypal as anything they released during a trailblazing and drama-filled 20-year career.

Until this first week in May, Siouxsie’s been away from the stage for a decade. The atmosphere in the intimate Teatro Degli Arcimboldi in Milan – one of three warm-up dates before a busy summer playing festivals and touring at home – crackles with expectation. “Royalty!” yells one enthusiastic punter to loud cheers. The previous day, back in London, a new King was crowned. Tonight, we bear witness to a Restoration: the Ice Queen is back.

Accompanied by musicians who’d worked on her 2007 solo album, Mantaray – guitarist/keyboard player Stephen Evans, who produced it, bassist Joe Short and drummer Robert Brian, who toured it, and guitarist Chris Turtell – Siouxsie performs a mix of hits (Arabian Knights, Dear Prudence, Kiss Them For Me, Spellbound) and deeper cuts (But Not Them, Face To Face, Here Comes That Day). All the old moves are here: hanging on the mike stand, hands pressed against her temples in anguish. Her famous pendulum dance is especially apt, a reminder of time passing. Now, her hair flatteringly moon-coloured with black streaks, she gives off a strong Elsa Lanchester vibe, the exquisite titular character in the 1935 horror classic, The Bride Of Frankenstein.