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Interesting Pages
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Discography,
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REVIEWS
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| Gary Numan,
@ Manchester Academy - 20th September 2003 |
Despite the persistent Manchester rain outside there was a tangible excitement within the Academy walls that this particular web guy has not experienced at a Numan gig for quite sometime. There was certainly a more varied audience than usual in both age and appearance; from children to those pushing into their half centenaries - from the suit and ties to the shaven and pierced. All had come to see Gary Numan, the one-time superstar and misunderstood laughing stock of the eighties. Now seemingly back from the dead, can he deliver the goods tonight at the first of two 'one-off' concerts?
The first attraction of the night came in the form of Rico (you know, the guy who wrote the Crazier hit single earlier this year), spinning a few tunes on the 'decks'. However, yours truly (thanks to the slowest barman in living history) missed the entire set while patiently awaiting refreshments. Next up was the support act with the obligatory silly name, Nylon Pylon who went down incredibly well despite some obvious irritation at the constant and disrespectful calls for the headline act from the audience throughout their set. Although the vocals were a tad muddy, the best received tunes were the recent single 'Pushin' and the final song which evolved into an impressive wall of hypnotic white noise which left all ears seriously buggered. They left the stage with a lot of sincere applause and cheers from the Numan crowd and then Rico got things 'sorted' on the 'decks' again, although thankfully at a much lower volume allowing tender lugs to slowly recover from the previous onslaught.
This was my first glimpse of the Scottish rocker, tucked away to the far left of the stage alternately head banging to the sounds or energetically banging the skins on a tiny electronic drum kit. He had brought a friend along to help him play these inaudible drums when it all became to much for him which I thought was rather sweet. Rico even turned the volume down for his pal to reveal that, yes, the drums WERE being played live thank you very much, but then the volume was returned to the previous level and the drumming once more became irrelevant. But still, the effort did not go unappreciated by the crowd and did serve its purpose of keeping the energy level very high.
The biggest roar so far from the audience came as the lights dimmed and the pre-recorded strains of Hybrid filled the air. The Numan band strolled onstage followed by Numan himself and the audience approval rating shot through the roof. Numan and the band kicked in for the latter half of Hybrid and the sound system was pushed to the limit. Richard Beasley's drumming should be singled out for special attention here as the sound of the kick and snare drums were powerful and crystal clear all throughout the night. The specially treated snare immediately putting me in mind of Prince's Lovesexy tour way back in 1988. After that blistering opener came another hybrid, Pure, the title track from his last 2000 album, is a song that started life as a backing track for a revamped Friends originally recorded in 1978. Tonight Numan sang the lyric to Friends before launching into the hugely popular Pure chorus and being drowned out, even at this volume, by the collective voice of the audience. Next up was Films, one of only two tracks performed from his biggest selling album 'The Pleasure Principle' from 1979 which went down a storm.
If Numan seemed a little distracted during his performance, or not quite 'himself' it was for a very good reason indeed; "I'm a fucking dad!!" he exclaimed to a roar of congratulations from the crowd then the rarely performed The Aircrash Bureau from 1980's 'Telekon' album began with Numan grinning like an idiot throughout. Numan's obvious joy, not only of becoming a father, but to playing in front of an enthusiastic packed house while being recorded for posterity, was clear and further added to the excellent atmosphere which more than made up for the miking problems through the show, rendering a few songs totally inaudible especially during an untitled new song and a duet with Rico on Crazier on which the energetic haircut was clearly belting out the words but alas, we couldn't hear a single word from the poor guy.
Another surprise came with the inclusion of the poignant, and quite beautiful Complex, a top ten hit from 1979, which was unfortunately was not done justice tonight, being somewhat sloppy as regards to the synth work. Much better was the rendition of the classic Down In The Park which was the best version of this song I have heard (and there have been quite a few!). The biggest surprise of the night was the sublime My Breathing, one of the very best tracks from Numan's oft-maligned Numa period of '84 to '86 that boasts an irresistible string synth hook and a driving rhythm which was milked almost to breaking point by extending the track and virtually stripping away one instrument at a time until it had nowhere left to go and ended quite abruptly.
A clutch of Numan's very best songs were saved for an encore including Absolution and Ancients, while the natural closer Are 'Friends' Electric? topped off the evening very nicely indeed. Overall the performance was excellent, let down only by the vocal problems mentioned earlier but it showed quite clearly, if proof be needed, that after twenty five years in the business Numan still has a lot to offer creatively and his new reputation as a credible, ongoing artist is entirely justified.
During the long car journey home after escaping the clutches of a thousand crazy mancunian taxi drivers, my other half fell sound asleep in the passenger seat as I reached the brow of a blind summit and ahead, in the clear midnight sky, a crystal clear shooting star gracefully underlined a bright crescent moon. Not a bad night, I thought to myself, not a bad night at all. |
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