Gary Numan St John-at-Hackney London 16th October 2023

 

Following on from the previous post here is the first of the London dates and an excellent effort it is too, great sound. Thanks to Chatts for the share!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-vJ2ispBQ4k

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-ktXtD5MRWU

01. Intro/When The World Comes Apart
02. You Are In My Vision
03. Stories
04. For The Rest Of My Life
05. The Life Machine
06. Metal
07. I Am Screaming
08. The Machman
09. Lost
10. Merc
11. Ghost Nation
12. Everyday I Die
13. Down In The Park
14. Crime Of Passion
15. Bleed
16. And It All Began With You
17. Jo The Waiter
18. Cars
19. Are 'Friends' Electric?

Gary Numan St John-at-Hackney London 16th October 2023 - An Opinion

 

Gary Numan

St John at Hackney London

16th October 2023.

It's early evening, Monday, and I am making my way to Church. No, I have not seen the light, rather I am here for one of those increasingly popular music gigs (with a difference) in a functioning, consecrated Church. Perhaps it was the Union Chapel in Islington that started this trend but it seems to be gaining traction as a thing to do for those intimate 'songs and stories' kind of gig. I am guessing that it is a lucrative option for the Church as well. I would imaging that more money goes over the bar in two hours than makes it into the collection plate over a month of Sundays! That must be true judging by the price punters were being charged for drinks on the night.... £6.20 for a 330ml can of 4% beer for the curious.

Even stranger than the setting was the fact that the man we had gathered to see on this pleasant October evening was none other than Gary Numan, a man who for the last 30 years has filled his albums with songs robustly denying the existence of God and yet here he was brazenly knocking out his tunes acoustically in several of the many houses that seemingly belong to God with no repercussions whatsoever. At the very least I would expect one of the band to be struck down by a thunderbolt from the miffed man upstairs... but nothing, he and they made it through this eight date mini-tour completely untouched by the wrath of God!

With no support, the time prior to the band's stage entrance was taken up with a preview of the film of last year's return to Wembley Arena. I did find it a little odd to see fan's going through their routines to a two-dimensional screen Numan! Each to their own I suppose.

The band appeared on stage to little fanfare which kind of set the tone for tonight's performance, very informal and very relaxed. In all of the many times that I have seen Numan he had more interaction with the audience tonight than in all of the other shows put together and that was right and proper as he took the time to explain the songs and the circumstances under which they were written.

What I really appreciated about the set, and this was something that Gary was at great pains to explain, was that the band did not opt for the obvious ballady songs that clearly lend themselves to a pain free acoustic treatment. The trick is to rework some of the big, booming electronic floor shakers and make them work in an entirely different setting. That said, the acoustic style is already well suited to some of the very old Tubeway Army material as that was pretty much semi-acoustic in the first place. Thus we were treated to 'The Life Machine', 'Crime of Passion (two songs I never reckoned on hearing him ever play) and of course 'Jo The Waiter'. Throw into the mix 'Everyday I Die' and this is as close as I'm gonna get to seeing 1978 Tubeway Army!

That is the beauty of such acoustic gigs, they give the artist absolute freedom to do something different, something for an appreciative audience that is far from the norm. I guess (and Gary's often repeated references to how much he enjoyed this first acoustic tour as well as the opportunity to take the audience each night on a bit of a journey) it must be refreshing to play some of the songs you have been playing every night for 45 or more years well..... differently!

I will not give my opinions too much on the songs, but there was nothing in there that blatantly did not work once reworked. And just to say it was great to hear 'Stories'! The recording will follow so you can come to your own conclusions.

Judging by Gary's toothy grinning throughout the set I can only assume that for him this format and these dates have been an overwhelming triumph for him. And, for us the punters that can only be good news, giving him as it does a new engaging string to his musical bow. Well done that man!

Tubeway Days Nell's West Kensington London 21st October 2023

 

In my 43 year gigging career, I have in the main avoided tribute bands, although I acknowledge that such bands are a relatively recent phenomena. That said I did go and see a Jam tribute band at the Marquee in the early 1990's. They were called The Jamm and they harked from Boston, all the more surprising then that when they spoke from the stage it was a London accent that the audience heard, what's more they referred to each other as Paul, Bruce and Rick! Now my rationale for going to see such a band was that unfortunately I never got to see the bone fide Jam live, so at that time it was the closest that I could ever get to that experience (Weller in the early 1990's was assiduously avoiding anything even vaguely associated with his former band and From The Jam were some years down the road). So why then go and see a Gary Numan tribute band when Numan is still actively gigging. In fact I along with many in the small stage area of Nell's were at Gary's acoustic gig across London just five days before. The reason is that for reasons that I fully understand Gary Numan does not want to recreate the artistry of his earliest days. Even when he did the album tours of Telekon, Replicas and The Pleasure Principle in 2006, 2008 and 2009 respectively (and then repeated in a trio of gigs in London) it was different. No musician really wants to be seen to try to create something from their past in forensic detail. A tribute band has no such artistic dilemmas, they are free to play with the past as it is not their own.

So, on this night, Tubeway Days set out to recreate a date from the 'Touring Principle' with a faithful adherence to the set, the look and most importantly the sound of Numan's stage show as it was back in that first tour in 1979. In contract with the aforementioned Jamm, aside from clothes (ties, shirts and boots etc.) the band do not try to pass themselves off as Gary's then band. Only Chris Fielding, a.k.a. Gary Numan, has adopted the total look and I guess as the focal point of the band, that's OK... he makes no play to be Gary Numan on stage despite the look and the stage movements if you get what I mean.

The set looked great, given how scaled down from the original that it had to be and the sound that the band created could have been lifted directly from 'Living Ornaments '79' which was indeed the intention. Sadly I missed the OMD tribute act that would have completed the time travelling illusion.

With the original set completed the audience were treated to a handful of additional songs that were contemporary with Tubeway Army's 1978/1979 discography. They ended with a favourite of mine,  'Listen To The Sirens' which bowled me over!

So, as a huge fan of Tubeway Army I have heard more Tubeway Army (first incarnation) played live in one week than in 40 years: 

The Life Machine

Every Day I Die

Crime Of Passion

Jo The Waiter

Something's In The House

Bombers

The Dream Police

My Shadow In Vain

Are You Real?

Listen To The Sirens

Wow!