Birmingham Alexandra 22nd October 1989

 

Come 1989 Numan toured in support of 'The Skin Mechanic', a live partial set album from the previous year's 'Metal Rhythm' tour recorded at the show at London's Dominion Theatre. At this point, any diehard reading this will roll their eyes in disgust, but for me, by this point Numan was no longer innovating, he was trying his hardest to keep up, find a niche and stay relevant, but in this task he was floundering. Numan has said this much himself. The shows were still big events in terms of light and sound but the edge was no longer there. Gary Numan started the decade as untouchable in terms of chart success and popularity, Gary Numan ended the decade as untouchable for all the wrong reasons. Radio stations were starving him of airplay and the wider fanbase (with the exception of a hardcore) seemed to have moved over to pastures new. A state of affairs that was reflected in the chart performance of the live album which peaked at at 55 in the UK charts.

Unfortunately, the situation would get worse.... the good news is that it gets better too!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-gW5uC9BYEU

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-7mT1YKThtO

Commodore Ballroom Vancouver 3rd March 2024

 

Sidestepping the chronological thing for the time being I thought I'd bring things up to date for a moment. Here's a Numan support slot that he did with Ministry in the US and Canada in the Spring of this year. Sounds quite nice this one. There is a bit of whooping and hollering... which seems to be a bit of a thing with North American audiences. Also captured here is 'Haunted' from the soundcheck.

Thanks to the original Dime uploader.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-jVWhS9WeJv

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-LV07ho7cx0

Radio Sheffield Interview 1988

 

In 1988, normal service was resumed with an album and tour combination. The album was 'Metal Rhythm' which was supported by 18 live dates across the UK. For me there was one stand out track on this, the nineth studio album from Numan, and that was 'Voix'. The track soundwise was something of a pointer to the diretion that he would take in a few years time that would revive his fortunes and reputation. For me, the rest of the material lacked that inate Numan quality of earlier studio albums as Numan grappled as to where he belonged in the UK msic scene of 1988. The record buying public too seemingly shared his dilema to some extent with a peak UK chart placing of 48.

In the absence of a live recording from the 'Matal Rhythm' tour here is a short telephome interview conducted with Rado Sheffield ahead of Gary's appearance at City Hall.

I saw him on the first of the Astoria dates in London on this tour.

MP3: https://we.tl/t-YNSL9PBawf