Review by Nigel forbes for MPM
Numan and his dystopian styled band members visited belfast in 2023 to promote his Intruder Album.
This time round it was all about early Numan and ‘The Tubeway Army’ with the albums The Pleasure Principles and Replicas being the focus of this evenings festivities in a 45year anniversary tour… yes 45years!… anyone feeling old?
The original venue was due to be the Telegraph building but changed to Limelight One which for all attending was the right venue giving an intimate yet large enough stage to give an impact.
Speaking of the stage it was clear that we were being transported back to the very early eighties with Numan and his band standing in front of what could only be described as a top notch “Top of the Pops” style neon triangle that was the focus of the audiences attention.
On with the show and pump on the dry ice to really set off that neon 80s vibe. Enter the stage Numan and the Tubeway Army, still looking the part with his full head of hair unlike most of the majority male crowd who have lost the most of theirs.
Launching into the title track “Replicas” the crowd was already in a appreciative mood to lap up these early classic Numan songs Replicas although a slow number sounded brilliant as an opening song, having a harder edge live.. followed by “M.E.” and for those who thought they heard that tune from somewhere it was sampled by Basment Jaxx in the early 2000’s on their top 10 hit “Where’s Your Head At?” Well our heads were firmly in the 1980’s as the band launched into classic album tracks “Me, I disconnected from You” and the sublime “Films” a firm live favourite amongst the strong Belfast following, “We have a Technical” up next along with “Do you need the Service?” Lesser known to myself but the devotees seem to enjoy both tracks to the full.
Both reminded me of John Foxx and how him and Numan were pioneers of synth new wave, if you haven’t heard Foxx before I urge you to check him out also.
Numan was decked out in grey and black with his able bodied guitarists posturing throughout either side like two extras from Hellraiser creating a look that complimented the music and atmosphere perfectly.
Vocally Numan has lost nothing over the 45 years as he played “Engineers” and “Observer” with the former having a pulsating live drum sound that set the tone of this particular track. Observer having that “Cars” synth sound which will get us in the mood for the finale later on but we were only getting warmed up as he played “Praying the Aliens” which is also the name of his Autobiography..one to check out as I would like to know meanings behind a lot of his tracks including this one.
Anyway “Tracks” up next from “Pleasure Principles” a slow starter with synth laid chords streaming in to unleash another wall of sound that was one of the highlights of the evening.
“Conversation” followed along with “It Must Have Been Years” a harder sounding track from “Replicas” sees the guitar players strut their stuff all over stage with some really good guitar playing despite the usual synth sound this one was certainly the most rockier track of the evening. “You are in My Vision” followed this harder edge but didn’t have same impact for me.
The opening track of Pleasure Principles album “Airlane” brought us back to pure synth next an instrumental, with the stage lights pinging our lasers green and red above our heads to compliment that Neon Triangle… I think I may have mentioned that triangle too much but damn it worked so well with everything! “Complex” was followed by “Down in the Park” a classic Numan track with his own Sci fi take on Man v the machines which the following song “The Mach Men” was part of this concept.
“Metal” up next with it’s unforgettable dirty deep synth sound into into classic Numan, “Only a Downstat” with its dealing guitar vs synth interspersed with Numans futuristic lyrics.
“We are so Fragile” finished the main set this evening with it’s drum intro setting the pace for a frantic climax to the evening the crowd lapping every second of this with both guitarists responding dancing and posturing with Numan taking command centre stage.
We all knew what was coming next for the final two encore songs.
Two classic Numan hits to end the night “Cars” with its unmistakable intro that projected Numan into Cult status along with “Are Friends Electric” the crowd singing along to both and even after 45 years you can see how much that means to Numan responding to the crowd on both songs arching his back while we sang back during Cars.
If anyone thought Gary Numan was a one (or two) hit wonder then sort yourself out and go to a gig and discover a man who’s talent is a lot more than a catchy hit in the early 80’s. He is still releasing great albums and still enjoying playing live.. and as long as he does we will be back…. Just a pity the Northern Lights weren’t out on show tonight as we left .. that would have complimented the Triangle rightly!!!
Photography by Darren McVeigh for MPM
