GARY NUMAN + RAVEN NUMAN – ELECTRIC BALLROOM, LONDON 15.4.23
It’s truly amazing that the Godfather of synth, Gary Numan, has this evening just finished the 1000th live performance of his long career. The chances of achieving this were minute indeed as the odds have been seriously stacked against the Hammersmith born 65 year old musician from the outset.
In the early days of punk when Gary Anthony James Webb (his birth name) was a member of Mean Street (from 1976) and then the Lasers, his world was a difficult place to be, on the account of him being diagnosed with Asperger’s (a form of autism) as a young man. He wrote songs and several from that time related to being misunderstood and feeling alone. He was an outsider, an alien!
Looking back at it, his decision making process hasn’t always been ideal, but his inquisitiveness prevailed one day in the recording studio, and it was one very simple action that completely changed his life and that of his family for the next 45 years so far!
As far as I can recall, he was in the studio one day with his new band, Tubeway Army, (which included his uncle Jess Lidyard on drums and new friend Paul Gardiner on bass) and the outfit that had been recording in the studio before them was, as legend has it, was a reggae band (Aswad as far as I recall) and someone had left a keyboard in the corner of the room. Gary simply went up to it and it was still turned on and he pushed a key and the deep bass electronic sound that came out of this synth simply blew his mind! He had just heard the future!
His record label Beggars Banquet were expecting a solid punk album to materialise from these Tubeway Army recording sessions, but Gary seriously had other plans! Keyboards were king! He was right!
Thankfully for him, he kept family members close to him, as they were folk that he could trust and they were behind him all the way. Not only was his uncle in the band for a while, but his father (Tony Webb) became his manager, which was no doubt better than being a British Airways bus driver based at Heathrow Airport, which he had been. In fact when Gary was just 15 years old, his father bought him a Gibson Les Paul guitar, which became his most treasured possession. His mother (Beryl) went on to run his fan club and his adopted cousin (father’s nephew) John, even briefly went on to play keyboards and saxophone as part of Gary’s band. The family connections are still evident this evening, but more on that later.
As we are on the subject of family, Gary was a former Sussex resident who used to live with his wife Gemma and their three daughters (Raven, Persia and Echo) in Ragged Dog Lane in Waldron, which is located to the south of Uckfield and Heathfield.
Back to December 1978 and January 1979 and Gary and his Tubeway Army were recording their breakout album ‘Replicas’, which was released on 4th April 1979. It was either on this date or indeed a few days earlier that I discovered Tubeway Army. The first single from the album ‘Down In The Park’ had dropped back on 16th March and so between that date and 4th April I became a fan. I used to attend Brighton Technical College in Pelham Street, and most days, especially Monday’s (which was new releases day) myself and my college mates would visit the town’s many record shops to check out the new sounds and new releases. I recall one occasion where myself and my mate Mark Brady went to Diplomat on London Road, which was located not far from the college, by the side of the Open Market in a building that is now partly the Greggs store. We climbed the stairs of the card shop to its first floor which was dedicated to records. It’s here that I first heard ‘Down In The Park’ and on another occasion ‘Neon Lights’ by Kraftwerk. My music taste had been defined by those visits! No idea who the member(s) of staff were that were playing the tracks, but I’m indebted to you!
On 4th May 1979, the second single from ‘Replicas’ was released and week by week ‘Are “Friends” Electric?’ began its ascent to the very top of the UK Singles Chart. It bucked the trend of what a No.1 single should be. It wasn’t a three minute pop song with a catchy earworm chorus. ‘Are “Friends” Electric?’ came in at almost double that length at 5 minutes 25 seconds and arguably without a chorus. It wasn’t poppy at all, it was dark and doomy and Gary’s alien persona was seen by all on ‘Top Of The Pops’.
‘Replicas’ did the same and climbed to No.1 in the official UK Albums Chart. In Gary’s stardom masterplan, he had peaked a little earlier than anticipated, as he presumed that the hits would come late summer of 1979 with the arrival of his first “solo” titled work under the Gary Numan banner, that being the ‘Cars’ single on 21st August and ‘The Pleasure Principle’ album on 7th September. Both of these reached the summit of their respective charts and Gary was a household name, whether he liked it or not.
His following album, ‘Telekon’, which dropped on 5th September 1980, was also a No.1 smash. The pressure was building within Gary, so much so, that he announced that he would be retiring from ‘the awkward’ live performances side of things. He had toured with both these No.1 albums. But something had to give, thus he announced 3 final shows at Wembley Arena on 26th, 27th and 28th April 1981. They were sell-outs and I thankfully attended all three of them.
This didn’t spell the end, as Gary kept on releasing albums and in fact thankfully did a U-turn on the gigging front and regularly toured each autumn for a number of years from 1983 onwards. Each time re-inventing his image, just as David Bowie had done before.
Gary’s fans were called ‘Numanoids’ and stuck with him through thick and thin, snapping up each new release as it dropped and even watching him flying his “zero” Harvard aeroplane in displays, as the Harvard Formation Team and then as the Radial Pair. Numanoids are a loyal bunch, but as time progressed, Gary’s work wasn’t quite hitting the heights of the early hits and some fans were evidentially falling by the wayside. I wasn’t one of these, but must confess that Numan’s sound during the 1990’s was in the main rather repetitive and other artists were more of interest. But myself and my mates would still attend that particular year’s live tour.
The dynamics of Gary’s life had changed and he had married Gemma and she was steering him towards an industrial music sound and by the turn of the millennium, Gary’s music was starting to be noticed by big name acts that included Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson as well as all their fans. Gary’s November 2000 ‘Pure’ album was the turning point, especially with the album’s title track and another called ‘Rip’.
Just as there was light at the end of the tunnel, fans had to wait six whole years for the follow up album, ‘Jagged’ to arrive. The chorus-driven, anthemic industrial sound was still there and the tide was turning back in Gary’s favour. Sadly, it was another handful of years until 2011’s ‘Dead Son Rising’ album arrived. This by now was his sixteenth solo album and clearly the last few albums had been difficult to write.
The fully formed back at it and in your face Numan sound arrived on 9th October 2013, when his ‘Splinter (Songs from a Broken Mind)’ album was released. Chart wise it was to become Gary’s highest position since 1983’s ‘Warriors’ album. Gary was indeed back, and the number of gigs were clocking up nicely.
By this time Gary had whisked his family away from sleepy Sussex and they built a new life in the USA. September 2017 saw the release of ‘Savage (Songs From A Broken World)’. It was a masterpiece and went crashing into the UK Album Charts at No.2. Gary’s latest album, if you can call it that, as it dropped in May 2021, was ‘Intruder’, which also got to No.2 in the album charts! The world knew that Gary was back and now many festivals seek him out to headline their bill, which is a far cry from the barren years.
And so here we are post-covid and Gary announced another trio of concerts. This time it was to be three consecutive nights at the Electric Ballroom on Camden High Street in London on 13th, 14th and 15th April 2023, and these were his 998, 999 and 1000th live shows of his long and illustrious career! By lunchtime on the day of ticket launch Gary informed the world that “All three shows sold out in ten minutes this morning. That’s amazing. Thank you. We’ll see you in April”.
We spoke about family earlier and these concerts are also a showcase in order to bring on the next generation of music stars within the family, as support on all three days came from his eldest daughter, 20 year old ‘Raven Numan’. They were her first live concerts and what better way to start, than under the supervision of her proud dad. Not only this, but 18 year old Persia Numan is also on stage with her sister. She has already appeared on stage with her dad when she shares vocals on the excellent ‘My Name Is Ruin’ single. No doubt 16 year old Echo Numan will be performing soon as well.
With shows 998 and 999 already complete, the Brighton & Hove News Music Team headed on up to London to witness the very special 1000th performance, and of course Raven’s third! We arrive in plenty of time and head into the venue which as you would expect and hastily fills to capacity. Thankfully we are positioned almost at the front of the crowd, with only two people immediately in front of us.
Once again, Gary has pulled out all the stops on the lighting. There are two rows of ceiling gantry lights above the band, plus two lots of ten ceiling gantry lights, plus two banks of four to the rear of the stage with two banks of three below them and in between them there are seven small lights in each panel between them. There are also three banks of three stage floor lights plus additional long strobe either side of the stage, as well as fourteen lights on the front gantry above the pit. Suffice to say that Camden’s Electric Ballroom will be as brightly lit as any time since its first on stage performances back in 1938.
It appears that there are two film crews in this evening, so maybe we can expect a future DVD release from Gary as well as footage of Raven being incorporated into video’s of her forthcoming future releases.
As you would expect, the photographers pit was a hive of activity and as this evening is a special event, the photographers are each allotted their slots in which they are allowed to shoot from the front in with the film crews and they set to work. Thankfully we secured the first shooting rota for both acts!
Dark haired Raven Numan and her quartet of bandmates take to the stage, which is roughly four foot six inches in height at 7pm, for a 40 minute set consisting of nine unreleased tunes. Up behind me on the balcony are gathered dad (Gary), mum (Gemma) and youngest sister (Echo), who are giving Raven (and no doubt sister Persia, who is also on vocals) some serious backing. I actually spy Gary loudly whooping with encouragement! Blimey…”the robot” on ‘Top Of The Pops’ back in 1979 has turned into a megadad!
Raven’s setup was her out front on lead vocals; to her left side (our right) was blond haired Persia Numan on vocals; stage left (our right) was long-time Gary Numan collaborator Ade Fenton on Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol S61 keyboard and laptop; on the opposite side of the stage was session guitarist Ben Simon; and to the rear was session drummer John Azopardi.
Both Raven and Persia sang backing vocals on Gary’s latest ‘Intruder’ album back in 2021, but how would they fare in a live setting in 2023. I have witnessed Persia in action on stage when joining Gary during ‘My Name Is Ruin’ on previous tours and saw that she has the stage presence, but tonight (and the past two night’s) have very much been the launch of Raven.
They open up with ‘Children Of The Bad Revolution’ which is surprisingly an electro dance orientated number, and as it turned out my favourite number of the set. This is followed by ‘In Your Head’ which is a slower industrial music number and one that was the first indication that this acorn hasn’t fallen far away from the tree. Raven and Persia shared joint vocals for half of this number, as they did for most of the rest of the set. In fact they sound so similar that it sounded as though Raven’s voice had been multi-tracked, but of course it wasn’t, it’s in the genes!
‘Here For Me’ was up next. It’s another slowie and the harmonies were spot on again. The thought of a heavy ‘Freak Like Me’ Sugarbabes tune popped into my head during this number. ‘Inside Of You’ was a slightly faster number, but still sounded heavy like her father’s work. This was the second best track thus far.
‘Violence’ broke out next, not literally, unless you are a couple of folk up in the balcony jostling for front position. This number had pulsating electronic beats and nice sliding guitarwork. The (initial) ballad style ‘Pretty When I’m Hurt’ followed, with Raven’s vocals very much to the fore on this composition. A small section of the tune it reminded me of ‘Fade To Grey’ by Visage, until the loud blast of noise kicked in and out again.
Track seven was ‘Under My Skin’ with its great use of drum pads and suddenly Raven’s vocal style somehow sounded totally different from the previous half-dozen numbers, it was almost unhinged. The penultimate tune was ‘My Reflection’, a dark number, like her hair. Raven said “Thank you” after this. It was her first communication with us.
Raven’s set concluded with ‘Magnolia’ which was another powerful number, in an Evanescence (American rock band) kind of way. This did get a little funky at the end as well. After this tune had finished Raven said “Thank you ever so much” and the quintet vacated the stage at 7:40pm. It had been a valiant third concert performance from Raven. She had tried to stay focused during her set, but on the two or three occasions she looked up at her family on the balcony, she gave out shy laughter. Whereas Persia remained in moody mode and didn’t appear to acknowledge them.
Raven Numan band:
Raven Numan – lead vocals
Persia Numan – vocals
Ade Fenton – keyboards and laptop
Ben Simon – guitar
John Azopardi – drums
Raven Numan setlist:
‘Children Of The Bad Revolution’
‘In Your Head’
‘Here For Me’
‘Inside Of You’
‘Violence’
‘Pretty When I’m Hurt’
‘Under My Skin’
‘My Reflection’
‘Magnolia’
The stage hands set to work in clearing the equipment from the stage and setting up the new equipment for Gary Numan’s set.
“So the big one is here. Tonight will be my 1,000th Gary Numan show. I never dreamt I would be lucky enough to be doing something I love so much for so long. Fans make these dreams possible. Thank you all so much for your endless support. I’m so grateful” – Gary Numan
After 25 minutes, Gary and his band grace the Electric Ballroom stage one by one from 8:05pm and for the next hour and forty-three minutes (until 9:48pm) we are under his control.
The setup for this performance was Gary Numan (centre stage) on lead vocals (via a cordless mic, the same as Raven and Persia previously had), occasional keyboard, and occasional guitar; stage right (our left) Steve Harris on Gibson and Trent electric guitars and Telecaster acoustic guitar; stage left (our right) Tim Slade on Fender bass; the almost unrecognisable bearded David Brooks on three layers of keyboards and programming (via laptop); and replacing Richard Beasley on drums was Jimmy, who used to be (or maybe still is) the band’s drum technician.
From the very first few notes of the instrumental intro number, ‘Resurrection’ (found on 2011’s ‘Dead Son Rising’ album), it was obvious that the sound volume had been cranked up. As well as all of the previously listed lighting that was obvious to see, there was also a film backdrop to the rear of the stage that would accompany each number, often with an image indicator of the song’s theme or from which album it could be found on.
‘Resurrection’ segued into ‘Down In The Park’ (from 1979 ‘Replicas’ album), the first ever Numan song I heard. This was a powerful rendition and the sound was crisp all night (as it had also been for Raven’s set), with one later very brief double drop out in sound near the conclusion of Gary’s set, I will tell you about that later.
Song three was 2006’s ‘Haunted’ (from his ‘Jagged’ album), which was followed by a wonderful trip down memory lane in the form of the excellent ‘Remind Me To Smile’, from his 1980 ‘Telekon’ album, which saw Gary tinker with his keyboard to the rear of the stage for the first time this evening. Things were then briefly brought right up to date with the inclusion of ‘Intruder’ album track ‘The Gift’. ‘Halo’ from the 2006 ‘Jagged’ album was given an outing next.
It was another trip down memory lane with a trio of oldies but goodies in the form of 1979’s ‘Metal’ (from ‘The Pleasure Principle’) which was fabulous and saw Gary on keys again. This was followed by 1978’s ‘My Shadow In Vain’ (from the debut ‘Tubeway Army’ album), which saw Gary on guitar for the first time this evening; and concluded with his first (punk style) single release ‘That’s Too Bad’ from 1978. Prior to playing this number, Gary addressed the crowd and admitted that he had noticed that he had fluffed ‘Metal’ and then jokingly blamed bassist Tim, who took it in jest.
The otherworldly Steve Harris, who at least three times put a plectrum in his mouth and then projected it into the front row as a (wet) souvenir, then traded in his Trent electric guitar for an acoustic Telecaster for the title track of 1997’s ‘Exile’ album. I saw this as a midset filler to be honest and was the weakest song of the night for me.
Steve then strapped on his Trent again and the lads were off with the title track from 2013’s ‘Splinter (Songs From A Broken Mind)’ long player followed with ‘Splinter’ and before we knew it, David Brooks was giving us the distinctive keyboard sound from the intro of megahit ‘Cars’ (from 1979 ‘The Pleasure Principle’ album), the tail end of which saw Gary having a go on his keyboard again as the lyrics had ceased on the composition.
One of Gary’s recent ecology songs arrived next in the form of ‘Is This World Not Enough’ (found on his latest album, ‘Intruder’). Throughout this number, striking images were shown on the film backdrop behind the band and certainly got the message across that more has to be done immediately in order to save and protect our planet. The chorus of the song, its most powerful section, screams “I am real; And Heaven is the world you know I am real; And Heaven is the world you know”.
‘Jagged’ album track ‘In A Dark Place’ with its very Numanesque chorus “Sometimes I call out for you, and sometimes I’m afraid” was up next and the packed crowd sang along, as I also did.
Yet another heavy number followed in the form of 2013’s ‘Here In The Black’, located on the ‘Splinter (Songs From A Broken Mind)’ record. After which Tim kicked us off with some decent bass riffage at the beginning of 2021’s ‘The Chosen’, before the rest of the guys came crashing in. This song can be found on the ‘Intruder’ long player.
Gary then announces that it is guest time and brings out middle daughter Persia for their shared rendition of the decent 2017 single ‘My Name Is Ruin’, which is the highlight of his ‘Savage (Songs From A Broken World)’ album. Clearly this went rather well as the previously moody looking Persia broke character and gave her dad a big hug after they finished their duet.
The final number of the main set for tonight was selected as the 1980 hit single ‘I Die: You Die’, which turned up on the cassette version edition of the superb ‘Telekon’ album as opposed to the vinyl edition, that’s is for everywhere in the world with the exception of North America, when it was selected as the closing number of the A-side of the platter instead of ‘Sleep By Windows’. Now you know when you used to play cassette tapes and you would get dropouts in sound sometimes when the tape wasn’t quite hitting the heads properly, well we experienced the same tonight during this number. There were at least two massive drop outs in sound, and I was wondering whether the Electric Ballroom had a sound limiter in place and so was an indication that everything was about to give out, or maybe that the ‘live’ material contained on laptop and/or keyboards wasn’t quite producing as it should. This was a little surprising and a brief talking point by those around me, after the band had briefly vacated the stage.
The band swiftly returned for an encore – 10pm curfew tonight, the other two nights had had been 11pm – and Gary stated that “To get to a 1000 is special”, and that he was only able to do this because of his fans, “I feel so f*cking lucky” he added.
They then struck up a different version of ‘A Prayer For The Unborn’ from that which can be found on the millennium release ‘Pure’ album and Gary used his guitar as a prop and posed rather nicely for the cameras and fans mobile phones, he eventually made use of it. They concluded with the anthemic mega smash ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ (from 1979 ‘Replicas’ album) and that was it, gig 1000 in the bag!
It was a truly memorable evening and one that everyone in attendance will talk about for decades to come. It was an “I was there” moment. However I think that Gary might have been able to have milked it a little further by bringing on other special guests for some of the numbers, such as bandmates from the past such as Chris Payne and Rrussell Bell. But hey-ho can’t have everything I guess….“I was there” !
Gary Numan band:
Gary Numan – lead vocals, keyboard, guitar
Steve Harris – electric and acoustic guitars
Tim Slade – bass
David Brooks – keyboards and programming
Jimmy – drums
Gary Numan gig 1000 setlist:
‘Resurrection’ (from 2011 ‘Dead Son Rising’ album)
‘Down In The Park’ (from 1979 ‘Replicas’ album)
‘Haunted’ (from 2006 ‘Jagged’ album)
‘Remind Me To Smile’ (from 1980 ‘Telekon’ album)
‘The Gift’ (from 2021 ‘Intruder’ album)
‘Halo’ (from 2006 ‘Jagged’ album)
‘Metal’ (from 1979 ‘The Pleasure Principle’ album)
‘My Shadow In Vain’ (from 1978 ‘Tubeway Army’ album)
‘That’s Too Bad’ (from 1978 ‘That’s Too Bad’ single)
‘Exile’ (from 1997 ‘Exile’ album)
‘Splinter’ (from 2013 ‘Splinter (Songs From A Broken Mind)’ album)
‘Cars’ (from 1979 ‘The Pleasure Principle’ album)
‘Is This World Not Enough’ (from 2021 ‘Intruder’ album)
‘In A Dark Place’ (from 2006 ‘Jagged’ album)
‘Here In The Black’ (from 2013 ‘Splinter (Songs From A Broken Mind)’ album)
‘The Chosen’ (from 2021 ‘Intruder’ album)
‘My Name Is Ruin’ (with Persia Numan) (from 2017 ‘Savage (Songs From A Broken World)’ album)
‘I Die: You Die’ (from 1980 ‘Telekon’ album – cassette version)
(encore)
‘A Prayer For The Unborn’ (Remix) (original from 2000 ‘Pure’ album)
‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ (from 1979 ‘Replicas’ album)
For those that are wondering, Raven Numan’s set was the same across the three nights, but Gary Numan performed three different sets across his trio of performances. Tonight’s (15th April) is listed above and below are the last two nights sets as well for comparison and for your interest.
Gary Numan gig 999 setlist – Friday 14th April:
‘Resurrection’ (from 2011 ‘Dead Son Rising’ album)
‘Down In The Park’ (from 1979 ‘Replicas’ album)
‘That’s Too Bad’ (from 1978 ‘That’s Too Bad’ single)
‘Rip’ (from 2000 ‘Pure’ album)
‘M.E.’ (from 1979 ‘The Pleasure Principle’ album)
‘Bed Of Thorns’ (from 2017 ‘Savage (Songs From A Broken World)’ album)
‘Films’ (from 1979 ‘The Pleasure Principle’ album)
‘Crazier’ (from 2003 ‘Hybrid’ remix and covers album)
‘Exile’ (from 1997 ‘Exile’ album)
‘Everyday I Die’ (from 1978 ‘Tubeway Army’ album)
‘Ghost Nation’ (from 2017 ‘Savage (Songs From A Broken World)’ album)
‘The Chosen’ (from 2021 ‘Intruder’ album)
‘Cars’ (from 1979 ‘The Pleasure Principle’ album)
‘Is This World Not Enough’ (from 2021 ‘Intruder’ album)
‘My Jesus’ (from 2000 ‘Pure’ album)
‘The Gift’ (from 2021 ‘Intruder’ album)
‘My Name Is Ruin’ (from 2017 ‘Savage (Songs From A Broken World)’ album)
‘A Prayer For The Unborn’ (Remix) (original from 2000 ‘Pure’ album)
(encore)
‘Me! I Disconnect From You’ (from 1979 ‘Replicas’ album)
‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ (from 1979 ‘Replicas’ album)
Gary Numan gig 998 setlist – Thursday 13th April:
‘Resurrection’ (from 2011 ‘Dead Son Rising’ album)
‘Down In The Park’ (from 1979 ‘Replicas’ album)
‘Pure’ (from 2000 ‘Pure’ album)
‘My Shadow In Vain’ (from 1978 ‘Tubeway Army’ album)
‘Metal’ (from 1979 ‘The Pleasure Principle’ album)
‘Everything Comes Down To This’ (from 2013 ‘Splinter (Songs From A Broken Mind)’ album)
‘That’s Too Bad’ (from 1978 ‘That’s Too Bad’ single)
‘The Machman’ (from 1979 ‘Replicas’ album)
‘Exile’ (from 1997 ‘Exile’ album)
‘Absolution’ (from 1997 ‘Exile’ album)
‘The End Of Things’ (from 2017 ‘Savage (Songs From A Broken World)’ album)
‘The Gift’ (from 2021 ‘Intruder’ album)
‘Cars’ (from 1979 ‘The Pleasure Principle’ album)
‘Is This World Not Enough’ (from 2021 ‘Intruder’ album)
‘Here In The Black’ (from 2013 ‘Splinter (Songs From A Broken Mind)’ album)
‘Love Hurt Bleed’ (from 2013 ‘Splinter (Songs From A Broken Mind)’ album)
‘Pray For The Pain You Serve’ (from 2017 ‘Savage (Songs From A Broken World)’ album)
‘My Name Is Ruin’ (from 2017 ‘Savage (Songs From A Broken World)’ album)
(encore)
‘The Chosen’ (from 2021 ‘Intruder’ album)
‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ (from 1979 ‘Replicas’ album)
“The 998th, 999th & 1,000th shows are over. Thank you so much to everyone that came out to share the moment. We played 35 songs in total, which is barely 10% of the songs I have, so it was far from easy to choose what to play. I hope it was the right choice for most of you”. – Gary Numan
Local Gary Numan fans will get the chance to see him performing live in Brighton on 13th October this year. Find out more HERE.
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