Metamatic Forums Socialising The Green Room Gary Numan

A new interview can be found here: -

http://thequietus.com/articles/03240-gar...flying-machines

I'm not going to spill anything, or give the plot away, but I will admit that Numan's TPP show on Wednesday in Southampton was probably the best I've seen him (of half a dozen gigs)
The show was considerably better than Replicas at the same venue, but that may be because I prefer TPP as an album anyway.

The light show was really impressive, there's a lot of power and passion in the new material,and of course the endearing nostalgia of hearing tracks like Conversation and Engineers live for the first time

I was at the Brighton gig.

I basically really enjoyed the Pleasure Principle set - they pretty much tried to just play those songs exactly as they are on the original album, getting as close to the original arrangements and synth sounds as they could - but it was most certainly still done LIVE, complete with all the little mistakes and fun that go with that.
I genuinely got shivers and goosepimples when the high strings came in on FILMS.
A particular treat was when Chris Payne came on at the end to play electric viola on COMPLEX! wow!

Unfortunately (for me), Numan then decided to treat us to a further free hour of "new stuff", which I found rather tedious lol as it was all hapless nu-metal-industrial-gothcore or sthg, accompanied by sludge guitars and video projections of women covered in blood (?! wtf was all that about). I kinda felt like I'd just had a wonderful delicious meal, and then after the final coffee I'd suddenly been forcefed a bucket of KFC and BigMacs. But hey, that was just a 'bonus' ;p

I saw the tour in Sheffield on Friday, and am sad to say that I was quite disappointed - mainly because The Corporation is an utterly awful venue.

The sound was absolutely rubbish during the second half, and the major disappointment was there was no big glowing triangle - the main projection screen was missing and the other two were barely visible, hidden behind the synths due to such a microscopic stage. And and no strip lights either.

The stage at that venue is so small, there was barely enough room for the band, and in the second half, the sound was one big, muddy mix with inaudiable vocals.

At least the Pleasure Principle part looked and sounded fantastic, and that's what I'd gone to see. That album is my favourite of Numan's early albums, and it was a genuine thrill to hear tracks such as Engineers, Conversation and Random played live - as in properly live!

Gary looked the best I have ever seen him - very smart, an those songs sounded better than ever. And what a joy to see him playing (or at least leaning over) synthesiser.

But as I said, the second half of the show was disappointing. Songs like Pure, Jagged and Haunted all plodded along so slowly, I could have gone to sleep. It sounded so boring after the glowing TPP tracks. I wish he'd played a lot more older stuff or some of the lesser-played recent tracks. And I love his later material, I really do, but his choice of songs for the prolonged agony of the second half, just didn't compare to the magnificence of the TPP songs. They still sound so fresh and exciting.

I'm sure in a better, bigger venue, with better acoustics, these tracks would have sounded impressive and powerful as I'm sure Gary intended. But in a shoe box of a venue, there was no hope.

Yeah, I was there too in Sheffield on Friday (my birthday! Cheers, Gary ) and have to concur with Alex. The TPP material was ace, but the second half dragged badly due to the dreadful sound. Plus, Corporation is a pit. In fairness, it is famed for that locally, so I don't know what I expected. Given that I, Mr. Storer and Peter (what a nice surprise! ) were being trampled underfoot by random people all night, it didn't go too badly, I suppose...

It was the first time in 11 years of going to Numan gigs, that I've come out feeling less than satisfied. In fact, I'm still considering going to Rock City to make up for it!

Thank you Alex and Gem for your posts. I agree entirely with your views about the venue (not the place to take your girlfriend to ) and about the show, there's not a lot for me to add. It was nice to see Gary live again but I wouldn't go back to that venue. The only other thing I found was with the mixing, Gary's voice was totally lost, especially during the second half.

Thank you Alex for your hospitality over the weekend.

It was a nice surprise to see you Gem. That was unexpected.

Peter

I saw the Replicas tour at the same venue, and although it was still the same, tiny dive of a venue, the sound then was quite good.

But as I said on the night - I couldn't sit at home and know Gary was playing in town!

Having seen the set list for Brighton, I would say that the end of Complex is the time I will be heading for the Indigo O2 car park.

Nothing screams essential from 'The Fall' onwards.

Random
Airlane
Metal
Films
M.E.
Tracks
Observer
Conversation
Cars
Engineers
Asylum
Complex (feat Chris Payne)
The Fall
Down in the park
Pure
Haunted
Halo
Jagged
Are 'Friends' Electric?

In a Dark Place
A Prayer for the Unborn
We Are So Fragile

I've bought Numans music since 79 and love Pure and Jagged, but as I have already said over on EV, the new stuff is just too messy live. It seems to be a contest as to who can get the most distortion out of their guitar.

Numan usually has two keyboard players for the nu-metal stuff, although I'm not sure what for, unless it is to add more sampled distortion to the mix.

Can't wait for the first half of the show though.

Gary has a choice, give people what they want or give them what he wants. The choice is totally his to make, but he needs to understand that for a large amount of the fan base the two may not be compatible.

I'd rather wait & see what he gives me when I buy the next new release & judge the whole package when I hear it.

It took a while before I became hooked on 'Jagged'. It's my third favourite Numan album. So I'm glad I gave it time.