Metamatic Forums Socialising The Green Room Gary Numan

Really lovely photos fons, many thanks for posting,
(Gary was also looking in great form at the gig I attended)

WOW! That is the best photo of Gary I've seen in ages - definitely the best photo I've seen from the tour. That's fantastic!

Awesome! Awesome!! Awesome!!! Send them all to Gary, Fons. I'm sure he'll be impressed.

The one at the bottom with Gary on synth should be used as the cover for the live DVD.

ultra pics

Great shots Fons. Now I really regret not going back to the UK for this tour!

The Pleasure Principle tour has clearly been a huge success - what's been so special about it is hearing that whole album live, with Gary playing some keyboards, and overall emulating those classic analogue sounds very well (IMO).

This is the sound that people still associate with Numan (I'm largely talking the general gig-goers and record buying public, rather than hardcore fans), and even today, it sounds timeless, and unlike anything else.

I'm wondering if Gary - especially after the success of all three retro tours - should reintegrate a lot of these sounds into the new music. There was clearly some of this on Jagged Edge, and I think it worked wonderfully. The atmosphere and power of Gary's new music, combined with that distinctive, classic Numan sound, I think, would be a great move for him.

Personally, I think the whole industrial/goth metal scene peaked a few years ago, and it's clear today, that analogue is more popular... Little Boots, La Roux, Goldfrapp, and of course John Foxx have all made a clear impression with these sounds, and it's very 'current' again.

I think, had Gary managed to release Jagged much sooner - ie on the back of the success of the 'Rip' and 'Crazier' singles, he would have seen much more success and acclaim with it, but I think it's poor sales reflected the delay in its release, and the whole industrial scene had kind of gone back underground by then.

Of course all of that it just my perception/opinion, but I'd be interested to know what everyone else thinks.

I agree with you 100% there Alex S, having experienced the PP album after so many years of not having heard it from start to end, I am bowled over by just how fresh it sounds, when I played it recently to the 'non-numan' friend who didn't make it to the gig with me, they really felt they'd missed something great there in not having experienced it performed live.

The industrial scene has well and truly peaked in the metal/rage singing form that made it so popular with its fans, that's why its crucial that Gary does something radical with it, not radical in the sense that he adds funky sounds or such nonsense, but getting back to his own core analogue cool sound, and having it take prominence, and use the atmospheric sea of powerful guitars and reverb, well, who knows... But if he brought anything out as close again to the PP album it might return him straight to the mainstream, how fantastic would that be.

Couldn't agree more!

Well if he has any sense then i think he will (should) re-examine the TPP sound not just as retro but as something that still sounds good and original after all this time (cf Metamatic). That said he always seems to be so negative towards it ("I hate retro") although even the goth thing is now retro .. so hopefully he'll move away from that too!
Might be interesting to see what he came up with with Little Boots on Monday ... I can only find this (and I can't even play it!):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/events/hub/artists/nuboots.shtml

edit: more pics here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/andy_sheppard/sets/72157622841885753/

There's only the one song on BBC6 at the moment - but they will put more on.

Apparently the session will be broadcast on BBC 6 Music on Friday December 11 at 7pm, and it will also be available to view on the BBC Red Button for a week from Friday 29th January 2010.

So Gary says, anyway!

He has said - both online and at the end of the London gig (it's on youtube somewhere) just how much he enjoyed this tour...

The Pleasure Principle Tour is now over. A blinding night at the Indigo in the O2 Arena was a very fitting finale to such a great tour. The crowd were fantastic and, despite the band having played fifteen shows with just one day off, we were lifted by the response, all tiredness was pushed aside and show number sixteen delivered at full power. The filming was, according to the director, the best we've ever done and I will start to work on the soundtrack mixing at the end of next week. It's our intention to have the tour DVD ready for release in February.
This was a truly enjoyable tour to play. Having the opportunity to play keyboards for much of the first 50 minutes, the Pleasure Principle section, was a genuine pleasure for me. I hadn't played keyboards on those songs since they were first recorded in 1979. The transition from PP era songs to the newer stuff in the second half of the show seemed to work well, extremely well for most people. The rise in energy and power of the second half did not take away a thing from the Pleasure Principle material, but did highlight the progression from '79 to '2009 in the best way possible. For me it was a chance to showcase songs from opposite ends of my career and I was extremely happy with the response, night after night. Didn't think I'd ever be saying that a year or two ago.

In this period of recession I can only say how grateful I am that so many people came out to see the show as it moved around the country so a huge thank you to everyone that came along and made the tour such a success.

Now I move into a period of intensive studio work. We have Dead Son Rising to finish, Splinter to get written and recorded, and both albums will be released in 2010, one in Spring, one in late summer is the current plan. Even with all the studio work 2010 will be spent mainly on the road promoting those two new albums, in the UK and elsewhere. The final two days filming of the promo video for The Fall will be done before Christmas although we have yet to decide on a release date for the single. Lot's more going on which I will tell you about as soon as I can remember. Thanks again for coming along to the tour. I genuinely loved it.

missed it and it's says you can't listen to it again