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1979 was a transitional year for music, as new wave and post-punk took hold, disco finally yielding its stage, and rap nearing its exposure to larger audiences. Sticking out in all that, as well as middle of the road 70’s mainstream, were the artists that began to explore electronic music in new ways, like Kraftwerk and Devo. Gary Numan’s “Cars” interjected itself in popular radio and sonically stood apart from whatever anyone fancied, its synth riffs and simplistic rhythmic pulses capturing an audience.
Here we are, over 40 years later, and Gary Numan is still around releasing new music every several years. More to the point, he’s touring, and reminding fans of a song here and there that he remains as he was, mining the electronic/industrial sounds he pioneered while continuing with themes of alienation, fear, dystopia and an existentialist rub against the divine through a set of 17 songs. It’s also a reminder that along the way, he’s registered 23 top 40 singles, finding elements of dance and goth along the way.
Lost to me at the time – and over the years – was any attention given to the lyrics.
Here in my car
I feel safest of all
I can lock all my doors
It’s the only way to live
In cars.
And the final verse:
Here in my car
I know I’ve started to think
About leaving tonight
Although nothing seems right
In cars
Isolation, fear, a desire to reach out. It’s a great example, and an obvious one to fans, who appreciate Numan’s recurring themes of a dystopian world of desolation, survival, fear, fragility, etc. Numan doesn’t have a wide musical vocabulary, but the strength of his set proves that he has obviously mined his unique compositional style well. And musical hooks seal the deal.
He experienced a resurgence with 2017’s Savage (Songs from a Broken World), including set highlight “My Name is Ruin,” and 2021’s Intruder continues the melancholic vein. That last also is a title of a 1980 Peter Gabriel song, and watching Numan perform, Gabriel’s theatrical tendencies came to mind frequently. While Gabriel tends to tell a narrative, Numan’s live performance seems to be his own immediate response to both music and lyrics.
Each lean, crouch, reach of his hands, hiding of his face etc. seems to be a direct physical expression of how he feels in each song. And it’s constant, as if he can’t push his feelings aside when he performs. It’s not “entertaining” as just a concert spectacle, but even better, because it pulls the audience in with him, every second of every song.
The apocalyptic or even sci-fi nature of some of Numan’s songs are enhanced with guitarist Steve Harris and bassist Tim Slade flanking Numan at each side, in the way they dress, their own interpretative motions and audience engagement. And they had quite a bit of subtlety and punch to Numan’s synth driven songs as well.
Sometimes you wonder if established artists are just going through the motions. Not here, not at all. While Numan tours regularly, catch him now and join the numbers present who show up to see him again and again.
Setlist and many more photos follow.
Setlist:
Encore:
