GIG REVIEW: Gary Numan (40th Anniversary Tour) at O2 Academy Liverpool
Monday 30th September 2019
Support acts can be strange phenomena. Unestablished support acts (at least in the minds of the main act’s audience) tend to produce one of three reactions from a crowd: confusion, curiousness, or disdain.
But the only support act I have ever seen produce all three simultaneously is LA-based electronic artist KANGA, who opened for Gary Numan on Monday night at Liverpool’s 02 Academy. Throwing herself around the stage like a whirling dervish, flitting backwards and forwards between keyboards and centre stage , occasionally choking herself (intentionally) with her microphone lead, KANGA left a divided crowd in her wake- some obviously intrigued by what they had seen, some unable to believe they might be forced to use a phrase stronger than ‘it wasn’t really my cup of tea’, and others left visibly dazed and confused (although in fairness that could have been because of the Floyd-worthy light show).
To me, it didn’t make a lot of sense. Support acts are supposed to set the scene for the main event, to compliment the artist they are opening for. Though before this gig I had never seen Gary Numan perform live, I could not believe that the last forty minutes (as oddly captivating as they had been) could bear any relation to a 60-something year old new wave icon like Numan.
It turns out, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
When the show finally looked set to begin, the band walked out first dressed in black from head to toe (including dashes of eyeshadow and lipstick, artistically smudged to give them all a ‘dystopian’ look). Numan himself took to the stage soon after, a flurry of wild arm gestures, suggestive glances and wry smiles- the latter no doubt provoked by the crowd chanting his name like a religious ceremony had just begun.
He did not speak to the crowd- not then, not after the first song, not until the end of the gig, in fact- but in fairness he didn’t really need to. Somehow the music seemed to speak for itself, with the gaps filled by the continuing chants of his surname at varying degrees of volume.
And suddenly, as the band launched into set-opener ‘My Name Is Ruin’, the support act began to make sense. The aesthetic of the show and the way Numan performed was similar to KANGA’s set in many ways, he was just doing it in his own slightly more English way. The flourishes, the lights, the theatrics of it all was confusing and intriguing. But somehow- and god knows how- it worked fantastically well.
As a '40th Anniversary' tour the setlist drew from across Numan's career; as a fan of his earlier work I was particularly looking forward to hearing Tubeway Army songs. But seeing his image develop as much as it has done over the last few decades, I had not attended that night naïve enough to believe that I would be hearing his earlier material (‘Are Friends Electric?’, ‘Me I Disconnect From You’, ‘Down In The Park’ etc) in its original form. He has clearly moved on too much as an artist to return to those original arrangements, and that is certainly not a bad thing.
Ironically enough, in fact, the new, industrial-influenced arrangements of the older songs sound magnificent, and certainly provided the highlights of the evening. I will never hear ‘Cars’ in the same way again- and to be honest I’m not sure I really want to.
Ever the musical chameleon, Numan has succeeded where other early ‘80s icons have failed; not only has he successfully given his image a reboot, but his fans seem to love him all the more for it.
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Photography: Marilyn Wilson
For more information about Gary Numan's current tour, please visit: https://garynuman.com
