Fans of Gary Numan are affectionately known as ‘Numanoids’; a very fitting alias for the fans of the band originally called The Tubeway Army who actually released their first two albums under that name before changing the name to simply Gary Numan, as they have been for the 45 years since Numan played his first gig in Glasgow at The Apollo all the way back in 1979. Even though they have been around that long there was still a good mixture of young and older fans in the packed out O2 Academy tonight, a perfect venue for a show that would be a visual as well as a music experience. Interestingly at least half of those sat around us up in the balcony wouldn’t have even been born in 1979! To prove the size of the Gary Numan fanbase in Glasgow the show was moved from SWG3 to the O2 Academy due to the high demand for tickets. Numan stated on his socials that the show would begin one hour after the doors opened so by 8pm the venue was packed to capacity but unfortunately we had to wait until 8.30pm for the show to begin, the balcony was like a sweatbox, it must have been a lot worse down in the standing area. The five band members took to the stage to a massive cheer from the crowd with Numan himself dressed in dark clothing and an almost gothic hairstyle, at the age of 66 still with an impressive full head of hair! The plan was to play tracks from Numan’s two 1979 albums, Replicas and The Pleasure Principle, and the set began with Replicas, the album title track as the crowd stood in awe taking in everything including the impressive stage set up. At the back of the stage was a pyramid like shape that changed colour throughout the night, and alongside the spectacular light show who wouldn’t be impressed with this?
The two guitarists supporting Numan at the front of the stage were entertainment in themselves, both of them taking to the stage in black cloaks, shaven heads and a line of fake blood running down their heads. Interestingly there was no support band on any of the tour shows thus allowing Numan to play a set of just under two hours and a twenty-two track setlist. During M.E. the front three showed their musical diversity by easily switching from guitar to synth and back. Me! I disconnect From You is one of the highlights of the set as Numan gets the crowd involved with a great reaction all around the old venue. The beauty of the show is how the band easily switches between the Replicas and The Pleasure Principle albums, they have obviously put in a lot of rehearsals for this tour. It was during We Have A Technical that the light show became a little overpowering, perhaps a pair of sunglasses would have been a good idea at this point, especially when we had to take notes!
You Are In My Vision was for us the highlight of the main set, with all five band members doing everything and more to keep the crowd worked up, the track ending with high intensity guitars and vocals. We Are So Fragile was a great end to the main set as the band left the stage to a huge applause from the fans, and to be honest the heat was so overbearing and a couple of minutes rest would have been just what everyone needed. Numan was his usual quiet, reserved self tonight with no communication with the audience at all, he left it all to the vocals. There were only two songs that could possibly be in the encore: Cars and Are ‘Friends’ Electric? by far the two biggest tracks from Numan and they both went down a treat with the Numanoids as the band members enjoyed the adulation from the crowd. It was a great end to the night before the tour ends on 9th June with two shows at London’s Roundhouse. We are looking forward to the next tour already! 10/10.
Written by: Alan Brown
