When The Machines Rock

Last night I went to the IndigO2, London to see Gary Numan on his nostalgic 'Replicas 2008 tour'. Replicas by Tubeway Army, released 1979, was one of my favourite albums at the time and still is exciting to listen to. So it was a treat for me to see Gary run through the whole album, b-sides and all of the other tracks recorded during the album sessions.

Pre-show the Slug & Lettuce bar in the dome was full of fans, lots of black; black hair, black fingernails, black eye makeup. They were mostly scary looking Gothic Gary types, although I did see one old numanoid looking a bit tubby in a tight black 'Telekon' Jacket (with those neat red stripes). Well done that man.

The venue and sound were very good, with a tight band performance and a nice clear vocal from Mr N.

I have to say I'm not a fan of the metal crunchy heavy guitar sound of recent years, and at times I felt it spoilt a few of the songs, especially 'Down In The Park' which could have had a subtler arrangement. A minor quibble. It was a great gig.

Three decades on, the sci-fi dystopian world of Replicas came alive in Greenwich last night. The highlights for me were We Have A Technical, The Machman, It Must Have Been Years, You are In My Vision and We Are So Fragile.

The show was filmed for a future DVD release. Here's hoping that one day there will be a 'Pleasure Principal' tour. NuWorld