Numan!!!
This just HAS to be my first entry, as his music made me what i became.
When I was an 11 year old back in ’79 I somehow managed to blag my way in to my fist gig ever – the ‘Touring Principle’ tour from Gary Numan. I wasn’t a tall kid or look older than I was, but I was fed up with the world, looking for something, anything to escape to, and I found this. Determination stepped in, I got a ticket, turned up and in I went. Musically things were never going to be the same ever again.
Prior to my discovery of Numan and a proper intro to what was possible with synths (not the wimpy sound of Genesis and Tangerine Dream). I was from a regular working class background, surrounded by Johnny Mathis, Barry Manilow, Cliff Richard and the like, and a little tame rockabilly from an absent father. I was feeling pretty alone and alienated, going through the breakdown surrounding me, and I immediately identified with the emotion of ‘Are Friends Electric’ the moment I first heard it. Nothing came close to sounding like this, in the same way I felt that no-one felt anything like the way I felt. It just clicked. ‘Cars’ was similar, but not as extreme, and then came ‘Complex’, the deepest of swirling electronica painting such dark, sombre mood, mixed with a lyric that holds so much emotion, yet very few even bothered to listen. Complex is still my favourite track from anything he’s created before or since, and its going to take a helluvalot to topple it, but I always hold hope that someone tries to.
After picking up the Replicas an Pleasure Principle albums and playing them to death on my second hand music centre, through the most massive set of headphones I think the home audio manufacturers ever made (and sounding bloody amazing), I heard that Gary Numan was performing at the Brighton Dome on the 5th October, a perfect Friday night. Determination and secrecy stepped in, and with only me and my Mum at home I knew I could get away with a late night. Things at home were difficult and it wasn’t going to be out of place for me to return way later than the average 11 year old in those days. The train timetables were in my favour and as a lad, my health and fitness were pretty much at their peak, so charging back to get the train and running from there weren’t going to be an issue, and I’d lie my way through the rest. This was something I just had to do.
With the passing of time and the mischiefs of later youthfulness, a lot of the details of that night have passed on by, but the thing I remember most and will never forget was standing close to the right hand side, right up at the front, with the speaker stacks close enough to nearly touch. The vibration of the bass synths that I and the crowd were subjected to, the lightshow, the performance and the experience are all something I will never lose. The noise hit you, vibrated your insides, but didn’t fade. The sound carried on through the entire gig. The feeling I never will forget even when I’m old and incontinent, I’ll still grab a set of cans and blast myself with the same tracks that awoke me back then. The world was blown apart along with my imagination. I came out amazed at the sights and sounds I’d witnessed, and the pure performance of this guy and his creation.
So thanks to Gary Numan for making this happen, for creating my desire for music that took me off, sometimes alone, sometimes with friends, to discover the more interesting, less throw-away side of pop that still runs through me today.
May 11, 2011
Categories: 80s Music, Gary Numan . Tags: Gary Numan . Author: Sarki . Comments: Leave a comment
35 days later 