Gary Numan performing his Savage UK Tour at Rock City Nottingham on Saturday 7th October 2017.


Images and Review by Kevin Cooper

A packed Rock City last night welcomed back Gary Numan to Nottingham and for those that were in the Royal Concert Hall crowd for his 1983 Warriors Tour, it was as if he hadn’t been away.

It was his 1979 Top Of The Pops debut singing Tubeway Army’s Are ‘Friends’ Electric? that launched this mainstream electronic pop star, and even though most of his avid fans are surprised to see their hero performing to audiences nearly four decades later, his music during that time sounded a little weird, cold and dystopian. Now it all sounds a lot more upbeat and his onstage demeanour these days is considerably more demonstrative than it was back then.

Touring to promote his latest album, Savage: Songs From A Broken World, he also gave a nod to the albums that made his reputation like The Pleasure Principle and Telekon. Opening with Ghost Nation, Numan, abandoning his usual black garb in favour of grey attire, delivered the new song with that distinct vocal delivery that can only come from him. A rip roaring version of Metal followed before songs from his 2013 album, Splinter: Songs From A Broken Mind were given an airing.

Commanding the stage, he didn’t miss a note on the likes of Pray For The Pain You Serve, Love Hurt Bleed and Where The World Comes Apart. Not known for his between song banter, he hit hard with Here In The Black, with its ominously dark lyrics delivered barely in a whisper. There was a spine tingling Down In The Park before the song that gave him his first solo number one hit, Cars, had the crowd bopping along.

With the stage being left to a young man to propose to his girlfriend, Numan came back for a brilliant I Die You Die before finishing an entertaining evening of electronic pop with his backing band who had played hard, loud and perfect, with Are ‘Friends’ Electric?