Gary Numan Berlin Splinter Tour 2014 Review

Gary Numan is someone I have wanted to see for a.g.e.s! so I was pretty excited when a show was announced for here in Berlin.

The gig was at the Imperial Club in Mitte, and underground place in front of the Admiralspalast.

The ticket said entry from 20:00 and the show begins at 21:00. So I was in there just after 20:15 and there were already quite a few people inside. The serious fans were already eagerly up against the stage and the other early birds were at the bar!

Being cold outside but warm in the club, it was necessary to check in your coat (1 Euro). I say necessary, but when I went to get positioned at the stage there were quite a few people still in their jackets. This would have been a mistake for them as I got really hot during the gig (sans coat) and I'm pretty sure those jacket wearing-euro saving individuals were responsible for much of the stank that erupted as the show went on.

So I got myself a good position centre stage and two people back from the front, one tall bloke in the front row but other than that super great views all around - with the stage only two metres away! As we waited for the show to begin I couldn't help but eavesdrop on the conversations going on around me. 

One couple had got VIP tickets to the show (VIP - 108 Euros, normal price 44 Euros) which included a pre-show meet and greet with Gary. Another guy would not stop going on to his female acquaintance (or new crowd friend?) about The Cure, how he caught the 'trilogy' show and then the show in Hamburg where they didn't play ANY of the trilogy songs, so he got the best of it all. That was a 30 minute conversation! From what he said it sounded like there may be a Cure show here in Berlin, which piqued my interest. I checked when I got home - there's no Berlin shows coming up. :(

Anyway, back to the show.

At 21:05, 5 minutes late!! Gary and band came onstage. No warm up band, no 'hi how you doing', just bang into it. I thought this was good, no mucking about with a hit and miss pre-band and then having to wait a second time for the main act to get set up.

Gary's band was just him (vocals and sometimes guitar and keyboards) a drummer (on a conventional kit), a guitarist, bassist and a keyboard player. The sound was great - atmospheric and ferocious. Being nicely positioned in the middle also gave me the best of the sound with some nice stereo effects.

Numan's career started in the late 70's with punk / new wave band 'Tubeway Army' and the songs and commercial success they achieved are what he is most publicly known for. However he has continued with a less high profile and less commercially successful career, yet with a high acclaim amongst contemporary musicians and with a suitably cult like following, making dark atmospheric and industrial music.

This dark industrial music is what the gig was mostly about, particularly given his promotion of the latest album Splinter which is all this heavy stuff.

While I like listening to Gary Numan at home, it's not the same when I have to listen to the music quietly (hey we are in Germany where the neighbours complain if the washing machine is on during midday quiet time and you can't flush the toilet after 10pm) or on headphones just isn't satisfying enough. I liked it when we lived in an apartment where I had big speakers and the neighbours didn't complain.

So needless to say, the music at the gig was loud and it sounded great. The drums were amped up loud, the synth were incredibly bass heavy and the guitar was searing. Gary's voice was the same detuned phased prescence it always has been. It all sounded excellent.

Even though I am not that familiar with the Splinter albumn, I certainly was 'feeling it' with the rest of the crowd. Not being one for dancing, this music is something I can join in with - the solid nodding of the head in time with the industrial drone.

Not all of the material was new stuff, and we were treated to some classics over the course of the set - Metal, Down in the Park, Cars, I Die: You Die and Are 'friends' electric.

As much as I like the old stuff, its the synth driven isolating android / machine emotion of the old stuff that gives me goose bumps. 

Down in the Park is up there as my all time favourite song of his and when they launched into it, this was something I had been waiting to experience for all the years I have been listening to Gary Numan. As they started playing it was great - sounded great and gave me the goosebumps that are so hard to define about why you get them - nostalgia? identification? I certainly wasn't cold!

Then - halfway through the song all the Synths cut out completely (it's a synth based song!) and it sounded like the bass cut out too. The synth player was visibly bewlidered and after shaking a few cords and looking at the back of his rig he was ready to give up. He gave the wave under the chin move (all dead) to the sound engineers and for a moment I thought the gig was over.

It didn't phase Gary though and he kept going. The drummer had never stopped and neither did the guitarist and it was left to the three of them to keep it going, until the bass player decided to join back in as the technicians worked on the synth rig.

Even though the guitar isn't a synth, the guy kept the song structure going and it was a surprisingly good save. No doubt this has happened to them before!

After they finished the song it was looking doubtful whether the synth guy was going to get back up and running. His face and actions imparted no confidence that it was even possible. However, Gary went and chatted with the crew and was positive and laughing so it seemed like at least he thought it was going to be ok.

At this point we had an unscheduled interlude which lasted only a couple of minutes. The guitar guy did a little bit of impromptu guitar work. It would have been a good time for Gary to have a bit of interaction with the crowd but he didn't. It's often mentioned about his undiagnosed Aspergers so I wondered if that's why he didn't talk to us. Eventually he just said into the mic 'He's got a bit of a problem (pointing at synth guy), trying to work it out'.

So after this couple of minutes the band started up again, seemingly before the synth guy was ready. Gary, drums, guitar and bass launched into the next song...and then BAM synth guy was back and the sound was back to its brown note best.

The music was frenzied, intense and great to hear live. 

The band left the stage and came back for one three song encore, which were great renditions of the classics 'I Die: You Die' and 'Are "friends" electric', and then the closer 'My Last Day' from the Splinter album.

Then Gary said 'Thanks' and they all left the stage. The end!

It's always a risk to see established artists when you've crafted an expectation in your mind about what to expect. It's a moth to the flame enticement when you have the chance to see a band or artist you've admired for years and been a important part of your life soundtrack. A few occasions I've seen such artists from my life soundtrack and I really wish I hadn't - legacy ruined :( HOWEVER, I am happy to write that seeing Gary was not one of these instances - he's certainly still feeling the music, putting on a great show and including enough of the classics to keep fans from all the years happy.

I'd love to see him perform again someday.

I took some video at the concert but of course my camera couldn't fully capture the fullness of the music.