I skipped school for my first Gary Numan concert back in 1984. It was a time I needed to escape from a dysfunctional home, and I traveled all the way to London from Germany to connect with an alternative family made up from creative types. Gary Numan was one of those types, though I dare say he has grown into a performer who knows how to captivate the audience not just by his music these days, but by working the stage as if he’s had Stanislavski training for decades.
Tonight, he traveled to Frankfurt and I don’t have to skip school or work to see him.
Whilst the support I Speak Machine – a unique performer who channels Siouxie and Nine Inch Nails but makes it her own - is already getting the audience hyped for Gary Numan, the guy standing next to me whispers to his girlfriend, “Oh, Gary Numan is the guy who inspired Depeche Mode.” The same guy who said that before the show concluded after, “Bloody hell, that was more like Rammstein.”
INTRUDER TOUR 2022
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INTRUDER TOUR 2022 〰️
Richard Beasley takes his seat behind his drum kit opposite of David Brooks on keys, whilst the two imposing behemoths Steve Harris on guitar and Tim Slade on bass take stage. They guard Gary Numan, as he struts on stage brimming with a confidence he certainly didn’t have when I saw him 38 years ago.
Although Gary Numan was ill a few days ago, he delivers ‘Intruder’ with conviction and as the Steve and Tim sway and freak the audience out a little with their goth/android stance, the crowd are already under Numan’s spell.
He delivers ‘Halo’ from the album ‘Jagged’, dancing, swaying his arms as only Numan can.
After ‘Metal’, the percussion heavy ‘The Gift’ makes the stage and audience pulsate. Numan’s make-up, still the black eye shadow rings, the three red streaks, are highlighted by clever lighting and his perfected stage performance bring together an almost dystopian event.
It is apparent to the “new” Gary Numan fans at the Batschkapp, that he is the one who is behind all the ideas Marilyn Manson has ever come up with and as Numan prowls the stage, the feeling has become one of devotion to the man who now grabs the microphone to deliver the honest song ‘Is the World Not Enough’ from 2021’s Intruder.
‘Pure’ is not just this performance, but the song after ‘Films’ – Numan holds his Les Paul like he is going to strangle it before succumbing to heavy riffs and powerful vocals. This show is pure theatre.
‘Resurrection’ seques into ‘Down in The Park’ and Numan once again uses every inch of the stage to dance and fill the space with his moves.
The synths give away his most popular song in Germany ‘Cars’, but the delivery tonight is heavier and more energetic than expected. Numan plays his keyboard whilst the rest of the band navigate through the instrumental parts of the songs and the crowd are loving every minute. Even if there may have been people in the audience who only know him for that one song, they would have had a different experience altogether, listening to tonight’s version.
As a heavy beat erupts, the mood goes even darker with the next song ‘My Name Is Ruin’. If you hadn’t felt the goth feeling in the Batschkapp so far, you had now.
The next song has every phone in front of my face, trying to capture the lighting which erupt for ‘The Chosen’. Numan dances like he’s only just entered the stage – his movements careless and smooth.
The last song of the show is ‘A Prayer for the Unborn’ from 2000’s album Pure. Numan carries his guitar as if it was a gun, then swishes it on his back and does his flying bird arm thing. Steve Harris and Tim Slade look more aggressive and the guitarist spits into the crowd. Was it the flying bird thing that made him want to spread his avian coodies? Who knows?
The Encore starts off with ‘Here in the Black’ and finishes with the iconic ‘Are Friends Electric’. Although this was his breakthrough hit, it is more than that now. It is a mantra for everyone that ever listened, anyone who ever took his innovation and made it their own, from Trent Reznor to Marilyn Manson, from Dave Grohl to Gaga.
And even though I may have a nightmare or two because of the skirted giants (only because one of Sith Lord’s skirts showed his skinny long legs, not because of the freaky faces they pulled), this was the best gig I’ve been lucky enough to see in a long time. Not ever, because that would be a lie, but a long time.
