Gary Numan // Sweet Machine // Cheese & Grain // Frome

Sweet Machine

Local act ‘Sweet Machine’ (tonight playing as a duo of lead singer and a keyboard player as opposed to their usual 4-piece band) offer up a set of pure 80s synth pop. Opening tracks Run & Hide and Divine Intervention have a vibe akin to Pet Shop Boys meets Soft Cell. The time-honoured dance moves of their lead singer make it appear that the new romantic era never ended. While at first glance the duo have elements of Jerry Sinclair and Les Alanos from Phoenix Nights, it quickly becomes apparent that they have a deep admiration of the 80s synth pop acts that filled the dancefloors. With much of the crowd being in their youth in the 80s Sweet Machine receive a warm reception. Shimmer, the title track of their new album, is very reminiscent of OMD while Underworld (which sees the lead singer parading around the stage in top hat and cane) has a strong Pet Shop Boys groove. The audience gleefully clap along to the cabaret anthem Rainbow Paradiso and finish their set with Last Man On Earth which would fit very comfortably on any of Martin Degville’s Sigue Sigue Sputnik output. It appears nostalgia is very much in vogue with the crowd here tonight and Sweet Machine leave the stage triumphant.

Setlist

Run & Hide

Divine Intervention

China

Shimmer

New Tricks

Underworld

Glass & Steel

Rainbow Paradiso

Last Man On Earth

https://sweetmachine.co.uk/

Review: Steve Gibbons

Photography: Emma Painter

Pacific Curd Photography

Gary Numan

With this being a warmup gig ahead of Gary’s Glastonbury set the following day, the stage is devoid of the usual elaborate light show that usually accompanies Gary on tour. This is a stripped back, bare, raw, back to basics rock show. A band, a stage, and a wall of noise. The atmosphere in the sold-out hall is electric as the band hit the stage with Halo from the ‘Jagged’ album swiftly followed by The Chosen from ‘Intruder’. Anyone that may not have seen Gary in recent years could be mistaken in expecting a nostalgic trip down synth pop memory lane. This is quite simply an all-out industrial metal show. Looking as if he and his band survived a nuclear blast and lived wild in the wasteland, Gary paces the stage, almost prowling as he surveys the crowd. As the familiar intro of Metal from ‘The Pleasure Principal’ fires into life, the crowd are enraptured, and Gary is beaming from ear to ear clearly loving every second. Having seen many Numan shows over the years, it’s hard to recall a time where he has looked this happy, relaxed and energised. The majestic anthem Pure has the crowd singing the chorus with gusto before being driven to complete bliss as the band flow straight into the timeless Cars. Introducing his daughter Raven to the stage to take on the role of lead singer, we are treated to a new song she wrote called Nothing’s what it seems. It is very well received and shows that the next generation of ‘Numan’ is ready and able to carry on the family business. Not to be outshone, Gary’s other daughter Persia then takes to the stage for a duet with her Dad on My Name Is Ruin which again, is warmly received by the crowd. I must confess that as the intro to A Prayer For The Unborn began, I was lost, transfixed as if there were only Gary and I in the room. By far my favourite Numan track and I was ecstatic that it was in the setlist tonight. As the crowd roars as Are Friends Electric begins, the term ‘warmup show’ becomes an understatement with the temperature in the room quite literally reaching boiling point. This is everything a concert should be. Crammed, boiling hot, sweaty, loud and with a crowd singing in unison as their hero grins back at them from the stage. A song almost 50 years old sounding as fresh today as when it was released and Gary’s vocals only improve with age. Staying with his older catalogue, the classic Down In The Park is next up and the temperature keeps rising as a sea of hands clap along to the intro of I die you die before the band leave the stage to rapturous applause and the obligatory cries of ‘NUUUUUMMMMAANNNN’. The short yet sweet encore begins with Films from The Pleasure Principal before the finale of the dark brooding Here In The Black from the criminally underrated Splinter album. To anyone thinking of Gary Numan as an outdated synth pop icon of a bygone era, you missed the bit where he became a genuine bona fide rock god. I suspect the crowd at Glastonbury will have trouble sitting down on Monday as this show kicks serious ass.