Gary Numan w/ Big Black Delta, Roman Remains at Mill City Nights, Mpls (30 March 2014) concert review
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Poster
Gary Numan Setlist
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They’ve now become highly industrialized, given a dark, thick coat of black paint, and snarling exhaust pipes – basically transformed into a Panzer Tank. That was the feeling when Numan came to town over the weekend, on a stop on his Splinter Tour at Mill City Nights in Minneapolis.
England duo Roman Remains opened the evening with a short and slightly sooner-than-advertised set of songs, culled from their debut full-length, Zeal, released earlier this month on Dhani Harrison’s H.O.T Records. The band itself is The Duke Spirit’s Liela Moss and Toby Butler and the music of this side project is decidedly different and less garage-based, than in their main band.
Instead, Roman Remains is more immersive and “playful, but not dumb” as Moss states, similar to Ladytron and Portishead in tracks like the album’s opener, ‘This Stone is Starting to Bleed’. The lyrics have a simple narrative to them, with a dark punk synth edge to the songs and are a worthy alternate route to explore; both for fans of The Duke Spirit, or in that kind of music in general.
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Big Black Delta
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Another side project was next- Big Black Delta, comprised of Mellowdrone bassist and vocalist, Jonathan Bates, who was joined by manic drummer, Chris Hornbrook (from Poison in the Well). Songs from the debut self-titled full-length (on Master of Bates) are a blend of hard electro, beat-oriented music, while their stage presence looked somewhat like two dressed-down roadies, just deciding to play music.
Tracks played during their 40 min. set were all from the debut, coursing with dark energy on the hitting ‘Put the Gun on the Floor’, with Bates jerking about while cuing up loops and beats, pacing the stage as Hornbrook drummed without abandon. ‘Side of the Road’ pulsed with laptop beats, while closer ‘IF**KINGLOVE YOU’ started somewhat gospel-centrically, before it unwound into an electronic melee of sounds and beats, to close their impressive set.
After an overlong break, lights dimmed and the beginnings of ‘Resurrection’ were heard as Numan as his all-in-black band took the stage. His most recent effort, Splinter (Songs from a Broken Mind) (on Machine Music USA) is being hailed as one of his best, and a re-birth of sorts for the synth legend, who recently re-located from his native England to L.A.
His style has evolved more recently, into a harder and darker, industrial guitar-based sound, and away from the machine minimalism synths that most know him from in the 1980’s. The newer songs are more Reznor/NIN influenced, versus the older songs, which are more Bowie-esque.
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Gary Numan
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Numan, dressed similar to Reznor- wearing black jeans, black t-shirt, and combat boots, stalked the stage, regularly baptizing his upper half in bottled water between songs. ‘Metal’ was played third, one of the few vintage tracks (from 1979’s The Pleasure Principle) and like the other older songs, was thankfully played authentically, rather than being ‘over-industrialized’ to better fit in with his newer sound.
Numan brought his own vari-lites and strobes as well, which enhanced the overall mood and brought a level of customization to the performance. The one glaring regret of his set was that he barely touched his synth; instead, most duties fell upon manager and co-producer Ade Fenton, who did a more than able job.
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Setlist Photo
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A classic from Numan’s former band, Tubeway Army, ‘Down in the Park’ was played early and received a great reception from the mostly full crowd. Biggest hit, ‘Cars’, was played at the 45 min. mark of Numan’s 95-minute set, the audience nodding in approval to the one song in setlist, that everyone was at least familiar with. A jump of 20 years followed that, with the title track from 2000’s ‘Pure’, then another time jump, for the title track from his most recent release.
Staying in the present, he followed with two more tracks from Splinter, and then ended the main set with the highly personal ‘A Prayer for the Unborn’. The three song encore was mostly rooted in the past, with 1980’s ‘I Die: You Die’ and classic ‘Are Friends Electric’, before he time-jumped us back into the present, with new album closer, ‘My Last Day’, to end the evening.
A consummate showman, he didn’t say much to the crowd, other than “Thank You” at the end, but contorted, posed, and prowled the stage, like a cagey veteran. Despite the musical influences of other bands that are helping shape his current direction, Numan still delivers a mesmerizing stage show with solid song crafting and makes for an enveloping live experience.
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Gary Numan at Mill City Nights, Mpls (30 March 2014) |