Hmm, well, quiet audience.

Not the usual level of exuberance we've become used to. Bit more leather required and definitely more stilleto's.

Apart from that we had a tight day after a 3pm load in. Enjoyable all the same.

More effort please and definitely more provocative dress.

The Crew

First show since the Exile Tour, and it was well worth the wait.

They say you can have too much of a good thing, and I think that is right the 3 year wait was needed. Didn't care too much about the one-off shows.

The new material sounded great infact the set was fine, although the old tracks he chooses seem to be the same as they were 10 years ago. And to hear "Cars" was a let down...I HATE THAT TRACK!!!!

The band performed excellent and for me is the best band Gary has toured with. I just hope that a recent concert will be filmed and released someday.

Phil

is it me or does he just get better?

Being four feet from the front probably helps, as does a venue where they clearly turn away bouncers under 75 on equal opportunity grounds.

gig #1 at fairfield halls was an absolute blinder. like last time, the band opened with pure, and trawled thro a familiar choice from the back catalogue, with the odd surprise thrown in. funny how some tracks you never paid much attention on vinyl (like noise noise) make for blistering live material.

nice to hear remind me to smile and voix make a welcome return. but what was quite amazing was how, despite buying the album twice (of course, sucker) and hearing it live already, the numbers from pure just get better and better. even the likes of i can't breathe, which i've never seen as one of the strongest tracks. hear it live and you're ready to duck every time he blasts out the hook. corruscatingly powerful. he looks fab, he sounds fab, he moves well (cf berserker tour vid; like wayne sleep in size-too-small sling backs). and, as i heard someone say as we left the auditorium, "remember the 80s when you'd go to a numan gig and think, oh no, not one from the new album...?". those days are long gone. me and my 81 wembley tee shirt went home contented.

nice to chat to a guy in his early 20s on the train back to london, who'd just been to his first numan gig and had a ball. the numan audience needs new blood and it looks like we're getting it. if's going to happen for gary again, it's going to happen now. give him your support. he deserves it and you won't regret it.

[email protected]

Arrived in Croydon at about 1800 and couldn't find the George, so I went straight to the venue, where I walked straight in, found the concert hall, plonked myself in a seat at the back and watched Gary and the band, do the final sound check!

Very good it was too! When they finished, Gary came up to the back to chat with Mr Sound (the usual guy), and chatted to a few gathered fans, doing pics and sigs etc...

Right up till about 1900, there was little sign of life in the venue - I thought it was going to be a poor turn out - but by 2100 the place was full - not 'sold out' as such - but pretty much full.

Support act 'St Eve' weren't really that suitable for the gig in my opinion - they were good though... lots of theatrical mime and fancy/futuristic costume stuff to an industrial'ish back track. Very, very good female singer.

Gary was on just after 9 - this place has no barriers and a very low stage, so those of us in the middle, at the front, were less then an arms length from the action!

Venue - OK, a tad 'strange' tho...
Crowd - average (prolly due to strangeness of venue?)
Lights - average.
Sound - Excellent (has Mr Sound been on course?)
Set - bit of a let down to be honest... most of PURE, one Exile and the rest was pretty standard stuff really - none of the gems that Gary slipped into many of the one-off's got aired (i.e. This Wreckage/M.E/Tracks/Dance/Engineers) - and there were NO surprises at all... but it was only the first night???
Encore - just the one this time - Cars/Remind Me To Smile/Voix/A Pray To The Unborn

Gary - looking GREAT in one of the most credible outfits for ages... very 'urban warrior', almost a little like a Crasher kid, without the colour!! He was actually looking much fitter than usual. Bless him... when it came to Cars, he looked down at the set list, tutted and rolled his eyes... yet he still gives that track his everything!!!

Overall atmosphere - not bad - but not the 'best'.

I think the atmosphere at the one-off's has been very exciting, by there very nature, and it just wasn't quite that vibed up!

All in all - a really great, good quality Numan gig.

Oh yeah... David Brooks is staring to look very, very much like Eddie Izzard.

Valiumboy

'kinell...what an opener.

Gary is on tour again and what a night.

The sound was excellent (from where I was), the lighting was well cool and the set list was more or less the same with no surprises.

The only thing I found was that the crowd was a bit quiet at times, dunno why this was.

The place really came alive after My Jesus and I Can't Breath.... After the 4 song onchore, a startling thing happened....Gary and the band just up't and left the stage.

Too shagged now to say anything else..gotta be at work in 4 hours...

N2k