Gary Numan
From 80s pop singalongs to Gary Numan’s gothic industrial spectacle, Crystal Palace Park plays host to a showcase of electronic music royalty.
With the heatwaves subsiding (for now…), conditions have finally aligned for a perfect evening of music in London. Ignoring the fact that the capital’s parks still largely resemble the set of Dune, I’m thrilled to be back at Crystal Palace Park for tonight’s show, headlined by electronic trailblazer Gary Numan.
Unfortunately, transport disruption seemed to have brought the set times forward, causing me to miss the majority of Ladytron’s opening set. It was a shame, as I’ve long been a fan of their futuristic electropop and was eager to finally see them live. Upon arrival, I was glad to see a decent crowd had made it down in time, and what I managed to catch sounded excellent.
Luckily for me and the other late arrivals, there was still plenty in store. I had time to grab a drink and secure a spot for final support act Marc Almond, the ideal candidate to loosen the crowd’s vocal cords with singalongs aplenty. Almond delighted the growing horde with a set of recognisable hits from the Soft Cell back catalogue. It was a joy to watch the faces of the hardcore fans singing back to favourites ‘Loving You, Hating Me’ and ‘Bedsitter’, and Almond himself had the look of a man lapping that joy up too.
Whilst Almond’s voice may not be as strong as it once was, his tone was immediately recognisable. He darted effortlessly from the dramatic to the delicate; fragile flourishes underscored the more emotional turns in his lyricism.
As expected, excitement peaked at the close of Almond’s set as he launched into a back-to-back of Soft Cell’s iconic cover of Gloria Jones’ ‘Tainted Love’ and the gorgeous ‘Say Hello, Wave Goodbye’, with plenty of crowd participation to match.
With the glow from London’s golden hour starting to dim, the stage was now much more appropriately set for a darker, moodier affair served up by tonight’s headliner, Gary Numan.
Echoes of Numan’s influence reverberate throughout pop history. Even if, like me, you were born long after the initial peak of his fame, you almost certainly know his sound — whether through oft-sampled tracks like ‘Are “Friends” Electric?’ or the instantly recognisable synth line of ‘Cars’, which has enjoyed renewed life through various television shows and ad campaigns over the years.
What intrigues most about Numan’s catalogue is tracing its evolution live. The early synth-pop of his Tubeway Army days rightly drew big reactions, but it was the darker, industrial-sounding material which held the audience spellbound, inviting less well-versed fans like myself to go away and dive deeper into his broader discography.
Numan’s stage presence is fascinatingly unhinged: one moment crouched at the front of the stage on all fours, the next launching into an ecstatic, possessed flail. It was less a standard synth-pop concert and more a piece of dark, macabre theatre.
Anthems like ‘Metal’ and ‘Cars’ predictably brought down the house, and it’s easy to see why. What must have sounded like music from another planet in the 1970s still feels otherworldly today. The sight of a darkly painted Numan sprawling over his synths like a gothic android at the back of the stage emphasised this feeling. It was as though he wasn’t tethered to Earth but plugged directly into the music.
It became clear that Numan isn’t one for casual stage banter either, but that didn’t bother me. It was even more engaging to watch an artist completely immersed in his craft, prioritising our connection to the music over a personal connection to himself.
The show made it abundantly clear why so many of his dedicated fans, or ‘Numanoids’, return to his live sets time and again. And after tonight, you can count me among them too.