Electrifying Performance: Gary Numan at O2 Academy, Liverpool – 4th June 2024

Review: Gary Numan – O2 Academy, Liverpool – 4th June 2024

The atmosphere and performance were as electric as the artist himself!

To celebrate the 45th anniversary of both the ‘Replicas’ and ‘The Pleasure Principle’ albums, Numan commenced his mostly sold-out 2024 tour in May. He played the more well-known tracks to the hyped audience, who sang loudly, chanted lyrics, and mostly punctuated each note of the keyboard with air punches.

Liverpool’s O2 Academy was absolutely packed to the rafters – literally, as fans stood shoulder-to-shoulder on both the ground and upper floors. I have reviewed a significant number of artists at this venue before and have never seen it so packed out. Tremendous! The feeling was of a ‘boy-band/supergroup’ style concert, with official merch sellers inside the venue and many ‘unofficial’ sellers outside the venue with what looked like an abundance of quality t-shirts and hoodies.

It always baffles me why artists burst on stage after their scheduled start times. This is a gamble, as I have witnessed fans ‘turn on’ artists with booing and chants before they have struck the first chord. Despite starting thirty minutes later than advertised and after a lengthy instrumental build-up, the audience went wild when Numan appeared on stage. This shows the loyalty his fans have to the musical maestro; however, as time goes on, I don’t think he should continue to test the patience of his devotees for too long.

Many fans throughout the concert chanted the drawled ‘Nuuuummmaaannn’ in the short gaps between his tracks. This neither distracted Numan nor persuaded him to interact with the audience throughout the concert. He never acknowledged their presence until the encore and never introduced his band. Instead, he was focused on delivering a theatrical performance with dramatic posturing, stances, and arm flailing. Whilst this might sound like negative, egotistical arrogance, this is what he is known for. And his hardcore fans love him for it! Yet, he often spends considerable time before and after shows conducting meet-and-greets where he is perceived to be a down-to-earth chap. Tonight, Numan’s stage persona was undoubtedly eccentric; however, more eccentric were his two guitarists (Steve Harris and Tim Slade), who consistently muttered and gestured to the audience. That said, they were completely compelling to watch. The dancing, and vacant trance-like state, including their white faces with painted black kohl lines drawn from their throats up, over their faces, and over their shaved heads to the nape of their necks, gave a feeling of dystopian eeriness.

The synonymous sound that Numan is known for with electronic keyboard sounds (David Brooks) in addition to magnificent heady beats of the drums (Jimmy Lucido) delivered an overall first-class concert.

Set List: Replicas, M.E., Me! I Disconnect From You, Films, We Have a Technical, Do You Need The Service?, Engineers, Observer, Praying to the Aliens, Tracks, Conversation, It Must Have Been Years, Are You In My Vision, Airplane, Complex, Down in the Park, The Machmen, Metal, Only A Downstat, We Are So Fragile.
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