Gary Numan brought his 'Pleasure Principle 2010' tour to San Francisco last week, and proved to everyone in the near sold-out crowd that traveling back in time may just be a possibility after all. From the first Moog infused notes of "Random," Numan and his colleagues delivered a set of cold synth-infused music that sounded like it could have taken place in a dark club in Manchester circa 1980. As they ran through every track from the groundbreaking record, including "Airline," "Metal" and "Complex" as well as my personal favorite, "Films," I was glad to see (and hear) that every song was played just as they were recorded back in 1979. But this was no "retro" set, because Mr. Numan still has a way of making everything he performs sound new and fresh; almost like you're hearing it for the first time.
After wrapping up the Pleasure Principle part of the set with "Cars" Numan and his band continued with a nice mix of both older and newer material, including "Down In The Park," "Are 'Friends' Electric?," "Pure" and "Halo." After leaving the stage the band returned for a three more songs including "I Die: You Die," "Zulu," and "A Prayer for the Unborn." It could not have been a better set, and it was very ice to see that someone who was so influential and made such good music over thirty years ago is still doing the same today.
Artist:
www.numan.co.uk/
www.myspace.com/garynuman
Photos:
Gary Numan – The Fillmore – San Francisco, November 2, 2010
Album:
The 30th Anniversary Edition of The Pleasure Principle is out now. Buy it here on Amazon .
