Marking 45 years of his second solo studio album, Gary Numan continued with his series of nostalgia tours following the ‘Replicas’ and ‘The Pleasure Principle’ 45th anniversary shows last year which he performs in-between his studio releases. This tour also coincides with the release of yet another live album celebrating the singer’s 1000th show with a special set recorded at Electric Ballroom. On the ‘Telekon’ tour, Numan received the sad news that his brother, John Webb, had suddenly passed away and so the London show had become a tribute to him and filled with raw emotions; needless to say how admirable it was that Numan had even chosen to complete the rest of the tour while dealing with this.
With an air of ‘80s nostalgia conjured up by gridlines of beautiful red, white, black and green lighting, Numan performed the entire track list of ‘Telekon’ but not in order, opening on third album single, ‘This Wreckage’, with a heavy bassline and flowering streams of synth. ‘Remind Me to Smile’ had some serious sound problems also causing Numan’s vocals to cut out, however, these were soon rectified and the track was recovered, showing the singer’s professionalism as always. ‘I Dream of Wires’ appropriately had updated zipping electronic sound effects, before the otherworldly title track, ‘Telekon’: swirls of synth with flecks of piano and a prominent drum pattern holding it in place.
This album being a masterclass in the synthesiser, there was also classical ambience in the set with ‘Sleep by Windows’ with orchestral synth (the song more percussive than the original) and ‘This Wreckage’ instrumental B-side, ‘Photograph’, which featured classical piano and modernised ambient synth entwined with Numan on keyboards (by this point in the set the sound had vastly improved). The singer broke down in ‘Please Push No More’; amongst a flush of synth, he sat down on stage while he cried for his recent loss; an emotional moment that had the audience cheering him through it. He related how the Beggars Banquet label had cut songs off the final album including ‘Like a B-Film’, which ironically appeared to be the best track of the night: rhythmic with electronic effects. ‘The Airbrush Bureau’ saw romantic synth transformed into a dance track with a funky bassline, also with whispers and chimes woven into its stop-start structure. Numan finished his main set on the faster tempos of ‘I Die: You Die’ (an overseas track replacement to ‘Sleeping by Windows’) and ‘We Are Glass’, both singles on the album.
Like Numan’s Wembley Arena return performance, this particular show not being like his usual was special because he was born in Hammersmith and his mother had last seen him perform there (his father was also in the audience); it was also the venue where he originally performed ‘Telekon’ in 1980. He returned for an encore including ‘My Shadow in Vain’ – also on the new live album – ending the show on the piano version of ‘Down in the Park’ from ‘Telekon’ which matched the track on the recent live release. Numan left on a standing ovation to which he humbly connected; an artist of this calibre is capable of bringing emotion, nostalgia and novelty to one tour that it is no doubt his brother would have been honoured. RIP John Webb.
21/11/25: Gary Numan @ Eventim Apollo, London.
Photos © Peter Mcdonnell photography.
© Ayisha Khan.