It's sometimes so frustrating being a Numan fan.
When he's good he's great & when he's bad he's terrible.

Last nights show had elements of both, but unfortunately the bad outweighed the good. High points were the intro, my shadow in vain, please push no more, it must have been years & ancients. Low points, My jesus (awful song), I can't breathe (again dreadful song), a remixed version of R.I.P, a remixed version of everyday I die, a new version of M.E (one of my favourite ever Numan tracks in it's original form) & Cars.

Cars sounded like a version by Fear factory or something - I thought I was attending a Gary Numan gig not a thrash metal concert!!!! A.F.E was only marginally better.

I love the Pure album (apart from I can't breathe & My jesus), but Pure & a Prayer for the unborn were both performed poorly which was a shame. I seem to say this every time I post, but the missing ingredient is definitely the keyboard sounds. He seems to use the same synth/string sound for all his songs & it was 'the sound' of these early songs which made them so great to begin with. I sometimes think I might enjoy watching a Numan Cover band more than the man himself.

Yesterday seemed to be a cross between dance beats & thrash guitar, not what I expected to hear at all. The people who say it was his best concert ever are just lying & need to be more objective.

It took me 6 hours to get to London & I'm glad I made the journey. I thought it was a quite special event, but not as special for the crowd as it was for Gary himself which is a shame. 5/10

Geoff

Hybrid
My shadow in vain
ME
My Jesus
That's too bad
Ancients
Every day I die
Torn
Down in the park
Please push no more
It must have been years
Crazier
Pure
I can't breathe
RIP
A prayer for teh unborn
--
Cars
Are 'friends' electric?
Bleed
I die you die
We are glass

Great show, good sound for the songs, but when Gary spoke nobody heard what he was saying. In my top 3 of best concerts (out of 35).

Luc De Visscher - Belgium

Having seen Gary Numan on every tour since 1979 you could say that I'm an old hand at this now.I am not going to be too negative about this gig as at the end of the day...it's Gary Numan!!...Gary Numan is GOD is he not and getting the chance to see him live doesn't happen that often (enough)..

Hybrid as an intro kicked off the show and it looked as if it could be cool.The audience were a bit subdued...that could have been down to the 'Nu-Army' of fans who were maybe going for the first time and not knowing what to expect....

The sound was clear enough and the set as a whole was pretty good, featuring a mixture of old and new songs and a few re-vamped ones too.Let's start with the best song of the night (in my opinion) 'Please push no more'.It bought a lump to my throat as a 13 year old at Wembley in '81 and just standing there alone at the gig last night,brought back some great memories.I Die You Die,We are Glass,It must have been years,That's too Bad among others represented the old Numan we have all grown to love.

The classics were in there too (Are friends electric?,Cars and Down in the park)..and these got the crowds pulses racing. As we know,Numan's sound has progressed rapidly over the last 8 years and it is this that seems to have split the old school Numo's 50/50...

Numan is now trendy with the readers of Kerrang! etc etc and his NIN and Marilyn Manson influences are well to the fore.Songs from Sacrifice,Exile,Pure and the new album Hybrid were performed and seemed to please almost everyone.

What I found quite hard to listen to were the new re-vamped,re-workings etc of the classic album tracks..M.E. is and alway's will be one of the best album tracks ever and although I prefer the original,this version still sounds good and is powerful live...Everyday I die was almost un-recognisable to me..in fact I didn't realise what the song was until I heard the chorus..I was a tad dissapointed.

A prayer for the unborn is another great song but this remix version seemed like it was a CD playing and everyone was miming? The two new songs Crazier and Ancients were brilliant and again,were very powerful live.

Overall I would say this was a good gig but it could have been so much better.It was a celebration of 25 years in the music business and whilst Gary does not want to go backwards,he copuld have given a lot more.Maybe we were expecting far too much? Don't get me wrong,the set was varied and obviously thought out but the lights weren't brilliant and when Gary did speak (which was a lot more than usual)..I couldn't hear or understand what he was saying.

I'm not one of these who wants Numan to stay in the 70's/80's and I'm all for moving on..But I just think that with a serious bit of thought..these anniversary shows could have been a lot lot better after all,they aren't going to happen again are they...at least I hope not.

Overall 7/10

gArYcEe

But as one of the "30 Somethings" I did find the antics of Sulphur's front man a little sad. Perhaps the 20 somethings thought it was great, but then maybe they haven't seen it all before!?!

Who ever had the idea of throwing a few more lights on to the front of the stage gets a big thank you! You couldn't see anyone on stage at the Bristol show, for at least the first 3 songs!

Probably the best gig's Gary's done! Fitting for the 25th anniversary of such an enormous talent!

I had the time of my life!!!!

Corin

Disapointed that there was not a big effort made to bring together some old freinds tick&tock dramatus .

Why was gary miming ? He started to sing cars ,walked away but you could still hear him sing .

not one of his better gigs but the crazies still had a ball.

Clarke

Queued for what seemed ages in the pouring rain listening to the same old wingers about people being ripped off with ticket touts (Tickets were going for £40), and how they would be disappointed. Those wingers who the previous night had turned up at Bristol have strangely arrived for another night (They either like the shows, or love just to whine to people like me who look forward to these events with excitement)!

Sulpher the support act were a refreshing change, and the look of disbelieve on peoples faces when the frontman wasn't all there (he even threw his guitar across the stage, and a mic stand into the crowd.....Watch the 30 somethings!!!!).

Gary came on and from start to finish the set and list of songs were brilliant. The remixes caught a lot of people out as they couldn't sing along to them as well as the traditional ones, I loved them all....ANDY GRAY HOPE YOU WORK ON GARY'S NEW ALBUM!!!!!

The only disappointment was he had to play "Cars" the wingers loved it though.

After buying HYBRID this morning and re-capping on the new tracks (Ancients is a classic and should be the single), all I can say is the Wingers obviously don't like change FOR THE BETTER!!!! 10/10

Phil Gaunt

This was by far the worst Numan gig I have ever been to. To gauge just how God-awful it was I actually enjoyed Sulpher's performance a hell of a lot more than Numan's!

I thought that he looked like a complete tit in his Darth Vader body armour and the 'new stuff' that he played was total and utter shat. I don't know about anyone else but me, my wife and a stranger that I talked to in the toilet had trouble hearing him sing at times and when he spoke between songs we couldn't hear a word of what he said.

Stuff like 'M.E.', 'Pure' and 'Please Push No More' did manage to come across really well but these were far outweighed by inferior toss from 'Hybrid' and it's mostly chronic re-workings. We were so disappointed with the whole evening that we left the gig early and I honestly couldn't give a fuck what I missed.

I had considered going to Germany but if this is what's on offer then I think I could have more fun with flu. To add to all that the merchandise on offer for a 25th anniversary gig was a fucking insult-no commemorative programme of any sort and a t-shirt with a logo that has been used a zillion times.

Maybe for his next shows he can add to the entertainment my inviting Matthew Kelly on stage and saying 'tonight Matthew I want to be Trent Reznor'.

Rickets

Well, well, who'd have thought 25 years could go by so fast? I still remember buying AFE when it was top of the pops, and seeing my first Numan show on the Warriors tour. But enough nostalgia!

I've lost count of the amount of times I've seen Numan over the years, but last night's show ranks among the best. I, like many Numanoids, had been growing a little impatient with the fairly static set list we've had over the last few mini-tours (although I'm not complaining - just seing Gary live is an event in itelf each time!) so it was very refreshing to hear a vastly different set this time.

It couldn't have been a 25th Anniversary show without That's Too Bad (the single that started it all), and the usual suspects of Down In The Park and AFE were present as always. It was great to hear some of the rarely aired material though, namely Please Push No More, which even after all this time still sounds gorgeous. My Shadow In Vain and It Must Have Been Years satisfied my 'old-school' cravings, as did the double-whammy of I Die You Die and We Are Glass during the encore, but it was the new stuff and the remixes that i was particularly interested in.

Ancients and Crazier were both entertaining, but they didn't grab me by the throat as I'd hoped. I'm putting it down to unfamiliarity, though, as I'm sure once Hybrid has had a good hammering this week they'll be friemly lodged in my brain! I'm not sure what the other new song was, although several peole in the audience seemed familiar with it maybe something that's been demoed on the phone lines?

I love the Prayer For The Unborn remix, and to hear it live was a treat, but I wasn't keen on the version of Bleed (one of my favourite songs) - I was waiting for the huge chorus, but it never came! Oh well, can't win 'em all!

Now the band - what can I say? Gary has surrounded himself with hugely talented and entertaining musicians - this recent line-up is probably the strongest band I've seen him with for years (it was a shame John couldn't join him for the 25th Anniversary though, having previously been a member of his touring band when flying commitments permitted).

Gary himself moves around the stage with a great sense of confidence these days too - it's been interesting watching him develop as a performer over the years, and I really think he's pretty much at the top of his game now (he just needs to learn to talk INTO the mike when addressing the audience though!)

Overall, a near perfect gig - great set, great band, very effective light show (as usual!) and a worthy celebration of a 25 year career! Here's to the next 25!

Fettdog

I've been going to Numan gig's since 1983... I haven't enjoyed a gig so much since Adrenaline City; this has truly brought Numan into the 21st century.

Songs in a live show should be different from the album versions, or you might as well stay at home with headphones on. And that's where all the moaner's (I heard at the gig) should stay :-) surround with their vinyl dreaming, that they are still in the 70's.

Wake up! Tonight was a true monster of a show, there was a good mix of the old and the new then with the twist of the remix tracks really added something extra. The three new songs liked a lot and the one that is going to be single 'Crazier' was very catchy.

I'm off to the shops first thing in the morning, to get me a copy of that Hybrid Album!!!

21st. Century Boy

After disapointing Sulpher, Numan came on and made the trip worth while and displayed the same energy and enthusiasm as ever. The selection of songs was an improvement on the previous shows.

We met Steve Malins and The Record company representative and it was nice to be asked our views on The Numan shows. (We gave a positive reply to The Record Company's questions).

SPF & DEVO