1 March 2005
- Great news about Gary's plans to do a RETRO-GIG in November this year featuring TELEKON only material. Good for fans of my age. Good for fans of Gary's age as well - seeing as we're both the same. But then I prefer the new material to the old - however it will be a good diversion from the new career path. We can enjoy the retro-gigs but not expect Gary to change his music back to those days - although it will be interesting to see what influences on the new material may occur after Gary and the band spend a weekend playing the 'classic' stuff.
So it seems Gary's music is wide enough to rebrand the old stuff as 'Classic Gary Numan' and the new stuff as, well, 'Gary Numan'. Many of you know of my interest in the tv show Doctor Who. This has recently undergone a resurgence and an revamp - with the old series now being known as 'classic'. I'm thinking that next time I tell a joke and it gets a mixed reaction (as always) I shall say it's one of my 'classic jokes' and I'm just giving it an airing and I have better material if only you stay and listen!
However the best bit of nostalgia comes for me this May as I've just got a ticket for the Norwich gig. I went to UEA the university there in the early 1980s - yes I'm that old. It's where I first got into Gary Numan Music. After hearing about it from my sister I first bought Complex 12' single and The Pleasure Principle on cassette which I played to death in my university room! I recall This Wreckage coming out when I was living in Gardener's Cottage Sparham and I had my 21st birthday party with 65 people crammed into a cottage built in essence for 2 people (we had 4 in it normally). I remember I Die:You Die going down a storm at discos - especially remember a mature student friend of mine who didn't like Numan and was into funk actually saying that I Die: You Die was brilliant as it was so danceable!
I remember Night Talk and Stormtrooper in Drag when I visited friends at Bowthorpe and staying some of the summer to work at the bar. I recall She's Got Claws (bought it in Jersey) and remember playing Dance throughout my second year.
I remember seeing loads of bands at the UEA concert venue - they had a reputation of being one of the best uni venues. I remember seeing Slade first of all things, missed Madness Specials and Selektor on one gig (went home for the weekend), saw Duran Duran, The Cure, missed Japan because I was taking photos at a rival gig on the campus for a uni-band called the Deetours (what happened to them - maybe my posters killed them off) and loads more but I forget who now...
And then of course I remember having to miss the end bit from We Are Glass at the last Wembley concert as I had to cycle at breakneck speed (and my bike back light had failed as it had accidentally been on during the concert but had not rivalled the lightshow in any way I suspect) from Wembley to Liverpool Street station in under an hour to get the last train back to Norwich - I remember cycling back to the Horsham residences at 2 or 3 in the morning with the sounds and vision of the concert still in my ears - a magical night I won't forget!
If someone had told me that Gary Numan was to play there I wouldn't have believed them, and to finally see him at my old university is going to be brilliant - I've already booked my room on campus and am sorting out the travel now.