30 May 06 - Numan at Leeds
It was only a chance conversation with my Mum that led me to see GN in Leeds on the Jagged tour. At the time of the call he had only announced the northern dates and in passing I had said to her well hes not doing anywhere locally the nearest may be Oxford so may as well be Leeds. ooh lovely you can come and see me was the reply and so the die was set I was to combine the two events!
Only having been through Leeds before by train I knew nothing of the place my mum was born there and now lives in a small town some 30 miles out. And this was the first time I was visiting after she had moved there a year or so previously. Now I shall spare the website details of my stay there since this is a GN fan site and not a family reunion site.
So Leeds! Windy place certainly waiting outside the venue beforehand. And hello by the way to the chaps who emailed the site after my chat with them in the queue (great stuff). So how was the concert? Well, need you ask? Of course it was great and the first time for me to see what tracks he was to do after the full set played at the Launch gig. Pity no Fold on this night (and I was to miss it again in Norwich a week or so later) but there you are. I managed to take quite a few (non-flash) pics but chiefly my aim was to enjoy the occasion. Luckily my judicious queue placing (Numanoids are great planners) meant that I joined the queue at a reasonable time not too early and not too late and was still rewarded with a place leaning on the front barrier. To my sides familiar faces from previous gigs (hello to Steve by the way a stalwart at the very front) and I spent an enjoyable time chatting with Gordon who hails from Northern climes. He showed me some images hed grabbed on his phone and attempted to beam them to mine via the miracle of Bluetooth (or whatever). Although I work in the web industry I am an occasional technophobe I suspect this is an age thing and consequently still havent managed to download or beam those images to this website for him in the friends section as I had intended (so please resend me some Gordon!). On the subject of technophobia I managed to mention to Gary (after the launch gig I think) that I couldnt work my wifes MAC (the conversation was on MACs vs PCs or something) giving the impression I couldnt even turn the bloody thing on when in reality I do actually use it for checking accessibility of websites etc. So full points for muppetry there again always managing to sound the twit when its least helpful to me! (Finally at Norwich when I spoke to Gary I think I managed to show I wasnt a complete berk, but thats another story however unlikely it may seem!)
Anyway back to the gig. As always I struggle to say much about the actual concert if you are a fan reading this and have seen Gary in concert then with luck you know what I thought as you think the same and if you havent seen him then I urge you to do so at the earliest opportunity!
Strangely enough as I walked out from the gig I met purely by chance the bloke who had set next to me on the coach trip up to Leeds the day before. I had not even mentioned the concert to him that day by name, as conversation was on other things Im sure as a group of us all tried to make the interminable hours pass quickly (next time Im going by train) so it was rather a surprise. He had not seen Gary before and said he had really enjoyed it a number of them had come along as he had connections with the university ie he was a student. So if Gary is winning more support from students all the better. Money from the live gigs all helps especially with his worries re the download situation (mind you all the core Numan fans would still have bought the album and forthcoming singles). Another subject that something he does talk about in the excellent Dave Clarke interviews on toasted.com (or wherever it was).
The trip back from the concert was a new one for me and involved train and taxi followed by the traditional Yorkshire delicacy yes you guessed it the kebab. Prime Yorkshire beef with best Yorkshire bread and prime Yorkshire potatoes in the chips. Or something.
Enjoy the photossee Living Ornaments 06