Gary N*man - Repl*cas.
Southampton University, March 14th
Hot. First time I've actually seen people fainting in front of me.
And you there on the drums - too, too loud. Are there supposed to be that many red lights above the green bars, Mister mixing-desk-man?
Worries me when the set list is printed out in Times New Roman, complete with typos...
Q -How many 'n*manoids' does it take to play an album that was originally recorded with three?
A - SEVEN
Three keyboard players. A bassist. A drummer. Two guitarists. And
a bloke to sing.
My fourth experience of N*man live, and as much as I love the music, I really don't mind being at the back and not being able to see much. His antics on stage make me cringe, and looking at the crowd is a great opportunity to spend the time Dancing with Myself. I'd always advocate another mosh pit at the back, us Foxx-fans are too reserved...
Took me until an extended version of 'We Have A Techn*cal' to get into this, which comes about quarter of an hour into the set. Seems that while everyone and their dog these days is doing 'whole album' tours, N*man is at least prepared to update the tracks and play them in a different order. Good idea, really, given that putting 'Are Friends Electric' anywhere other than at the end would have been suicidal.
Agree absolutely that the best track of the night is the passionate, pumped up version of 'We Are So Frag*le' which has to be the greatest B-side EVER recorded in the history of everything ever.
There's a guy behind Ade Fenton. What's he doing?
Playing keyboards.
As well?
Interesting 'encore'. I will never accept that 'Cars' fits into this set (although I thought it was closer to the original than any other live version I've heard - and no cow bells). Lacks imagination and suggests a lack of confidence in the other material. (Ever the insecure - hence the cheesy mike-stand waving)
But to follow with 'Every Day I D*e' was genius, and this version of this classic song is absolutely superb.
I unstick pages and read
So why trash it with RIP??
Do I get this tub-thumping juxtaposition of songs and interpretations? Yes - it works.
Brilliant, brilliant gig.
Beats standing behind a keyboard with the master tracks blasting out of a computer anyway.
Its a Repl*ca after all, not the real thing.