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| Gary Numan @ Bimbo's 365 (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
Stepping into the lobby of Bimbo's last night was like stepping onto a battlefield filled with American Indians. No, there weren't any ornate head dresses in sight, but there were a ton of folks with faces covered in warpaint. I may have missed the memo to cover my face in red streaks, but at least I didn't miss Gary Numan and his rescheduled sold out 'Intruder' show! Yet again, another tour that was originally planned to head out across North America back in 2021 and postponed due to Covid -- finally making its way back to San Francisco. Surprisingly, it's been 12 years since I last saw Numan back at the Fillmore when he was touring to celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Pleasure Principle. At the time, we also had the chance to throw 10 questions at the man himself and you can find those here.
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| Steve Harris, Gary Numan & Tim Slade @ Bimbo's 365 (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
Over the past 40 years, Gary Numan's been able to morph his pioneering work in electronic music to be more akin to the sound of Nine Inch Nails -- still heavily reliant on keyboards and synths, but infused with a harder guitar and vocal style more closely aligned with industrial rock. His earliest electronic pop hits such as "Are 'Friends' Electric" from 1979 (see below) feel modern when performed live by the band today.
Compared to this fan shot video from last night:
His music has stayed true to the feel of his earlier pop hits, but Gary continues to write and adapt to the times and it's great to see and hear. In terms of the show last night, Numan was flanked on either side of the stage by Steve Harris on guitars and Tim Slade on bass. At the rear of the stage was his drummer in the back left corner, and Numan's keyboardist in the back right corner. A spare keyboard was set-up at the rear center of the stage that Gary played at least a couple of times throughout the night, but he was mostly perched front and center belting out his vocals and playing occasional guitar on a few tracks up front with Steve and Tim.
Intruder, Numan's 19th(!!!) studio album was released back in May of '21 and it's one of his best yet, so I was happy to hear at least 4 of the 19 songs he played last night from his latest album. Here's the title track for reference:
This was only the second show on the last leg of the Intruder tour, so if you're reading this outside the Bay Area and plan to hit one of his other upcoming shows (see tour dates here), be sure to get to the venue before 9pm. He went on right at the top of the hour.
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| Gary Numan @ Bimbo's 365 (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
Intruder, Numan's 19th(!!!) studio album was released back in May of '21 and it's one of his best yet, so I was happy to hear at least 4 of the 19 songs he played last night from his latest album. Here's the title track for reference:
Besides those tracks from Intruder, he had a great mix of hits across another 8 of his albums, and included my personal highlights: "Metal", "Down in the Park" and of course, "Cars". You can see the full setlist below... His voice and the band sounded great! Both Steve and Tim had great energy and interacted well with not only each other, but the crowd as well -- often making strange hand gestures or looks to various folks in the crowd. The show was an absolute blast, and again, I'm glad I was able to make it after such a long gap since seeing his last show!
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| Gary Numan @ Bimbo's 365 (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
This was only the second show on the last leg of the Intruder tour, so if you're reading this outside the Bay Area and plan to hit one of his other upcoming shows (see tour dates here), be sure to get to the venue before 9pm. He went on right at the top of the hour.
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