Blancmange
Darwen
Library Theatre
4
November 2013
As
an eighteen year-old, I was gutted when Blancmange announced in 1986, that ‘I
Can See It’ would be there final single.
Gutted, because I’d never seen them, and, probably never would. When Faithless released their classic
swansong album ‘The Dance’ in 2010 it contained a re-work of the Blancmange
track ‘Feel Me’ from their debut album Happy Families. It brought back such memories and I contacted
Neil Arthur to tell him so. From the
ensuing contact, I found out that Blancmange were returning, now only with a
new album (2011’s ‘Blanc Burn’), but also with a tour. Bliss.
With
another tour sandwiched in between, I witnessed my third Blancmange gig in as
many years at Darwen Library Theatre.
Always a special location due to Darwen being Neil’s birthplace, always
a special bond with the audience.
Unfortunately,
due to his continued struggle with an abdominal
aortic aneurysm, fellow Aunt Stephen Luscombe was again not present, but, David
Rhodes who played guitar on 1982’s ‘Happy Families’ was. To make up a foursome, sound engineer Adam
Fuest and ‘Ugu’ joined the big man on stage.
Kicking off with ‘Lose Your Love’ the sound was
great. Pumping drumbeats and some pretty
awesome guitar work made for a truly brilliant sound in the small venue. Fuest took on the role of Brian Eno by
contributing some live sound manipulations – sometimes unpredictable but often
interesting – it added a new dimension to the performance.
With five tracks from ‘Blanc Burn’ and added gems
to follow including the marvellous ‘Blind Vision’, the attention was then
turned to a re-visited, re-recorded re-run of ‘Happy Families’. Released to coincide with, and only initially
available on tour, ‘Happy Families Too’ combines the original ten tracks from
the classic debut album which have been given a true 21st Century
twist.
With enough of the originals for us
forty-somethings to reminisce fondly, and enough of an update for the several
young teenagers (I counted three) to enjoy the tunes, Neil blitzed the album
with ease even donning a guitar himself to play the instrumental ‘Sad
Day’. In between tracks he displayed his
typical Northern humour, interacting regularly with the audience to tell jokes,
anecdotes and catch a flying Curly Wurly whilst several members left their
seats and danced in front of the stage.
A polished performance by one of Britain’s finest
pop acts of the last 30 years that could only be bettered by the recovery and
appearance of Mr Luscombe. We wait and
we hope.
Links
Published on Louder Than War 6/11/13 - here
Great read, brilliant gig, then again so was Nottingham's I witnessed on this tour
ReplyDelete