Gary Numan stay on the Cheese & Grain, Frome, 27 June 2025
★★★★★
With three Glastonbury warm-up gigs in Brighton booked previous to Gary Numan’s landmark look on The Park Stage this weekend, the addition of a Frome date got here considerably out of the blue… not least for the Cheese & Grain itself. Chatting with Traditional Pop forward of the present, programme and manufacturing supervisor Robert Dahl mentioned: “It’s humorous as a result of we noticed the Brighton exhibits had been occurring, and Gary posted on his social media that they had been in search of one other warm-up however hadn’t been capable of finding one – which appeared ridiculous! Why nobody had bitten his hand off was past me. So we jumped straight on to it and emailed his agent saying, ‘We’d very very like a Gary Numan present, please’. They had been very receptive to the concept, as a result of we’ve obtained a very good historical past of doing Glastonbury warm-up exhibits.”
Having Emily Eavis as a patron has little doubt helped the (comparatively) small venue play host to arena-sized headline acts akin to Paul McCartney and Foo Fighters up to now. This week alone, it welcomed sold-out exhibits by CMAT and Wunderhorse with The Selecter enjoying too – however Numan’s look triggered explicit delight. “We’ve had a very nice cross part of gigs this yr,” continued Dahl, “however Gary Numan was undoubtedly one of many fastest-selling exhibits that we’ve ever had, and we might’ve offered the place out three or 4 occasions over. Gary is a reputation that we’ve all the time needed to convey to the venue, however didn’t essentially assume we’d. Having an icon like him on that stage is superb, and we’re all very excited to have him right here.”
Image credit score: Cara-Jayne Bentley
Candy Goals
Because the venue fills with a various vary of followers – from authentic silver-haired Numanoids to the charcoal-eyed teen goths – Traditional Pop shortly asks Robert if there are any explicit songs he’s hoping to listen to? “Effectively, he’s obtained such a wealthy catalogue of unimaginable tracks. After all, I’d love to listen to the apparent ones – Are ‘Mates’ Electrical?, Automobiles, Down In The Park – however I actually like his newer stuff from Intruder too, like I Am Screaming, The Present, The Chosen, The Finish Of Dragons. However let’s be sincere, no matter he performs, it’s gonna be nice and I believe everybody’s going to be blown away by it regardless.”
So on to the present, and particular point out first have to be made for native help act Candy Machine. Drawing affect from the likes of John Foxx, Human League, OMD, Kraftwerk, Delicate Cell and, undoubtedly, Gary Numan himself, the synthpop stylings of the duo’s authentic numbers all sound surprisingly acquainted – not a lot a tribute act, extra an affectionate homage to full-on 80s pop.
Simply as night time follows day, the distinction between the sunshine electronica of Candy Machine and the industrial-strength onslaught of the primary occasion is palpable. Hitting the stage with a blistering blast by Halo from 2006’s Jagged, earlier than tearing into The Chosen from Intruder, Numan is greeted by an enraptured viewers just like the all-conquering hero he actually is. Welcome to Numan’s deliciously darkish dystopian future.
Image credit score: Cara-Jayne Bentley
Deliciously Darkish
Flanked by bassist Tim Slade and guitarist Steve Harris, the relentlessly recognisable opening chorus of The Pleasure Precept’s Steel is reimagined as a metallic monster earlier than the singer straps on his guitar for a run by a mighty, melodramatic In A Darkish Place. Stalking the shadows, the showman is visibly in his factor – the peace of Glastonbury’s Park Stage gained’t know what’s hit it. And one should surprise what a number of the extra informal followers in attendance tonight is perhaps considering too, earlier than Numan reveals the ace up his tattooed sleeve: Automobiles. As David Brooks’ elegant synth heralds the opening to the groundbreaking UK chart-topper a sea of cellphone cameras seize the second as Jimmy Lucido belts out the unremitting beat on the drums to ferocious impact.
Following earth-shattering renditions of Haunted and All the pieces Comes Down To This, the rock star icon turns proud-as-punch father when daughter Raven joins him on stage for her atmospheric Nothing’s What It Appears, earlier than her youthful sibling Persia offers vocals on a haunting My Title Is Smash.
Image credit score: Cara-Jayne Bentley
Pleasure Precept
Too chilly to carry when it topped the charts for 4 weeks in the summertime of 1979, Tubeway Military’s timeless basic Are ‘Mates’ Electrical? is just too sizzling to deal with tonight, as the extreme warmth contained in the Cheese & Grain reaches pressure-cooker ranges. “So it’s time to depart, you see it meant all the things to me,” Numan talk-sings – and also you get the impression that being on stage on this second actually does imply all the things. Nevertheless, it’s not time to depart simply but, because the doom-laden one-two knockout punches of Down In The Park and M.E. units all the things up for the finale of Pray For The Ache You Serve and I Die You Die – the latter a pleasant style of what’s to come back when Numan excursions the 45th anniversary of Telekon in November.
With a well mannered, “Thanks very a lot, I actually respect it,” Numan returns for a swift two-song encore of Movies – the fourth and closing Pleasure Precept outing we’re handled to tonight – and nearer Right here In The Black. Taking time to share bottled water with followers on the entrance, Numan should relish the intimacy of nights like this.
Right here In The Black
As followers escape into the cool black night time, Traditional Pop occurs upon a smiling Robert Dahl, happy with a job effectively finished: “I actually assume the Cheese & Grain’s industrial aesthetic suited Gary and I hope he loved his time right here in Frome.”
“Exhibits like this are very important as a result of they spotlight how there are venues outdoors of the massive cities,” he continued. “Everyone seems to be conscious of the struggles stay music and small grassroot venues like us face. Massive names like Gary Numan actually draw consideration, however I’m very happy with the work we do on daily basis of the yr and all of the exhibits we placed on in Frome.”
Posters on the wall spotlight an unimaginable array of Traditional Pop pleasant acts coming quickly: Supergrass (11 July), Kate Nash (24 July), Teenage Fanclub (9 August), Heaven 17 (15 August), The South (20 September), Dodgy (10 October), Gary Kemp (11 October), Wendy James (14 October), Stewart Copeland (16 October), New Mannequin Military (17 October), The Orb (13 December) and plenty of extra. For data click on right here
Footage courtesy of Cara-Jayne Bentley
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