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Spandau Ballet's Belfast gig is pure Gold
Thursday, 15 October 2009
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Was there ever a sillier pop band than Spandau Ballet? That name, those kilts on TOTP, dodgy songs about the Troubles, they were a byword for glitzy style over gritty substance. This, of course, made them the perfect Eighties group.
There are worse crimes in pop than silliness and expectation was high as a soberly besuited Hadley and co took the stage last night with the fartingly good To Cut A Long Story Short betraying their synth punk roots.
Looking more like Desperate Romantics than new ones,with Hadley was an engaging front man, the initially muddy sound gave their songs an added edge live, particularly suiting high energy numbers like Highly Strung.
Much needed texture was provided by saxophonist Steve Norman busily outshining the Kemp Brothers in musicianship.
Inevitably there was the odd longueur, too much slick white boy soul, a new song (Once More) that delved so far into Gary Barlow territory that the UN might have to be informed.
>>Video: Gary Grattan talks to Martin and Gary Kemp<<
But unexpectedly in was their palpably sincere rendition of Through the Barricades a song which, let's face it, is unlikely to be covered by Christy Moore anytime soon, that took the audience to a new level, leaving bankers like Chant No I (their indisputable claim to greatness) and the unctuous True to send the crowd home happy.
Reunions often founder on the very same fault lines that caused the original split, but my instinct is that this one may be built to last, longer than Bananarama's at least
Michael Conaghan
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I don't know where Michael was sitting , but the audience figures for last night's gig was over 8,000, not bad for a pub crooner and his mates???? I thought that, not withstanding the fact that it was only their 2nd time to play together in how many years?, they knitted very well together. Tony Hadley's voice has got better with age, and the set was put together very well. No we weren't here to see a U2 production, just to daydream a bit and long for our youth. Great gig, and the majority, except for Michael, seemed to love it too, the place was hopping for the majority of the gig.
Posted by Kevin B | 15.10.09, 20:28 GMT
They were never a synth punk band, duh. .
Posted by Lizzy | 15.10.09, 20:05 GMT
Well all I can say is what a difference a day must make! The Dublin show the previous night was attended by an almost capacity 9,600 audience and the O2 must have must better acoustics than Belfast. The sound was ify for around 2-3 tracks but the engineers soon sorted that one out. What really struck me was that the band were clearly enjoying themselves in Dublin, I am surprised the chemistry was not as good in Belfast. All the major UK broadsheets and tabloid reporters were there in Dublin and the reviews were extremely good. Anyway, good luck to the lads. I thoroughly enjoyed the gig.
Posted by Robin | 15.10.09, 18:46 GMT
Hadley and co took the stage last night with the fartingly good To Cut A Long Story Short
What does that mean. Who wrote this Bevis or Butthead.
Posted by rufus | 15.10.09, 14:16 GMT
Was it just me or was there an air of desperation? Tony Hadley has got so heavy he wouldn't take his jacket off even though it was drenched with sweat no sign of any chemistry between him and those Kemp bros hightlight of evening was the sax player great injection of brassy blues
Posted by ceedall | 15.10.09, 12:58 GMT
my wife and myself were at the concert last night it was a very good performance,all ages of concert goers were there danceing and singing, 1st class gig from the boys Aiken promotions should be proud of themselves.
Posted by stephen | 15.10.09, 11:25 GMT
I really have to disagree with Michael Conaghan's review. In the past 30 years, I've been to hundreds of gigs and last night was up there as one of the worst shows I have ever sat through. The sound was awful, the show itself had no pace and chugged along like a car that was running out of petrol. It's obvious the band are only there to make a few quid before they pack it in for good. There was no real set design to speak of, and Tony Hadley performed like a bad pub crooner. Thankfully though, with only 3000 odd people turning up to a 10, 000 capacity venue, not that many people had to endure their awful performance. Duran Duran they are not.
Posted by Michael | 15.10.09, 10:56 GMT