Heart of a Punk Soul of a Rasta

Gary Numan/DiRTY HARRY
The Pleasure Principle Tour 30 years on
Wulfrun Hall Wolverhampton 30th November 2009

The Prologue

First off, as part of our remit to inform and educate, let me tell you how to jump the queue of a "sell out" gig at the Wulfrun Hall (with pictures for the hard of understanding).

"If you don't want to stand outside for twenty minutes or more in the perishing bone numbing cold of a November night, listen up."

"If you want to be on the barrier at the Wulfrun Hall without the inconvenience of having to show up early, start making notes."

All you have to do is what I did for the Gary Numan gig and all will be sweet.

1/ Follow the red approach to Wulfrun Hall (round the back of the Civic Hall) make sure you're wearing black or dark gothic clothing.

2/ Loiter, lig or linger out of sight around the corner of Red Lion Street and Mitre Fold (denoted on map by red blob) until the 7 O'clock chimes ring out across Wolverhampton and the main doors of the Wulfrun Hall (denoted by a 1.) are opened.

3/ Hang fire! The top doors are always opened first. Wait patiently for the queue of sheep like punters to start entering the hall by the main doors.

4/ As soon as you hear the bottom doors open (denoted by a 2 on the map), stroll nonchalantly around the corner, averting your eyes from the stone cold hatred filled faces of the punters in the queue, sidle up the steps with an appearance of honest respectability and.........you're in.

You may feel slightly dirty or remorseful a day or so later - or perhaps not.

Gary Numan/DiRTY HARRY

As I made you aware in last months Fanzine Gazza and I parted company after the Telekon tour in '81 and since then I've not bought a single piece of shellac or vinyl by him, so for me tonight's reacquainting with all things Numan is a step into the dark dusty shadows of the long forgotten.

What was apparent though, was how passionate the NUMAN faithful were they stormed through the art deco swing doors and immediately crammed themselves up close and personal to the barrier. With T Shirts donned, cameras at the ready, they quickly and meticulously jockied for position, chanting "NUUUUMAN, NUUUUMAN"as the went. They'd no time for the silliness of alcohol, the game was a foot and this was most definitely a serious business. They reminded me a bit of the promenaders at the proms such was their intensity. Were NUMAN fans this intense back in the day amongst the seats of the Civic Hall Wolves and the Birmingham Odeon? I don't recall that they were.

DiRTY HARRY

Before the Pleasure Principle reenactment we had twenty five minutes or so of "Dirty Harry". And what can I say about Dirty Harry the anglo American female fronted four piece? Well let me make it clear where I stand first, as far as cartoon punkery goes the moment we had in the very late seventies, very early eighties, when cartoon punkery was at its zenith and was being administered with great gusto (?) by the likes of The Dickies, Splodge and the Anti Nowhere League etc., was a moment that was enough of a moment for me.

As far as US punkery goes with the exception of DK, Black Flag, Bad Brains etc. my turntable has had very little to fear of overwork from the post seventies US punk bands. But with that said, perhaps your requirement for US punkery and your liking for cartoon flamboyance is greater than mine, cos even a pompous old shit like myself can't deny that the cartoon US punkery served up by Dirty Harry is nothing if not vastly entertaining. You'd need to have some kind of a facial impediment to prevent you from at least cracking a slight smile as The Rev (late of the "Towers of London") goes airborne during a pregnant pause in the onslaught……………before coming…………………crashing back to earth and continuing to thrash at a thousand miles a second. And you'd have to be bereft, paralyzed or neutered in the manly loins department if you felt nothing more than a semi throb as the deliciously vibrant Harry mounts the monitors in all her gold glittering finery and thrusts her erogenous regions in and out in your general direction. Yes entertainment wise DiRTY HARRY are a safe pair of appendages.

But what of the music I hear you ask? Well I think a bit more is required, I mean the mélange of cartoon US glam rock punkery is all well and good but where oh where is the cover version of The Lurkers "Go ahead Punk make my day"? DiRTY HARRY without his immortal catch phrase, come on, something must surely be done!

Gary Numan

After a bit of onstage jiggery pokery and several choruses of Nuuuuuman, Nuuuuuman, Gary Numan appeared through a wall of Papal purple mist and took up his position centre stage, hunched like a black praying mantis over a pre-warmed Access Virus synth. A brief instrumental interlude followed, then from behind a whirring moog the drums beat out the intro of "Airplane" and the Pleasure Principle began.

Four years after the euphoria of PP, when Gary had reached his "Warriors" phase, it had become horribly apparent (to me anyway) that his stage show, makeup and costumes had started to overshadow his music. Tonight with the theatricality of the past amputated there was nothing to detract from the undeniable enduring quality of Numan's early music. The Pleasure Principle was rapturously received throughout by the faithful and the uninitiated alike. But "Complex" dedicated by Numan to the long deceased Paul Gardiner whose bass playing was integral to the first three Tubeway Army/Numan albums, was performed and duly received perhaps with more feeling, and with a higher regard than any other track on the night.

After PP was done and dusted a couple of synths were dispensed with, and guitars were brought to the fore for some of Numans more recent work (of which I admit I know very little) but which included "Pure" and the very new track "The Fall". Also the "Replicas" essentials "We are so fragile" and "Down in the Park" were blasted out, along with an exemplary reworking of "Are Friends Electric" which swung wildly from piano tinkling, pin dropping whispered vocal intimacy, to full bloodied electro guitar rampage. YES!

After 30 years of being "at best" ignored by music journo's Numan still lives. Longevity is everything in the dirty music business, if you turn your back for a moment the myth making journo's will twist white into black. But Numan hasn't gone away, he's stuck around, he's survived and so has his music, and deservedly so. At the end of the seventies he brought something new to the party and influenced a multitude, but it's his endurance and durability throughout the thin years that should really be applauded. In 1979 Gary Numan stood centre stage, alone, a slight vulnerable figure in front of a gargantuan flashing edifice. Thirty years on and the edifice is gone, but Numan is still here and stronger than ever, and that above all things is what really matters.

Ed.