Old friends, new friends and 'Telekon'

I knew an old schoolfriend of mine, Nigel, was going to be at the 'Replicas' gig on Wednesday night but as these events aren't the best opportunities for socialising, I hadn't made plans to meet up with him. However, as I was stood with Ash and John, and was just recovering from the sonic horror of the support act, there was a tap on my shoulder and - lo and behold - there was Nigel. After exchanging hellos he said "Guess who's here with me?". It turned out to be one of my very best friends from school, Colin Timmins.

God, it was lovely to see him. It would be mad to say he hadn't changed a bit but, you know what, he hadn't changed a bit. It wasn't the best opportunity to catch up (see above) but it turned out that he was also coming to the gig tonight, so we arranged to meet up beforehand. And then Ash said he wouldn't mind coming along, as he'd met Colin while we were at university, and I'd previously arranged to see Simon (@simbuck2), so the four of us met up at The Pineapple, in the backstreets of Kentish Town.

Despite our initial reservations, Ash and I settled down at a table, and found fairly rapidly that we actually quite liked this north London pub. We were joined by Colin and - do you know? - it was as easy and relaxed as anything. We all just chatted and laughed, and the thing that amazed me most was that, even after 30 years, I found I liked exactly the same things about him. And then Simon arrived - someone neither Ash nor Colin had met before - and it carried on being just as effortless and enjoyable.

I'd have happily stayed there all evening in such charming company but tonight was the third of the Gary Numan gigs, this time playing 'Telekon', so Colin, Simon and I headed off to the Forum, arriving just in time to grab a drink before Numan took to the stage. 

The interesting thing is, I'd been looking forward to all three nights for different reasons: 'Replicas' because it was so ground-breaking and such a pivotal album for me in my listening to music; 'The Pleasure Principal' because it was the first Gary Numan album I bought and even now I love its clear, austere production; and 'Telekon' because at this point, just a year and a half after releasing 'Replicas', Numan's compositional abilities had mushroomed. (As Ash pointed out, the 'Telekon' tracks sound like they were written to be played live.)

And the gig didn't disappoint. Once again, the band gave great service to the material and Numan seemed blissfully lost in the music. I'm not sure that there was any irony involved but this chap who weathered unwarranted abuse from the music press, who was unfairly ignored by Radio 1, yet who this week received Q's 'Innovation In Sound' award from Jean Michel Jarre, chose to finish this three night festival of seminal electronica with the almost acoustic 'Jo The Waiter'. Before he did, though, he spoke to the audience for a couple of minutes. I've never heard him speak to an audience like this before and it was quite lovely. He was clearly moved and that feeling quickly transferred to the audience, most of whom, I suspect, have remained loyal to him for the last 35 years.

It was a beautiful end both to a wonderful evening and to this run of three concerts. When I bought them, I wondered if I'd regret buying tickets for all three nights but, actually, it's been simply fantastic.