Gary Numan, Second Savage summer tour. 20180907 @ Mohawk.
Minimally chatty; said hello and went straight into the rocking. Consummate professional. Played a lot from “Savage”, a bit from “Broken”, a nice amount from “Jagged” (my favorite), a fair share from “The Pleasure Principle”, and even trotted out three Tubeway Army songs.
Long may he live.
Fiction is life with the menial and the mundane stripped out. The dull gray is removed. The acts of existing in the world are nullified. All that’s left is a curated narrative to expand and fill that space.
Fiction is life, but filtered and amplified. And that’s why we’re so drawn to it.
If I ever get too cocky and think I know lots of things very well and have a full grasp of the world and all the things in it, I need merely to practice Morse code to knock myself off my high horse.
Radio is hard.
I have a long and complicated history with U2. They penned a mountain of great music that has dotted my life with joy throughout my ages, and stood as a lighthouse when I wandered and wondered what was out there to be had, seen, felt, known, shared. I grew up with them, and gleefully enjoyed their artistic output on a social and personal level, while quietly looking away when their press politics came to the mic.
They were there to minister to me when few others were around to take notice.
Success is a strange thing, and it twists and distorts what is genuine. But despite the pressure, they still managed to get some amazingly truthful, soulful, and bright material out through the noise. For that, I’m thankful. I think I’ll always be grateful for the fruitful venture of Bono, Edge, Adam, and Larry, and their parade of producers and engineers.
Drowning Man: unusual song structure throws a lifeline
The Unforgettable Fire: a siren call, stretching me skyward through a dark time
The Fly: a zeitgeist among friends, a touchstone, an anchor
Lemon: having nothing left in my life, I danced in my dorm room on first listen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGSiikL_Z_c
Last three are from “No Line On the Horizon”, a salvation.
Magnificent: bright, victorious
Fez – Being Born: that chorus of voices grabs me every time. Lights flash past like memories. This is what motion sounds like.
Cedars of Lebanon: most delicate sound to date. The worst of us are a long, drawn out confession. The best of us are geniuses of compression.
