Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Fan Mael
We went to see Sparks play live on Sunday, a gig which we were so excited about that we could have powered the National Grid by the sheer power of enthusiasm alone. As it turned out we were right to be so excited as the gig itself was seven shades of brilliance. How can we be so accurate? Because we counted them, that's why, and here, for your reading pleasure, are those seven shades in full:-
- Shade 1 - Russell Mael: As flamboyant as always and, despite being a bit more portly than in his more youthful days, still looking surprisingly well. And he has good hair. Russell is the sort of frontman that you just don't get nowadays, what with stool sitting, along with how to use hair straightners, seemingly being the only skills that male popstars are taught in Pop School these days. Straight out of a 1920's musical with a falsetto that leads you to question whether his underwear is two sizes too small, his stage presence is only outshone by one man and that man is...
- Shade 2 - Ron Mael: The Ying to Russell's Yang, the Bad Cop to his Good, Ron has now turned completely into the unsmiling scary headmaster he always aimed to be. Stoically trying to outstare the entire world, Ron's position behind his synth demonstrates to anyone watching that the aforementioned Pop School really isn't teaching all they could teach when it comes to the art of stool sitting. Of course, not everyone can sit on a stool with suitable style and elan, which brings us to...
- Shade 3 - The Cute Blonde Drummer: What? These things matter! Of course, we didn't realise they had a Cute Blonde Drummer until the second half of the gig, as for the first half of the gig the band, aside from the Brothers Mael, were all hidden behind netting so weren't hugely visible. But what's all this talk of halves we hear you cry, well...
- Shade 4 - The Setlist Set-up - In what is clearly the way forward for gigs, rather than slotting new material into the setlist here, there and everywhere, Sparks decided to spend the first half of the gig playing new album, Hello, Young Lovers, in full, before going off for - yes! - a costume change and returning to play a greatest hits set for the second half. This is probably the best set-up for a gig until Girls Aloud do a three night residency playing each album in full, plus associated B-Sides, at Meltdown. Which they will. Of course, not every band could get away with doing this; after all, the thought of Westlife playing one of their albums in full or, for that matter, performing a greatest hits set, would bring anyone with ears to tears; but Sparks, being geniuses from head to toe, top to bottom and all the way from the front to the back, get away with it, mainly because the new material is completely brilliant and we can only urge you to rush out and buy a copy immediately so that you can appreciate it's quality for yourself. Also adding to the enjoyment of the first half of the gig was the fact that, to go along with the theatrical nature of the music, we had a somewhat theatrical presentation of the songs, centred mainly on...
- Shade 5 - The Screen: Providing colour to the new material, a screen hung centre stage showed various computer generated films to accompany each track which the brothers Mael - though mainly Ron, it has to be said - interacted with, the highlights of this probably being either Ron fighting a cartoon version of himself on the screen, landing blow after blow with suitably cartoony results or, because taking a full size church organ on tour is somewhat impractical, Ron seating himself in front of the screen to play a 2D organ projected thereon. Even if, by some unlikely stretch of the imagination, you weren't enjoying the music - which would imply that you were either deaf, stupid, or both - then the images alone would have kept you entertained. But it wasn't just about the new material, oh no, we still had...
- Shade 6 - The Greatest Hits: Unfortunately they didn't play Beat the Clock, but you can't have everything, but we did get a heart pounding selection of masterful pop; from Bon Voyage to the sublime Suburban Homeboy, from Amateur Hour to a masterful version of The Rhythm Thief, they could do no wrong, even if the presence of a Faith No More guitarist might convince you otherwise. But as the main set came to an end and the stunning duo of Number One Song in Heaven and When Do I Get To Sing 'My Way' were played, the only question on everyone's lips was how could they top what they've done so far? Well...
- Shade 7 - This Town Ain't Big Enough For the Both Of Us: Still sounding fresh, still sounding exciting, still knocking the spots of most of what passes for pop these days, and still fantastic, despite having recently been mauled by Justin Hawkins, This Town Ain't Big Enough... is simply one of the greatest records ever recorded and released. The reaction they received after playing this was enough to being a smile to even the grumpiest man and, to prove this point, even Ron himself couldn't help but crack a smile, despite his best efforts not to. A mighty show by a mighty band, the only real downside was the onstage argument which ensued due to a problem about how the band were getting down to the next gig. Apparently Sparks are gonna fly. Arf!
