A truly fantastic gig! A packed venue, great atmosphere and a brilliant performance. A privilege to see the first and possibly only ever live performance of my favourite Sparks album. Just wish I could see more dates on the tour

Venue

Although transport links to the 'area' that the venue is in, are good, finding the 'exact' location was like tracking down the yeti! Barely visible from the high street and 'inside' a shopping complex, the Carling Academy Islington is like a master criminals spy base. We weren't alone thinking it either as a couple of American fans were as lost as we were....

Anyway, that aside the venue is your usual smallish venue holding about 800 at full capacity I believe. The walls were all black an it was pretty rough round the edges in my opinion but par for the course I guess

Merchandise

Great to see a band who understand the needs of fans to spend money at gigs! This was the best merchandise stall I have seen at a gig for a good while

There was the usual fare; tee-shirts, bags etc but more interestingly (for me) there was a good selection of CD's and interesting memorabilia

My haul consisted of the "Sparks Guide Book" a really nice quality book, CD & poster set, the Ltd. Edition CD & poster version of the new album "Exotic creatures of the deep" and a tour programme - not cheap at £40 for the lot but all the items were great quality and I always like getting something as a memento from a gig

Support Act: Gamine

This shouldn't take long.........We missed them..... Completely! First time I can remember ever missing a support act, good or bad but my state of ill health meant I left it as late as possible to get to the gig. A shame really as they sounded quite unusual from what I'd heard on their MySpace page

Setting the scene

I haven't quite finished writing my own 'History of Electronic music' yet, but sure enough there's a section on how great the Sparks are and just how influential this particular album was for me - the puzzle will be complete when I open that part of this website!

In summary though, it remains "SUCH" a powerful and long lasting memory for me hearing "No.1 Song in Heaven" back in the late 70's - it just blew me away and it still has the same effect now. It's one of my all time favourite records - it's so uplifting, melodic and powerful yet knocks you over the head with the shear throbbing power of that electronic Synth bassline - genius

When I saw the announcement that they were going to play it live I nearly fell off my seat! I had booked tickets within minutes and emailed the guys instantly to say how pleased I was and although brief I did actually get a reply! Cheers for that Ron and Russ :-)

As the date got nearer my excitement reached fever pitch, so much so in fact it reached simply 'fever' - doh. We were due to get the train down to London the next day but I was struck down with a bug so was sick as a dog - brilliant :-(

The rest is on a need to know basis! but essentially after 'dying' in my hotel room for the day I finally dragged my sorry carcass to the gig

I had to leave it as late as I could so I knew I was going to get a lousy spot as it was standing only but I was unsure as to how full the venue would be. Answer? PACKED! to the rafters - couldn't believe it, we were almost right at the back with about 30 minutes to go

By the time the gig had started we had managed to get a bit nearer but still a pretty 'average' viewpoint. Coupled with the fact that for some reason the audience at the venue that night seemed to mainly comprise of people 6Ft tall or more! I didn't realise the Harlem globe trotters were such big Sparks fans....

Anyway, I felt too rough to care so just stood patiently waiting for the big moment....

No.1 Gig!

Having briefly caught some of the previous nights gig online, I had a pretty good idea that they would start on time - 9pm. Sure enough, not long afterwards, with the drummer and additional vocalists in place, Ron appeared on stage to a rapturous chant of "Ron, Ron, Ron, Ron"

I couldn't believe it - he looked exactly the same as he did in 1979!!! As the familiar sounds of the beginning of the album kicked in, Russ bounced on stage full of energy and the crowd went wild - this was going to be a seriously feel-good gig!

I was in 7th Heaven (or maybe 1st...) I just couldn't believe my luck getting to see this - it was uplifting and nostalgic at the same time. I was transported back in time to my parents house, listening to the singles from the album on a basic mono radio - nearly 3 decades ago

As for the age old dilemma - should it be a blueprint of the original album or totally remixed? Well I think they got the balance 100% right

To me, the tracks sounded the same enough to be 'almost' identical to the original but subtly tweaked enough to offer something new. I think the main differences where the drum beats - they were 'really' powerful and sounded more commanding than the original but it could just be hearing it live and loud that gives that impression

What really impressed me was how 'original' sounding the Analog Synths voices were. With no evidence of a stack of Moogs anywhere I am assuming it was some seriously high quality vintage emulation going on but the quality was spot on.

Russ eluded to the fact anyway as he said that only with more recent advances in technology making things more portable was this gig possible

In comparison, I would have to say that on the recent Human League - 'DARE' tour, there were a number of patches which jumped out at me as obviously 'not' original sounds from the album or even emulations. I know that album 'note for note' and they sounded 'too' new - not so here. Everything sounded in keeping with the original music so good effort Ron

Throughout the gig I thought the sound quality was good, if not great and it seemed to get better as the gig went on though I think a lot depends on where you are standing or sitting at a venue

Russ's voice must be taking a battering having so many gigs on the trot and lets be honest the vocal range he covers is pretty extreme. After the initial slightly harsh opening seconds of Tryouts I think his voiced warmed up and from then on it was perfect - no mean feat being able to sing so many songs so well after so many years

The atmosphere was so good, it was like a 70's disco - Sparks style! As they ploughed through the album, the crowd got livelier as they were probably all in anticipation of the finale...

Although a short album, it manages to pack in all my favourite types of sounds, 'voiceless choirs', 'vocoders' and bouncy rhythmic Synth bass lines

The disco inspired feel flows though most of the album with "Beat the Clock" getting the biggest response so far - it rocked with a great beat and good accompanying visuals.

It's only when you get to "My other Voice" when the pace changes drastically. It's like a quirky melodic spacey out take from the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy! - really unusual but it works

The Big One

It's all good but I'd be amazed if there was anyone there who wasn't waiting on tenterhooks for the big finale....

Before it had even started, I heard people doing impersonations of "Disco toms"! "The Number One Song in Heaven" built and built and the crowd loved it...

I'd waited a long time for this, I felt like death, we'd been standing for almost 2 hours, it was roasting hot and I was surrounded by people almost a foot taller than me so it meant stretching and straining to get a reasonable view

When it got to 'that' final drum roll signifying the last part of the song it just didn't matter - the atmosphere was electric!! the crown went nuts - it was like a religious experience

Swathed in multi coloured lights, the backdrop of Ron on keys and Russ charging round the stage also reminded me of seeing them on "Top of the Pops"!

I didn't want it to end but before I knew it the aura had subsided and a sea of clapping waving hands spread out in front of me

I don't know if they have had, or will have a crowd response like that at any of their other gigs but it was just something else - I am so lucky to have made it

Encores

This wasn't a greatest hits tour so sticking to the plan of one album a night there was never going to be hours and hours of material. True to form we only got one track as encore but they chose it specially as it was written around the same time as the album. It was called "Dancing is Dangerous". I certainly don't remember hearing it before but it was a good track in a similar disco style

The gig drew to an end at about 10pm, so only an hour in total. If I hadn't researched the tour format a bit I would have been disappointed but as the idea is to do an 'album a night' in the original format it was ok

Techno Talk