Blancmange

Despite only scraping into the Top 30, Blancmange’s debut album has influenced numerous synth bands since its release 31 years ago. They’ve re-recorded the whole thing and after a selection of well-chosen lesser-known old and new songs they performed the updated album. With Stephen Luscombe still unable to tour, vocalist Neil Arthur made for a playfully entertaining host and his rich Lancashire baritone sang proud over the heavy, guitar-led, dark-but-dancey synth pop. ‘God’s Kitchen’ and the Indian-flavoured ‘Living On The Ceiling’ were among many highlights and the enthusiastic crowd were treated to a hard, hi-energy encore of ‘Blind Vision’.

Concorde 2, 10 November 2013
Rating:
Steve Clements