A hectic 7-gig month of May
concludes with another Brizzle trip, this time to the Trinity for some
synth-pop, courtesy of Blancmange! The bouncy 80’s synth duo, whom I’d come
across in my very early Level 3 days (actually, probably Solitaire
days…) thanks to the immense 12” remix (when such things existed) of their
jagged rhythmic “Feel Me”, were then responsible for one of the best debut
albums of said genre in 1982’s “Happy Families”, popping out positively
bursting with catchy hooks and a bona fide smash in the ubiquitous and
Eastern-flavoured “Living On The Ceiling”. As a regular chart bothering act, it
probably wasn’t that cool to admit to liking them back then, but who gives a
shit now? I certainly don’t, and despite the duo now being a one-o of singer Neil
Arthur, one of many excellent baritones back then (rubbing metaphorical tonsils
with the likes of Gregory and Oakey), I was still up to catch them on this
tour, in support of a new “Best Of” career retrospective in “Everything Is
Connected”.
After the time-honoured M4 run, I tried street parking near the Exchange rather than the usual Cabot Circus car park for the Trinity; equidistant, and free! Ran into IDestroy frontperson Bec on my way for a brief chat, hitting the quiet early doors venue at 7.30. After some gig history chat with a couple of punters, 8.00 soon rolled around as Neil Arthur led support The Remainder onstage… wait, what?? It became evident that Blancmange were supporting themselves, albeit in this fairly new guise (“it’s only the 8th performance we’ve ever done [as The Remainder] – I’m shitting myself!” admitted Arthur), clearly an outlet for a slightly different set of numbers to Blancmange’s usual bright, poppy and upbeat canon. Good way to ensure a receptive crowd, though, supporting yourselves…! Opener “Broken Manhole Cover” set the tone, lyrically dour and bleak, and delving into the moody, understated realms of Young Marble Giants-esque minimalist bedsit avant pop. As if The National were an 80’s synth band, a point underlined by Arthur’s strident baritone and vaguely befuddled professorial look. “Evensong”, their 2023 album title track, almost felt like a companion piece to Ohio’s finest’s “Graceless”, albeit with a Kraftwerkian synth refrain, and after Arthur deadpanned, “this is our last one; we’ll nip off and try to find Blancmange!” closer “Dead Farmer’s Field” was a suitably morose, if slightly faster, number to round off an intriguing opening set.
I kept my spot 2 or 3 rows back, house left, in this convivial and knowledgeable, if a little sparse (probably only ½ to 2/3rds full tonight) crowd, for Blancmange’s entrance, just after 9. Same 3-piece then, Arthur taking the stage last, smart in dark grey suit and gesturing for the front rows to put their phones down and watch with their eyes. Nice! “World Out Of Time” was a smooth opener, Arthur wryly announcing at its’ conclusion, “fancy seeing you here!”, then prowling the stage to take in his surroundings during the funky “High Voltage”, which featured some pointed political comment in “we need a brand new model – this one won’t do”. Damn right we do! Oldie “I’ve Seen The Word” was a lovely and timeless wallow, eliciting a lengthy ovation and moving Arthur to comment, “I need some of what you’re taking!” before the excellent staccato rhythm of “Feel Me” got me throwing some shapes, Arthur then commenting, “nice vogueing!”
After that, I’m afraid for me the set
was notably uneven, the newer numbers (drawn from the, “120 albums since [the
reunion in] 2011”) of markedly less quality than the oldies (even more so than
last time out in 2022, gig 1,252), often seeming like rewrites of “Feel Me” and
“Ceiling”, and at worse throwaway (“Purge Yourself” being particularly grating
and hard work). Don’t get me wrong, I still thoroughly enjoyed myself, and kind
of expected an uneven set going in; also, throughout it all Arthur was on splendid
form, his excellent strident baritone a feature, and he also came across as a
really genuine bloke, often taken aback by some lengthy ovations, and bowing
low after most numbers. I just came to the conclusion that, again for me, The Remainder’s
more dour and moody output was more interesting than Blancmange’s recent stuff…
Hooray for the oldies, then! “Waves” was brilliant, sweeping and widescreen; “Living On The Ceiling” was inevitably party central, Arthur conducting the crowd in the singalong, and, after he’d thanked all and sundry, set closer “Blind Vision” was descending, dark and devilishly dense. After a couple of encores of the angular “Gods Kitchen” (“first time this tour!”) and the jolly fairground call and response of “Don’t Tell Me”, he left us with his earlier message of being kind to ourselves and each other ringing in our ears. A quick run home saw me back for 11.30 after a variable (as expected) yet still worthwhile evening!
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