Who
Sparks
Support
Mister Goodnite
Where
Birmingham O2 Institute
When
24th September 2017
Price
£24.00
Who with
No-one
Position
In the middle
Comments
Gig number 199! And considering that I had half an eye on retirement from live music and am no longer actively trying to get into new material I have had a storming year, perhaps indicating that my natural love for music means I get drawn towards the good stuff regardless. Sparks are one of the acts I've got into quite recently after being mightily intrigued by their FFS collaboration with Franz Ferdinand. It just seemed like they were all having such fun and it drew attention to not only what a great tune This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us is, but the fact that the band were still a dynamic and exciting entity. It was long ago I remember SFA singing about the guy from the Sparks and Howard Marks, but this barely registered, and watching the This Town Top Of The Pops performance on YouTube - with Ron glaring at the camera throughout and Russell looking as much like a girl as his voice indicated - piqued my interest even more. As usual my time beforehand was busy, with my TV being dominated by Impossible Engineering, a fascinating series about the construction of notable engineering feats. This show was on a Sunday night and despite not rushing for it I don't recall tickets selling out, and I didn't waste time asking others along, although as I found out later others did enjoy the band, although I'm sure if they were that interested they could have come along independently! £24 for a ticket to see a legendary act on top of their game after 45 years seemed extraordinary, making me wonder why/how they can't profit as much as their less innovative peers treading the nostalgia market? Despite the Sunday transport there being dodgy, getting back wasn't an issue, and this was to be the Hippopotamus album tour taking in mainland Europe, then the UK before heading onto America for a few stops there.

I enjoyed my largest work night out with my new job yet on the Friday night, thereby missing out on swimming on the Friday evening and not being in a fit state to go on Saturday morning either. I was really enjoying having a fully-functioning iPod again, and had blasted through the Sparks hits I'd purchased enough times for the tunes to sink in, or perhaps they were just incredibly catchy! It was intriguing how history has them down as one-hit wonders as it is clear that this band have massive talent, although This Town represented the perfect distillation of what they do, and is a tune that can massively appeal to pop, rock and classical fans, with a real head banging element but genuinely great musicality. And certainly no-one can say it is boring, perhaps the one criticism I could understand is someone saying it is annoying! Also I'd recorded and had listened to a live set on 6Music with a particular focus on the Hippopotamus album, and I was pleased to be able to hear all these new tunes that weren't on their greatest hits but were likely to form part of their live show. On the Friday night beforehand I forgot to take my iPod so missed out on some revision time, also I was frustrated that my second new phone on the trot featured an arbitrarily different SIM card size, meaning I had to fuck around replacing it then transferring all my old SIM information over manually. Since they're so small anyway I can't see any benefit of SIM sizes getting progressively smaller, so all I can say is - twats! By now I'd finished the fabulous Wolves and Bear trails in Wolverhampton and Birmingham respectively, and couldn't resist a Scarecrow Festival in the nearby village of Pattingham, which featured around 150 of them scattered around the place. I was too hungover to go on the Saturday as planned so spent the day of the gig attending, ultimately being blown away by the scale and effort that had gone into the event, with even the church forming an integral part of the trail. It happens every two years and no doubt will be very different the next time, so I will be quite tempted to return. It felt like an encapsulation of small-minded and silly Brexit Britain, but simultaneously showing that there actually exists a genuinely positive and charming side to a little England mentality. The only downside was that a few scarecrows were missing due to vandal twats, who no doubt were some of the homegrown bellends who I would say are the real problem in this country!

I also was looking closely at a trip to Cuba after realising that hurricane/rainy season massively boxed in the dates I could do, so I settled on February 2018, which is when Raul Castro is due to step down, so is either the most wonderful or dangerously stupid time to be there. On the afternoon of the gig I endured a panicked scramble for the ticket and wondered if it would be my first gig ever I'd fail to attend due to my own incompetence, before finding it had just fallen down the back of the cupboard and was perfectly ok. I heard more Sparks music on the way in, enjoying a dry evening and the early stages of sunset upon departure, before disembarking at Birmingham to find it not only pitch black but in the midst of a tropical rain storm that had not been forecast! Luckily it was quite energising so I made the walk over to the Institute without any drama, although I did regret buying a train ticket as no-one ever checks it and if I split the fare it's much cheaper. I also read NME on the way in and had to fanny about changing trains, and upon arrival at the Institute I was searched as usual and made my way up the steps, pondering why all the bands I am interested in play the main room and if I'd ever get a chance to explore the smaller parts of the venue. I had the briefest of glances at the t-shirts and the cool Hippopotamus posters, before heading into the room and being shocked by how full it was less than 1 hour after doors had opened. I secured a reasonable position slightly further back and to the right of what I normally would, before getting out my old phone and catching up on my internet. I felt infuriated by a stroppy bitch in the balcony who had a prime seat but was resolutely having a miserable time and presumably would have felt more at home at a Boylife concert, and one of the downsides of being by myself is that the time before the live music is much duller, although this ceases to matter when the music starts. I felt lucky that I hadn't missed anything at all by my later arrival.

The support was Mister Goodnite, who was a very smartly dressed guy in a cream suit backed up by a record player, who started later than expected and sadly was so quiet that many people rudely talked throughout his set. His name - Goodnite - was lit up in letters on the amp behind him, and with no backdrop it was a very minimalist show. He was ok but a bit tough to pay full attention to, as it felt like karaoke really and I have no idea if all the material was his and if the record player is a necessary mechanism by which to deliver his music without a full band or impersonal laptop onstage. I neglected to shoot any videos but his crooning passed the time ok, at one point holding some red flowers and skipping the end of one song by simply lifting the needle off the vinyl to allow him to move onto something else. After Mister Goodnite finished was some completely anonymous DJing, ultimately covering quite a long wait until Sparks came onstage a little after 9pm. The guys came onstage member-by-member, with the biggest applause reserved of course for Ron and Russell but also warm wishes for the rest of the band too. I must say that the audience were generally fantastic, with no pushing or twattish behaviour, plus enthusiasm and positivity for the music. Basically the perfect balance between enjoyment and sensibleness! They opened strongly with What The Hell Is It This Time?, and it quickly became apparent that the 6Music set would be the model for what we'd be enjoying tonight, and my appreciation was greatly enhanced by my knowledge of the new material, and luckily as much of the old material was new material to me I could enjoy it all on its own merits, in fact making a strong case that the new stuff is for the most part as good as anything else that Sparks have ever done! There was no backdrop and quite a basic light show, with the band sporting a black and white striped dress scheme that made them look like a collective, with Ron wearing a smarter suit and tie version and Russell looking most casual in a white-focused sweatshirt, as you can see above. The band name was in simple letters on the drum kit, and for a band who have a dynamic you could say feels gimmicky it was intriguing that their live setup was as simple as it gets!

Of course with coming from California they couldn't resist their tendency to say Birmingham the American way, and it's extraordinary to think that Ron was one of the only people brave enough to continue wearing a Hitler moustache, although whether by age or choice he has now switched to a more minimalist tache, much as Russell has cut off much of his hair and no longer could be mistaken for a girl, although his voice certainly hasn't deepened! Wikipedia suggests that the other guys aren't official members of the band so I can't establish who has been playing with them the longest, although at the 6Music show they'd gave a shout-out to one of them for playing all 21 nights of their extraordinary run of 2008 shows where they'd played each of their albums night after night, finishing off with the debut of their 21st LP. This must have been pretty special if you were there, and I do wonder if all the b-sides were covered too? And here we were 9 years after this and the band seemed so fresh and exciting, with the audience being made up of old and young, but without any hint of the embarrassing oldies dancing that you get at nostalgic sit-down shows. The guys are either side of 70, but with such boundless energy that you would never guess it, with the extraordinary contrast between Russell's more typical enthusiasm and bounciness contrasting stunningly with his brother Ron's theatrically menacing glares. Also the music was absolutely jam-packed with false endings, changes of tempo, smart lyrics, and just so much good stuff that you would have to be musically retarded to dismiss Sparks altogether. It was good that the two biggest heads in the world in front of me buggered off after shamelessly making their way in and out of the crowd beforehand, but the sheer natural tunefulness of Sparks means there's not much to say about the newbies, with tunes like Good Morning sounding every bit as confident and polished as they'd sounded live on the radio.

I shot my first video during When Do I Get To Sing "My Way", featuring wonderful sound quality throughout the verse I captured, but far too many bobbing heads in the way. The utter cheekiness of Missionary Position put a smile on everyone's face, with my second video featuring a blurry close-up before switching to beautiful clarity. Similarly Hippopotamus is ludicrously good for a band in their 45th year, with a real energy, tune, and lyrics I'd not noticed before now jumping out at me, such as following an observation that a woman looked Chinese by a repeated plea "not that I'm prejudiced". And the song just completely shifts in the middle to something more beautiful, and made me really appreciate that these guys formed a perfect unison between the meticulously constructed world of classical music and the throwaway joys of pop, all done through the medium of great rock music. It's extraordinary that it took me around 19 years of intensive music loving before they first registered on my radar, although of course I've always loved This Town, as who wouldn't? I shot another video here but it got dark at the end as I forgot I was recording, although this did remind me that there was a second keyboardist, as perhaps Ron is so consumed in glaring at us that he can't possibly find time to play all the notes too! Dick Around - written in 2005 - was a highlight, with the changes in tempo being particularly striking, again combining real musical accomplishment with the silliest lyric imaginable. After Scandinavian Design was another one from the latest album - Edith Piaf (Said It Better Than Me) - which was a bit more serious but also ludicrously tuneful. They continued to show off their raw talent with My Baby's Taking Me Home, featuring the same phrase again and again but with hypnotic and varied repetition, and making us love it even more with a devious false ending. The video I shot here really hit the spot, with Russell clicking his fingers along to it and a good zoom-in on Ron. As I write this I'm listening to these tunes on YouTube, although I must say that the studio recordings aren't as good, as sadly they seem bogged down by over-production that ages badly, although I could yet warm to the studio versions given time!

Next up was their second biggest hit The Number One Song In Heaven, where I shot a video at the start featuring colourful lights, mass participation in hand claps, and Russell showing us the action of pointing to the air whenever he said "one"! And my camera re-emerged for perhaps the main pleasure of the evening, where Ron not only stands up and shuffles into the centre of the stage, but then suddenly bursts into life with an utterly demented dance during the instrumental break. We all love it and enthusiastically clap along with him, with Russell also enjoying his older brother's time to shine while briefly chilling out at the back! I find myself so drawn by enthusiasm that I stopped writing the above to watch them perform this on YouTube! And just when you think it can't get any better and that they can justify taking it down a notch for a bit, Sparks suddenly burst into that unmistakable introduction to This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us! I believe that there was a moment of shock from everyone that they were playing it relatively early, and I was surprised that the venue didn't erupt into a moshpit, although to be fair it felt nice, and I hope this was because the fans were laid back rather than were playing it too cool to embrace their biggest hit. Although in my experience music fans rarely play it cool if it's a massively popular song! Ron was mouthing the chorus menacingly throughout, and I shot a video near the start of everyone clapping to the introduction, before the lights kicked in and I stopped recording so I could punch the air like everyone else, before recording again for the ending, although people were blocking my view by this point. I am definitely starting to warm toward the idea of this tune being the definitive funeral song too! The main set finished with Hospitality On Parade, which is obscure to me, although after such a double hitter I doubt anything could have registered much of an impact if it wasn't another massive hit!

The band were introduced, and everyone onstage joined in a "we're not worthy" bow for Ron, before finishing the main set with a group bow. Ron and Russell then remained to have their photo taken with the crowd behind them for their Facebook account, following on from an earlier picture they'd posted featuring Ron hanging around a bus stop about town! There was little doubt that they'd be back, but any concerns over the crowd reaction were dispelled by the most intensive bout of foot-stomping I can recall, which started before they'd even physically left the stage and didn't subside until they were back. I hope that the floor was made of strong stuff, and if anyone was downstairs surely they'd had been wondering what all the noise was about? You do wonder how these venues with different rooms cope with different noisy bands playing, although as my ears didn't whistle I must say that this show felt sonically immaculate! The band returned onstage and moderately surprised me with a live performance of Johnny Delusional by FSS, doing a nice job of making up for my error in not seeing them live, although I'm not sure they even toured close to me anyway. On balance it was probably the best FFS song, and felt very naturally like a Sparks song anyway, although you could certainly see the similarities in the artiness and dynamic energy of Sparks and Franz Ferdinand. My mate told me afterwards that FFS had fallen out due to Franz Ferdinand wanting to hog the limelight, which is believable, but I may never know for sure. It does appear that This Town, Love Song, and unusually When Do I Get To Sing "My Way", were the main Sparks songs that the guys performed together, and to be fair they were largely focused on their collaboration album, although with liberal sprinklings of their finest legacy material - With Franz offering Take Me Out, Do You Want To and Michael - it does feel like I missed out, although this night helped to make up for this omission, and I would be back for more if any of Sparks, Franz or FFS got back on the road!

I shot my ninth video during Johnny D, capturing the blue lights and again perfect focus and sound. I felt like I was further away from the stage than I wanted to be, but my footage and enjoyment levels suggest otherwise! Next up was Amateur Hour, which is another big hit but for me the introduction is a bit too blaring, although of course I shot a final video of everyone clapping and yellow lights morphing into red, and who could argue with the show finishing with the defining hit we hadn't got to enjoy already? The band hung around the stage to thank us very sincerely and movingly, with Ron and Russell standing at the front to soak up the ovation, and a fantastic moment where Russell handed his brother the mic in a robotic and reverential fashion, revealing that Ron despite his terrifying image was a perfectly normal and articulate guy. He thanked us for our enthusiasm and stressed their belief in the quality of the new material, feeling vindication that this tour was going down better than previous tours, a sentiment I can agree with as the new stuff was clearly fantastic! The show finished at 10:30pm and this suited me perfectly as I didn't want to hang around too late, leaving plenty of time to slowly descend the stairs, and presumably the curfew was 11pm as normal and the band just chose to wrap it up earlier. I resisted going to the pub as I didn't want beer in my system before bedtime, sitting for a while at Wolves train station amid some Carling twats while waiting for my onward train. Apparently the service will improve now London Fucking Midland are being stripped of their franchise, and the idea of more regular services is just dandy as long as the late trains aren't scrapped!

I spent the time trying to draft this review but annoyingly my pen decided to run out, leaving me little alternative but to Facebook the details to myself, which was fortunate because I've yet to work out how to get my new phone to access Messages without being bullied into installing a shitty app, so I'd have been screwed if I didn't have my old phone on me! Looking at the setlist is absolutely fascinating, as the band had utterly ignored what I thought was their Greatest Hits album, which in fact I see was firmly focused on 1984 and prior. However, they'd very cleverly kept their three biggest hits in the set, leading to a perfect combination between a new and exciting setlist with appropriate service to the most critical nostalgic moments. I can imagine few except ardent fans who'd digested all the early material but closed their minds to the latest stuff would be disappointed! It was especially fortunate that I'd used the live set as my learning curve, as otherwise I would have been lost, although I suspect that the general catchiness of the tunes would have seen me through! A couple of weeks later at a beer festival I mentioned I'd been to see Sparks to find two friends had independently got into and deeply appreciated FFS too, and probably would have attended with me if I'd asked, but oh well! I'm tempted to give this a higher mark, but I note that I awarded the legendary Jean-Michel Jarre just 8/10, and I can hardly claim that Sparks were demonstrably better. But still, a fantastic show, and I will be very happy to watch them again if I get another chance, although I'd be surprised if they can do better. And this nicely brings me up to my 200th gig, a landmark it has taken me 20 years to achieve after The Good, The Bad & The Queen notched up my 100th in summer 2007, and Super Furry Animals had started me off in style back in 1997. My 200th will be The Rolling Stones in Paris, and could be a triumphant foreign adventure or an unnecessary repeat of a band who'd mostly done well but fucked me over with some b-sides last time around in 2013. Bring it on!
Setlist
What The Hell Is It This Time?
Propaganda
At Home, At Work, At Play
Good Morning
When Do I Get To Sing "My Way"
Probably Nothing
Missionary Position
Hippopotamus
Sherlock Holmes
Dick Around
Scandinavian Design
Edith Piaf (Said It Better Than Me)
Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth
I Wish You Were Fun
My Baby's Taking Me Home
The Number One Song In Heaven
This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both Of Us
Hospitality On Parade
Johnny Delusional
Amateur Hour

Mark: 8.0/10