The final night of CMJ ended with a history lesson as New Wave pioneer Gary Numan appeared at the Best Buy Theater in New York City’s Times Square on Sunday. Showcasing a career that spans four decades, the singer thrilled the sold-out crowd for over 90 minutes with his haunting, atmospheric synth-pop and blistering industrial rock.

Numan’s stop in New York to promote “The Pleasure Principle Tour 2010” marks the 30^th anniversary and re-issue of his groundbreaking album, which he is performing in its’ entirety. Written when he was a mere 21 years old, The Pleasure Principle debuted in 1979 but only charted Stateside a year later. Propelled by the monumental single, “Cars”, the album was a watershed as disco yielded to new wave and power pop. Though he would never again chart in the U.S., Numan had a profound impact on music influencing bands from The Eurythmics to Marilyn Manson to Ladytron.

Impacted by the Cold War and dystopian science fiction, Numan’s opus is filled with themes of alienation and loneliness. Machines and androids confront human issues of longing and despair. Sonically inspired by electronic art rock of Kraftwerk; the experimental Berlin work of Brian Eno and David Bowie; and the phenomenal meretricious disco of Giorgio Moroder, the unique sound of The Pleasure Principle was forged with synthesizers. Nuanced with cold robotic vocals, the aloof mechanical sentiment complimented the fear and desperation prevalent in the era of mutually assured destruction.

Photo by Jason Persse

Absent a Cold War, economic devastation fuels alienation, yet the lasting appeal of The Pleasure Principle can be found within its sublime beauty: artfully crafted and danceable, the songs are filled with contagious hooks. It has been covered and sampled by artists as disparate as Basement Jaxx and the Sugarbabes to Fear Factory and Armand Van Helden. Not just a relic of by-gone days, it is the Holy Grail of darkwave and industrial music, notably championed by Trent Reznor.

This widespread allure was reflected in the crowd as hip dads and Goths mingled alongside one another Sunday night. Numan appeared to cheers and did not speak as he moved from the darkness into the spotlight. A bass player (Tim Muddiman) to his left and guitarist/keyboardist Steve Harris to his right – and flanked by a drummer (Richard Beasley) and two more keyboardists (Ade Fenton and David Brooks) – Gary Numan smiled bashfully as he approached his own synthesizer. The stage was set solely with instruments and colored with lights as Numan led his group into the eerie “Random” which segued into “Airplane”, the instrumental opener on The Pleasure Principle.

Photo by Jason Persse

Clad in black goth boots, black jeans and shirt, Numan looked more like an industrial club kid than the alien android who beguiled the imagination 30 years ago. Numan addressed the theater briefly, expressing his concern about his voice. He was forced to cancel his Atlanta concert because of a malingering cold, and promised to do his best to hit all the notes. It hardly seemed worth mentioning, however, as he remained strong all night long.

Not content to stand idly in front of his instrument, Numan took every opportunity to move and thrash about; though for the duration of the performance of The Pleasure Principle he seemed content to let the music wash over the crowd. And they soaked it up, bouncing and singing along to songs like “Films” and “M.E.”. As the album is only 41 minutes in length, it was a short time to the highly anticipated performance of the ubiquitous “Cars” and Numan did not disappoint. The Pleasure Principle concludes with “Engineers” and in spite of the poignant darkness of the lyrics (“All that we know/Is hate and machinery”) the crowd cheered wildly as Numan gracefully expressed his gratitude with a beaming nod.

Arguably the most visual proponent of the Moog Polymoog synthesizer during his celebrated heyday, Numan favors the Access Virus TI but still conjured the magic of the analog sound of the late 70s. The performance of the album completed, Numan dispatched his keyboard in favor of a guitar to perform songs from the later period of his career. Songs like “The Fall” and “Pure” are notable for having an industrial sound, (which Numan has acknowledged was influenced by Trent Reznor); and they sounded like it.

Photo by Jason Persse

But while Numan is clearly not content to rest on his laurels he favored the audience with “Down In The Park” and “Are Friends Electric?” from his Tubeway Army days. The addition of a heavy guitar boosted the strength of the songs and galvanized the crowd into an arena-like display of enthusiasm. Numan returned for an encore of “I Die; You Die” and the mesmerizing “Prayer For The Unborn” (from 2000’s Pure).

Sadly, there was no performance of “On Broadway” which seemed a lock considering that he was actually playing in a theater on Broadway.

For casual fans this tour is something of an 80s pilgrimage and understandably so; but Numan was a very young man when he recorded his most famous work. At 52, he still seems remarkably young (by way of comparison, Trent Reznor is 45); and as he demonstrated Sunday night, Gary Numan remains as relevant and vital as he was 30 years ago.

Photography by Jason Persse.

Setlist:
The Pleasure Principle:
Random
Airlane
Metal
Complex
Films
M.E.
Tracks
Observer
Conversation
Cars
Engineers
—
The Fall
Pure
Down in the Park
Haunted
Halo
BLEED
Are Friends Electric?
Encore:
I Die You Die
Prayer For The Unborn