First viewed : 5 September 1981
One of the big musical stories of 1981 was Gary Numan's decision to retire from performing live, a bare two years after his commercial breakthrough with Are Friends Electric ? He
marked the occasion with a string of sell-out concerts at Wembley Arena in 1981. The Beeb decided to show edited highlights of one of them on a Sunday afternoon in September.
For casual viewers, the condensation of a two hour concert into 40 minutes was probably a good thing as Gary's sludgy mix of Kraftwerk and punk with his reedy drone over the top can get a bit samey in large doses. The BBC version concentrated on the hits and the guest star spots from New Romantic dance troupe Shock ( one of whom appeared to be topless ) and mad Canadian violinist Nash The Slash. The still-impressive light show and perfect sound compensated for Gary's lack of banter and limited range of stage moves.
Gary was banking on still selling enough albums to fund his aeronautical adventures but the "Dance" album released the day before this was broadcast, heralded a sharp contraction in his popularity. The following year he played 18 dates in the US to promote the "I Assassin" album and in autumn 1983 played a 40 date tour in the UK to support "Warriors".
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