LEVEL 42 + THE CHRISTIANS – BRIGHTON DOME 24.10.23
First off, I’m putting a hand up here on the question of ‘declaration of interests’ – because Level 42 were basically our High School band.
OK, when I attended Cowes High School, Mark was already long gone (booted out for wearing jeans it seems). He was 11 years older than me, and by the time I was in the sixth form he was already strutting around the world on stages with Queen and Madonna.
But his younger brother Nathan (now guitarist in the band) was a year below me, and I still natter with him on Facebook from time to time.
The Isle of Wight was a bit of a musical wasteland in terms of live action from what I remember.
But my friends and I were into an eclectic mix of stuff; and the common room stereo would reverberate with anything from John Denver’s ‘Leaving On A Jet Plane’ (played from the album at 45rpm as a running gag) to the latest offering by The Jam – and anything in between and around the edges.
And when we did venture into local pubs, nervously ordering our first underage pints of bitter and lager, it was always common practice to whack a bit of Level 42 on the jukebox and thumb-slap along on the side of our glasses to those funky bass lines being knocked out by our second-most-famous alumnus.
(Cliff Mitchelmore, for those who don’t recall, was obviously the number one).
Now, fast forward over 35 years, and here I am sitting at the back of Brighton Dome with a (legal) pint in my hand, and my thumb can’t resist the urge to mime along to Mark’s legendary bass style as I luxuriate in the warm memories of teenage years and reflect on the fact that ‘they don’t make them like they used to…’
Of course, by the time Level 42 have hit the stage I’ve already concluded that the old ones are the gold ones, because The Christians’ short opening support set reminds me why their eponymous LP (£5.99 new in Virgin records as a chart release…) still sits close to the front of my playlist crate.
That Island Records gatefold sleeve with all the lyrics in the middle provides four tracks of tonight’s seven-song set. And as Garry Christian chatters almost nervously between songs from beneath the deep shadows of his flat cap I can’t help but think that here is a band whose chart successes back in the late 80s need to be more widely celebrated.
The Christians were an album-band though, with their first two long releases hitting number two and number one in the charts respectively (and even the ‘difficult third’ reaching 18 in the hit parade). Their singles still echo down the years, however, their chart positions were mainly teens, twenties and thirties.
But, to the live set tonight…
‘Born Again’ opens proceedings and comes across as both understated and almost apologetic. But at the same time it’s a tour de force pop standard and feels like a trip-hop sampler before the genre was ever invented.
The sign of a confident band for me is one that’s always happy to drop a few covers into even the briefest of sets – because they know they can make those songs their own.
For The Christians the choices are ‘Inner City Blues’ by Marvin Gaye, and ‘The Isley Brothers’ ‘Harvest For The World’. Both come across as if they were written yesterday and recorded in a single perfect take.
