BLANCMANGE + THE REMAINDER – THE OLD MARKET, HOVE 2.6.24
Cherished British electronic band Blancmange are here at The Old Market in Hove on the penultimate date of their first ever ‘Best Of’ Tour, which is celebrating 45 years since they first formed back in 1979. Having already thrilled crowds in Newcastle, Glasgow, Birmingham, Nottingham, Leeds, Manchester, Colchester, Bristol and London, it was now turn to enjoy their delicate mix of synthesizers and surrealism, which over the years has created groundbreaking singles such as ‘Feel Me’, ‘Living On The Ceiling’, ‘Blind Vision’ and ‘Don’t Tell Me’. In their post-punk early days, Blancmange made tape loops and experimental sounds with kitchen utensils, before developing into one of the definitive chart-topping British electronic pop acts. Since reforming in 2011, Neil Arthur has harnessed a duality of experimentation and seamless pop melodies to release a staggering 12 albums in the last decade.
Blancmange are however arguably an underrated synthpop act and yet truly loved by those that are in the know, which includes the likes of Moby who has gone on record in stating that he has been “Listening to Blancmange obsessively. Probably the most under-rated electronic act of all time”, and John Grant has said “I have loved Blancmange for four decades”, as has yours truly, who even managed to snap up ticket number 001 for their 15th July 1982 concert at Xtreems (The New Regent), which used to stand almost opposite the PRYZM nightclub in Brighton. I had the honour that night of talking with the then duo which also featured Stephen Luscombe who after suffering from an abdominal aortic aneurysm was forced to leave the band. You must take into account that the Blancmange duo were having hits two years before the similar Pet Shop Boys and were only a few months behind Soft Cell.
We hot-footed it across to Hove having been based at the annual ‘Glastonwick’ festival near Steyning since midday where we had witnessed all kinds of antics and musical styles going down, but Blancmange (and their support act) were our first synthesizer acts of the day. They were to give us no less than 19 tracks tonight which ran from 9:11pm until 10:46pm.
The house lights went down and the intro tape of ‘Vishnu’ from their 1983 ‘That’s Love, That It Is’ single blasted out of the soundsystem as the trio of players took to the expansive stage of this iconic venue. These players being Blancmange founder member Neil Arthur on vocals, plus Finlay Shakespeare on synthesizers plus backing vocals, and Liam Hutton on electronic drums and synthesizers. They open with recent single ‘Again, I Wait For The World’ which is also found on the career spanning ‘Everything Is Connected’ double CD release which dropped on 10th May. This crisp clear song benefits from decent Numan-esque keys from Finlay and equally as good electronic drumpad action from Liam, this was a fab start!
‘Reduced Voltage’ which is found on 2022’s ‘Private View’ album was selection two and this being slower in pace than its predecessor. First first of a handful of tracks from the absolutely brilliant ‘Happy Families’ album from 1982 came next in the form of ‘I’ve Seen The Word’ which I’m saddened to report suffered from some iffy synth key choices from Finlay, it was well off to be honest, which is a shame, but he and his two chums redeemed themselves by delivering a fabulous version of ‘Feel Me’ (from the same album), which Neil pointed out that we can have a dance to! After this Neil sneaks a look at a piece of paper in his pocket and comically says “baked beans” etc as if it’s a shopping list, but then comes clean that it’s actually his setlist. Another cracking swirling synth tune follows, this being the title track from 2020’s ‘Mindset’ album, after which Neil informs us that the next number they are going to play is from the ‘Blanc Burn’ album and this was ‘The Western’. The classic ‘God’s Kitchen’ (from ‘Happy Families’) came next and it’s here that I noted that Liam was playing the electronic drums via an electronic foot pedal which looked rather novel, there was also, I would assume, a laptop in operation, but I couldn’t quite see the screen from my position at the front by Finlay.
Like the finest wines, some tunes mature with age and get even better as time goes on. One of these examples is surely ‘Game Above My Head’ from 1984’s ‘Mange Tout’ album, which sounds even better these days than when it came out, which was firstly as the b-side of ‘Waves’ in 1983, which incidentally is still my favourite Blancmange tune. Another offering from ‘Blanc Burn’ came next, this being a bangin’ dance rendition of ‘Drive Me’ which was one of the set highlights for me. The top quality remained with the arrival of another banger and set highlight of 2016’s ‘Last Night (I Dreamt I Had A Job’ which can be located on the ‘Commuter 23’ album. Things were going so well and then the opening notes of my fave ‘Waves’ sounded throughout the venue and whilst Liam was bang on with the drumming, unfortunately Finlay wasn’t at it for this number and the notes were annoyingly off again which I found rather upsetting with it being my fave Blancmange tune and all that! Thankfully joy was restored with tonight’s only offering from 2018’s ‘Wanderlust’ album in the form of the bouncing uplifting beats of ‘Distant Storm’, which was yet another set highlight!
After 2022’s ‘Some Times These’ (from the ‘Private View’ album) we had for me the weakest tune of the whole set in the form of ‘We Are The Chemicals’ which is found on ‘Unfurnished Rooms’ from 2017. For this slower long introed track, Neil (who had been working his way through two bottles of waters) briefly left the stage to grab a well-earned pint of beer which he brought back on stage and consumed across the next few tracks. Clearly there’s an important message on this number, but there are (for me) many other better choices of songs that could have been selected. But as Neil said to the chap next to me “We don’t do requests, it’s not gonna happen!”. The amusing and thought provoking lyrics of ‘What’s The Time?’ (from ‘Unfurnished Rooms’) was the trio’s next selection. This opens with “What’s the best dog you’ve ever had?; The best child you ever bore?; The worst crash you ever saw?; The worst famine you endured?”.
It was now time for arguably Blancmange’s most famous song ‘Living On The Ceiling’ (from ‘Happy Families’) which obviously went down well on account of Neil encouraging the fans to sing the “la la la” chorus parts. After this they gave us the final number from the main set, this was ‘Blind Vision’ which was the first of a trio of tracks from 1984’s ‘Mange Tout’ album. The others being encore tracks ABBA’s ‘The Day Before You Came’ which was a stripped back version with just Neil and Finlay, and finally a great version of ‘Don’t Tell Me’. I know fans love the ABBA cover but along with ‘We Are The Chemicals’ it was the weakest tune for yours truly, who knows he is in a small minority here! I would have really loved to hear a couple more cuts from their debut ‘Happy Families’ album, in particular ‘Kind’ (which is an absolute blinder by the way) and also ‘Sad Day’.
And there you have it, yet another Blancmange concert attended and enjoyed. May it long continue to be so! Thanks lads x
Blancmange:
Neil Arthur – vocals
Finlay Shakespeare – synthesisers, backing vocals
Liam Hutton – drums, synthesisers
Blancmange setlist:
(Intro tape) ‘Vishnu’ (from 1983 ‘That’s Love, That It Is’ single)
‘Again, I Wait For The World’ (a 2024 single)
‘Reduced Voltage’ (from 2022 ‘Private View’ album)
‘I’ve Seen The Word’ (from 1982 ‘Happy Families’ album)
‘Feel Me’ (from 1982 ‘Happy Families’ album)
‘Mindset’ (from 2020 ‘Mindset’ album)
‘The Western’ (from 2011 ‘Blanc Burn’ album)
‘God’s Kitchen’ (from 1982 ‘Happy Families’ album)
‘Game Above My Head’ (from 1984 ‘Mange Tout’ album)
‘Drive Me’ (from 2011 ‘Blanc Burn’ album)
‘Last Night (I Dreamt I Had A Job’ (from 2016 ‘Commuter 23’ album)
‘Waves’ (from 1982 ‘Happy Families’ album)
‘Distant Storm’ (from 2018 ‘Wanderlust’ album)
‘Some Times These’ (from 2022 ‘Private View’ album)
‘We Are The Chemicals’ (from 2017 ‘Unfurnished Rooms’ album)
‘What’s The Time?’ (from 2017 ‘Unfurnished Rooms’ album)
‘Living On The Ceiling’ (from 1982 ‘Happy Families’ album)
‘Blind Vision’ (from 1984 ‘Mange Tout’ album)
(encore)
‘The Day Before You Came’ (ABBA cover) (from 1984 ‘Mange Tout’ album)
‘Don’t Tell Me’ (from 1984 ‘Mange Tout’ album
Support for the tour comes from The Remainder who just so happen to be the exact same trio that were on stage as Blancmange this evening. Last year they dropped their only release, an album by the title of ‘Evensong’ and tonight they performed six of the nine actual tunes from the release as their half hour slot which ran from 8:04pm to 8:34pm. In fact there are 17 parts to the album, with the remainder (see what I did there?) coming courtesy of Liam’s mum Jo Hutton (who is a recording engineer and composer/sound designer of experimental music and sound art) who has supplied interludes between each actual song. One could therefore argue that Jo is the secret fourth member of the outfit. But tonight at The Old Market it’s just the trio of lads, who are all sporting The Remainder t-shirts and Neil is wearing a pair of specs that he wasn’t wearing during the Blancmange set. This being on account of him having to read off some of the lyrics on the six sheets of paper that he holds in his hand.
Musically the compositions sound exactly like Blancmange tunes and so you could state that this was a bonus set. They even used the exact same equipment which included a Nord G2X keyboard plus other electronics, and electronic drums and so on. They opened with ‘Broken Manhole Cover’ and ‘Hoarfrost’, but on selection three, ‘Forgotten’, Neil’s vocals are delivered with much more gusto and there’s a more depth in the sound. Neil informs us at this point that it is only The Remainders tenth concert, with this being the tenth date of their eleven date tour. My choice of the half dozen tunes falls to the next number and album title track, ‘Evensong’, which begins with some decent electronic drumming from Liam which could have easily appeared on The Human League’s classic ‘Dare’ album, along with some fab Kraftwerk ‘Neon Lights’ style keys from Finlay.
At this point in proceedings, Neil had a nostalgia moment and recalled that he used to come down to Brighton (and Hove) on many occasions back in the early days of Blancmange on the account of his girlfriend Helen studying at The Art College in Brighton and that he had written the five minute Blancmange track ‘All Things Are Nice’ (which eventually turned up on the 1984 ‘Mange Tout’ album and as the b-side of their ABBA ‘The Day Before You Came’ cover) here in Brighton after listening to people over a period of five minutes and he wrote down their statements as the lines for the song.
The final two numbers were the slower chugging ‘Awake’, followed by the Thomas Dolby-esque buzzy ‘Dead Farmer’s Field’. Suffice to say that this taster set went down well with the fans in the room and was arguably better than having some random support act.
The Remainder:
Neil Arthur – vocals
Finlay Shakespeare – synthesisers, backing vocals
Liam Hutton – drums, synthesisers
The Remainder setlist:
‘Broken Manhole Cover’ (from 2023 ‘Evensong’ album)
‘Hoarfrost’ (from 2023 ‘Evensong’ album)
‘Forgotten’ (from 2023 ‘Evensong’ album)
‘Evensong’ (from 2023 ‘Evensong’ album)
‘Awake’ (from 2023 ‘Evensong’ album)
‘Dead Farmer’s Field’ (from 2023 ‘Evensong’ album)
theremaindermusic.bandcamp.com
