Pete Middleton
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Pete Middleton
Man are one of the few bands to have earned the right to still be rocking some 40 years after their inception. For having overcome just about every possible adversity that could potentially afflict its core members, the ship sales on with a quite delightful balance between old and new. For tonight Man go back to their 1968 roots and unashamedly make pit stops at career gems spanning four decades, while the really great thing is that the newer highlights such as ‘Diamonds & Coal’, ‘Man of Misery’ and ‘All Alone’ sound like they came from the band’s heyday of 74, albeit with a contemporary twist. And that twist comes in the shape of the younger Jones – Micky’s son George – all curly black hair, angular notes and angelic voice, and Josh Ace (Martin Junior) he of studied expression, steely curling notes and impenetrable gaze. In fact after this performance let us put to rest the explanatory footnotes attached to the younger members, as they now form an integral part of the Man band 2008!
Pete Middleton
And this anniversary show proves to be a very special night in spite of Martin deadpan statement to the effect that ‘tonight its just like any other gig, we’ll just carry one’. For one thing Wales have just cleared the board in rugby, and the Welsh flag has been unfurled twice during the course of a very long set, while keyboard player Phil Ryan is back in the set and clearly enjoying himself. And it is the balance between old and new that has transformed the band into the best live proposition for years.
It all takes off at the beginning with ‘Sudden Life’, complete with its timeless gnawing riff, three part harmonies and thudding bass, and continues at various points through several reawakened classics including ‘Love Your Life’, a reappraised ‘Romain’ and ultimately a brilliant closing brace of ‘Bananas and Spunk Rock’;
In between all of that Phil dusts down the languid but very compelling ‘Something is Happening’ from ‘The Welsh Connection’, and Martin resurrected ‘Victim of Love’ from ‘Endangered Species’ CD. The latter worked surprisingly well with some imposing organ lines and sledgehammer riffs neatly offset by George superbly emulating his dad’s angular solo.
Anne Pioton
Man have always been about following their creative spark, jamming whenever possible and extemporising on a riff and tonight it all came together like a big tidal wave. By the end the very excited international crowd (including Germans, Russians, Welsh!) went mad. The mighty Man band had teetered on the brink of greatness and the 40 years of history seemed like a log book of all that is good in west coast Rock, Welsh style!!
Pete Feenstra