ABC

The sixth gig on our A to Z musical adventure was ……

ABC at The Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow.

A vinyl blast from the past….Live

For background, the album entered the UK Albums Chart at number 1 and remained on the charts for 50 weeks. It was the fourth biggest selling album in the UK in 1982. The top ten selling albums that year were as follows.

1        Barbra Streisand, Memories

2        Kids From Fame, The Kids From Fame (Soundtrack)

3        Madness, Complete Madness

4        ABC, Lexicon Of Love

5        Duran Duran, Rio

6        Dire Straits, Love Over Gold

7        Haircut 100 ,Pelican West

8        Human League, Dare

9        Roxy Music, Avalon

10      John Lennon, The John Lennon Collection

Apart from the first two on the list here, I’d quite happily listen to these albums again, a couple of them are genuinely timeless, in my humble opinion!

And so to the gig

The gig itself was in two parts, the first a set of hits and favourite ABC songs from their other recorded output. The second half of the show, and what drew the audience on the night, was the entire The Lexicon of Love album from side 1 track 1, to side 2 track 5 in all its glory.

For those who know the album well, Trevor Horn produced it and helped set them apart from their peers with a unique sound, helped by Anne Dudley’s fantastic orchestral arrangement, which was again on show tonight with Anne conducting.

Every track held a memory or three for most of the audience, as we all relived our younger selves from that period. The tracks, the hit singles as well as the other songs that led the album to become a classic pop icon.

If only I could sing myself I might have belted out the songs, along with the rest of the audience, but that would have been a crime against music.

Fortunately, Martin Fry, has lost none, or at least it sounded like that to me, of his vocal range and every song was belted out just as he would have done in the 80s at the height of ABCs popularity.

I realise there is a huge revival of bands and solo artists from the past going on extended tours across the world to tap into the huge market that awaits them.

Most of the audiences, I suspect, are not there to hear the acts most recent recordings, which may show a progression or even different path from what made then so popular in the first instance, but to hear the hits, the throwbacks to when the audience was dancing in the discos, clubs and bedrooms to the sound of their youth.

Is that a bad thing? On the evidence of ABC’s gig last night, Martin Fry, along with the rest of ABC, a full orchestra and a lovely venue, have many fruitful years ahead of them.

I just wish I was Smokey!

Found these two audience recordings on YouTube capturing the tour shows. I doubt I’d ever be brave enough to post a video like this with me singing in the background, even for a laugh!! ;-)

About the venue