There was a time when a Spandau Ballet reunion seemed less likely than a Smiths one, with court cases, bad blood and too much time passed since the band parted ways in 1990. Besides, those wanting to hear the hits could catch Tony Hadley at their local theatre, or as part of a Nostalgia-fest, alongside mixed and matched members of Haircut 100 and part of T’Pau.
Six years on from their Reformation tour, however, Spandau are celebrating last years acclaimed, cinema released documentary, Soul Boys Of The Western World, with an arena tour, including two nights at The O2. Proof, then, that there’s a bigger stage for the Gary Kemp penned anthems, and always a bigger crowd for an original line-up.
New track ‘Soul Boy’ opens the show, with lines directly quoting the films title as well a nod to “new romance” and how they were “forever young and [we were] cool”. While 4/5s of the band might still be able to pull off “cool”, Hadley’s fuller figure and buttoned navy suit gives him the look of an older souled man, but, naturally, one with an impressive, if not a little theatrical at times, vocal. As with other new numbers ‘This Is The Love’ and ‘Steal’, the mid-tempo, Trevor Horn produced tracks segue into the set list alongside the rest of their latter soul sound nicely (‘Round And Round’, ‘How Many Lies?’) while ‘Only When You Leave’ – with a more obvious ‘80s edge – sees the lights dimmed to pink for a real Top Of The Pops finish.
The highlight of the evening sees the band revisit their 1981 debut, Journeys To Glory, and Covent Garden’s Blitz Club – to them what Salford Lad’s Club is to The Smiths, or The Cavern Club to The Beatles. With the band huddled together beneath a mirror ball and coloured lights, images of them in more make up and frills than their female fans fills the screens, as they recreate the tiny venue inside one of Britain’s biggest, playing a vintage, synth-heavy medley of tracks. The songs are a revelation to those only familiar with ‘Gold’ and ‘True’, showcasing a band at the forefront of the dark, electro-pop movement of the early ‘80s, with ’Reformation’ and ‘The Freeze’ in particular sounding like direct influences on new tracks by Spector or slightly earlier Future Islands. Fittingly, the section is dedicated to Steve Strange.
An instrumental, Ibiza-like ‘Glow’ is followed by a quick trip to a B-stage, where former foes Gary and Tony give an acoustic rendition of ‘Empty Spaces’, before a sing-a-long of ‘Gold’. Of course, the full band will close the show with the full version, with ‘Through The Barricades’ and ‘True’ slowing things down before it. Bizarrely, though, even these don’t live up the Blitz Club section, which Martin Kemp and multi-instrumentalist Steve Norman (a master of the sax-solo stance, although donning a guitar for these tracks) seem to enjoy more than any other part of the show.
“From The Blitz to The O2, that’s not too bad is it?” Hadley asks the crowd as the band soak up every last applause, but from The O2 and back to the sounds of The Blitz, just as fellow ‘80s acts Duran Duran and a-ha returned to their primary sound for their last releases – now that would be an interesting spin on the soul boys’ story.
Words: Dan Bull
@danbull7609
Images: Robert Gershinson
Dan Bull
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