Gary Numan Savage UK Tour
The celebrated pioneer in the post-punk electro-pop genre Numan returned to the UK with his world tour ‘Savage’. Savage (Songs From a Broken World) is the musician’s 18th studio album. The long-awaited album was announced in 2015 as part of a PledgeMusic campaign and got released via BMG and The End in 2017.
Despite having performed Savage in the UK before, the shows still attract a lot of fans. Ikon London Magazine attended the O2 Shepherds Bush concert that was fully sold out.
Gary Numan on what inspired the album Savage
Numan’s new album is unlike the songs that propelled him to the UK’s top charts in 80’s and 90’s. Questions were raised by some fans in early 2017. In response, Numan shared his inspiration for the album on his official site:
“A few people seem concerned about the imagery of the new photos, the tour flyer, the type-face used, the title itself ‘Savage’ combined with those things and so on. It seems that some misunderstanding is occurring and that some of you feel that, in these troubled times, it could be taken the wrong way. So, I would obviously like to clear that up before it goes any further because none of that is intended.
Inspired by his unwritten sci-fi novel
“The majority of the songs on the new album are taken from ideas I’ve been working on for a novel. Yes, embarrassingly, the same novel I’ve been talking about for years. My long-neglected Science Fantasy epic that will probably never see the light of day but, much as the short stories I was writing around Replicas time did for that album, so this permanently unfinished book is giving me a huge amount of material to write new songs about. The ideas for the book gave me songs for Dead Son Rising, a few for Splinter and now quite a few for Savage.
“Savage then is a theme album by and large. Set in a post-apocalyptic future where the earth has been devastated by global warming and what remains is mostly harsh, barren and desert-like.
Cultural influences
Numan’s Savage album cover design and imagery are eclectic, to say the least. The cross prominently featured on his forehead seemingly clash with Arabic-inspired fonts. The singer explained:
“The various cultures of the people that survived [in this post-apocalyptic world] have, over generations, essentially merged into one. That merging is driven mostly by the necessities of surviving in the environment that remains. The language spoken in this future world is essentially English, but the Middle Eastern influence is seen everywhere (hence the typeface I’ve chosen for the artwork).
“There is, therefore, a subtle but definite Middle Eastern influence musically on this album here and there, in some melodies especially, and that was deliberate.
“The music has to reflect the idea of cultures merging that exists in this fictional future. The book (and therefore the album) is based upon concerns about the catastrophic effects of ignoring global warming, and how the survivors must adapt, and nothing at all to do with comparing existing cultures, terrorism, religion or nuclear war.
Costume design for Gary Numan’s tour Savage
As our readers will see from the photos, the costume design fits well with the desert theme – on a high end of the spectrum.
“The clothes I’m wearing are not desert clothes,” clarified singer. “They are pseudo military looking (and meant to look worn out in the harshness of that world) and represent the way we may all need to look if policies designed to stop the effects of global warning are abandoned or ignored in certain vitally important key regions of the world over the next four years.”
It is evident that Gary Numan is informed by mainstream news about the topic and has missed countless petitions by scientists to stop the ‘human-caused global warming’ fraud. We have previously covered the topic of global warming in various our articles. That aside, he managed to create a cohesive image and look for his new tour.
He went on to reiterate “It’s fantasy, but based on my fears about what’s going to happen to future generations if we don’t do what needs to be done to protect the planet. It is not particularly political, not anti-religious (for once), not anti anything other than the almost unbelievably ignorant decisions in one part of the world to walk away from agreements and commitments concerned with combating climate change and protecting our environment.
“Not every song is about this, I have other things that have found their way into the album, but the image and style of ‘Savage’ are very much guided by the concerns mentioned above.”
More info about Gary Numan tours and tickets are available on the official website: http://garynuman.com/tours2/
Read more about Gary Numan’s career and relationship with money: http://ultimateclassicrock.com/gary-numan-finances/
More Ikon London Magazine articles about Global Warming myths here.
Editor in Chief of Ikon London Magazine, journalist, film producer and founder of The DAFTA Film Awards (The DAFTAs).
