On the 13th October next year it'll be 40 years since I first saw Gary Numan live.
I should have waited until next year, but after a few years of Covid and people I know passing away, I couldn't risk the story being lost.
It's also a good time to tell it...neither of my Parents are alive to read it, so they won't be more disappointed with my educational journey than they already were and The Latymer School can't retrospectively give me a detention (well, I don't think they can!) So I guess it's part story, part confession!
The story actually starts back in June/July of that year. After retiring from touring in 1981, Gary Numan announced that he would be returning to the UK and would be doing a 40 date "come back" tour, starting in September. I wasn't allowed to go and see him live during his height of fame, so at almost 16 years old I thought there was a bit more chance now. My mate Dave said he was going get a ticket and did I want one. I remember having to get 6 weeks pocket money in advance to pay him which, having painstakingly waited for weeks on end to arrive, ended up living in my bus pass holder until the day of the concert.
I had a stroke of luck a few weeks before the gig. Returning home with some of my friends, I can't remember where we'd been, but it was probably playing football (which we did a lot) we were cycling back to one of their houses when I spotted what looked like a pound note (yes, none of this coin malarkey) in the middle of the road. I wasn't sure how no one else had seen it, but I stopped and picked it up, immediately realizing that it wasn't just "a" pound note, but a bundle of three pound notes, a five and a ten. Eighteen quid in my pocket and I knew exactly what I was going to do with it! When I got home, the money came out of my pocket and into my regularly empty Dusty Bin money box.
Dave had purchased three tickets; his, mine and a third for a kid called Simon Appleby (or 'Sap' as he was better known). I'm not sure if this happened before the Summer holiday or after, but there were two geography field trips (to Tring, of all places). We were on different trips because I missed him roll down a hill, breaking his arm in the process. His Warriors journey ended, allowing fellow Numan fan, Mike to join us. (I had a far more successful field trip than Sap. I ended up in HMV where I spent 99p of my £1 lunch money on a Music For Chameleons 12" single!)
A day or two before the gig Dave had to retrieve his sacred ticket from the bin on the morning the dustcart arrived. He'd left it lying around on his bedroom desk and his Nan had been into his bedroonm and emptied the waste paper basket - and his ticket - into the main bin. Luckily, after sifting through the left-over food, he found it.
So let's jump to the 13th October! The big day! Looking back, there was absolutely no need to do what we did, but for some reason we needed to 'leave' school before 3.45pm to get ready to go to Hammersmith. It's a long journey from Oakwood to Hammersmith - around 23 stops on the tube - but it would only take an hour or so to get there! But this was huge, we were off to see our hero for the first time, we needed to prepare for the event and there was no way we could listen to a couple of albums if we were at school all afternoon.
We had triple games that afternoon, which may have been the only reason we sensed we could pull this off? 5th former's were able to go out, play tennis, go swimming, rather than having to stay at school, so that was how we'd do it - the Form teacher would take the register, we'd officially be marked as here and then we'd say we were going swimming or something. Great...all sorted. Dave, however, had got a detention and had to stay until 3.45...and that was a problem for me and Mike because Dave lives in Oakwood (5 minutes from the tube station) and that's who house we needed to be at.
So, we decided we'd leave at after lunch. The W8 bus stop was just round the corner, but to get to that bus stop we had to walk out of the school gates and head to the main road...200 meters in plain sight of the school. If this went wrong and we got caught, my Parents would kill me! Our P.E. teacher, one Ian Gourdie, who already wasn't my biggest fan, would probably frog-march me to the headmaster's office (it wouldn't be my first visit...but that's another story!).
Because of Dave's detention the plan changed! Mike had been given the keys to a girl in his class called Donna's house, close to Forty Hill (I think her Dad was away) and we'd go there and hang around until we needed to head to Oakwood. So at 1.30 we exited the school gates, walked very quickly to the bus stop and prayed that the bus arrived before we were caught. Thankfully, the bus came almost straight away...and we were off. Having briefly detoured to Donna's, we arrived at Lakeside, Oakwood.
And this was the point things started to get real. Changing out of our unfashionable Latymer school-wear into the Numan uniform of all black. While we listened to live Living Ornaments 79 LP we transformed into black trousers and jackets, black shirts, red/blue "Touring Principle" ties or Telekon belts, black suede boots, studded belts - the more studs the better - and that final piece of the puzzle, black eyeliner and nail varnish. It was around this time that I'd started to dye my hair black, my Mum had agreed that I could use one that washed out after a few weeks, but that didn't work very well so I ended up buying a Boots permanent kit. Dave, on the other hand, had fairer hair and bleached his blonde...a bit too blonde for his Mum's liking. She was a bit surprised that the Sun-In hair-lightening spray he was using was stronger than expected (probably because he'd had the lid off and refilled it with hydrogen peroxide from the chemist!).
And we were ready...and on our way to the station with a swagger. Oakwood tube is almost at the end of the line, so usually the train was empty.On the platform we bumped into Graham - a serious Numanoid - he had tickets for all 4 Hammersmith Odeon shows. Dave knew him and it turned out he went out with a girl who went to our school. In years to come, Graham and I would cross paths regularly.
After what seemed like forever, we arrived at Hammersmith. As we left the underground, fans came from all directions and headed, like ants, towards the Mecca of concert venues. There were fans that looked like Numan, dressed like Numan from different periods of his career...and there was a bloke wearing a German tin helmet (who I still see to this day!). Having stopped at the merchandise stand, it was time to spend some of that eighteen quid! A t-shirt (size medium), a scarf, a badge and a programme.
The support for the Tour were Tik & Tok, an electronic dance due, who'd released a couple of singles - their latest one, Cool Running, came out just before the tour started. I had it in 7" and 12" and picture disc versions.
We made our way to our Upper Circle seats and waited for the show to start. There was an announcement that everyone in the Circle should stay seated for the show...oddly, when the time came, the entire audience stood up!
Dry ice started to seep out from behind the velvet curtain hiding the stage set and the buzz within the venue started to get louder...and the lights dimmed and the curtain went up! This was it! A deep bass synth vibrated the building, it was the intro to Sister Surprise, the opening track on Side 2 of Warriors.
The band were in position, the guitarists on the stage and the keyboard players up in two derelict looking buildings and from the side of the stage on came our leather clad, blonde haired idol.
For the next hour and three quarters we got the hits, popular tracks from the previous 6 albums and unheard live tracks from the new album.
And suddenly it was over. The risk taken was more than worth it.
The platform at Hammersmith was awash with fans. As the train arrived, we were swept into the empty carriage and after we'd squeezed as many people in as we could, the doors closed and we headed home. Station by station the fans disappeared until the almost empty train arrived back at Oakwood.
Next day, we were back in our unfashionable gear, but we could brag to everyone that we'd been to see Gary Numan. Dave's one job before returning to school went out of the window and had to scrape the remainder of his black nail varnish off with a compass! Getting picked on just for being a Numan fan was pretty common; being seen wearing make-up would definitely have got you a beating!
I still have the ticket, the programme, the badge, the scarf and the t-shirt (that might now fit a skinny thirteen-fourteen year old). I still have the 7" singles, the 12" singles, the album, the picture disk...the re-release and the CD. I've been to a lot of Numan concerts, but this one was (and still is) very special.