Level 42 Live!!

First things first, as Peter Kay says. The Salford Lowry is a fantastic venue, not a bad view in the place, comfortable seats and great acoustics. It’s a big place though, with more than one theatre, and we almost ended up seeing “Thatcher – the musical” (honestly!) before being directed by one of the many grey haired stewards.

Kenny Thomas was the support act. He crooned a few melodies which were pretty bland, before finishing with Thinking about your love and Outstanding, his major hits from the late 80’s/early 90’s. The crowd were polite enough but most sat in the bar, popping their heads in occasionally to see if L42 were on yet.

And then the opening chords of “Heaven in my Hands” were blasted over the speakers and everyone rushed in to take their seats. It was to be the only time we were to hear this, which was a shame. Then, we were aware of figures moving onto the darkened stage, and a long, thin red light shining horizontally. It was Mark King’s bass guitar!! The lights came up, and there he was, although for most fans the biggest thrill was to see Mike Lindup sat behind his stack of keyboards. The previous Level 42 tour was much the poorer for his absence.

They launched straight into “Dive into the sun”, the first track on the new album, Retroglide, and followed this with the crowd pleasing “To be with you again”. The standard was set. Mark King was, as ever, a great front man, sharing banter with the crowd and all the ladies who had started dancing at the front of the theatre. “Hot Water” was a big favourite, and the new album tracks such as “Rooted” and “Retroglide” also went down well.

But most of the assembled hoards (myself included) were there to hear the songs from, as Mark King put it “the good old days”. A rendition of “Leaving me now” was followed by “World Machine” and “Kansas City Milkman”, a track which was never a hit but was always a popular live track following its inclusion on the 1985 EP “A Physical Presence”.

They then ploughed through the main hits of the 1980’s, starting with “Star Child”, “The Sun goes down” (which got everyone dancing), “Running in the family”, “Lessons in Love” and then bringing the set to an end with a fantastic performance of “Something about you”.

The crowd cried for more. “What haven’t they played?” we thought. Children Say? Heaven in my Hands? Forever Now? Guaranteed? Well, frankly, we were to be disappointed. They came back out and performed another track from the new album, “Sleep Talking” which left the audience a bit flat. They managed to turn it around, though, by flying straight into “The Chinese Way” which demonstrated how King’s bass playing and Lindup’s vocals made the band such a success. A special mention should be made to Gary Husband on drums, who was drenched in sweat from the second track onwards, but still managed to put in a level of energy which would have had the Muppet’s ‘Animal’ watching with awe.

Then they left, and we filtered out into the drizzle of Salford. Should’ve paid for the parking before the concert, said my mate, would’ve saved queuing for ages. But everyone in the queue was singing “The Chinese Way” and were tapping their feet, so the bizarre spectacle kept us amused until we drove away.

Level 42 are back, and they were awesome. I was never lucky enough to see them live in the 80’s. But their musical abilities live on, as does the crowd’s affection for them. I’m off to see them in Cardiff at the end of the month!