The legendary Gary Numan stopped by Minnesota’s most iconic venue, First Ave., late last month with a March 31st date on his recent run of Spring U.S. Tour dates.
While Numan is most known for his 1979 breakthrough new wave hit, “Cars”, Numan has spent his career continuing to be a pioneer in electronic, darkwave, and industrial music. His live shows reflect that, with an energy that’s truly impressive for someone who’s been in the game as long as Numan, and an oppressive light show that matches the dark aesthetic of his music.
Before Numan took the stage, Los Angeles’ TREMOURS opened the show.
TREMOURS
To be completely honest, I wasn’t able to catch much of TREMOURS’ set. While the Gary Numan show took place at First Ave., just across the street, Bruce Springsteen played a set at Minneapolis’ NBA arena, the Target Center. The two events made it difficult to find parking, and I missed not only the chance to take photos from the pit, but a large majority of TREMOURS’ time on stage. We apologize to the band for not being able to provide photos for coverage or a full accounting of the show.
What I saw of TREMOURS was excellent. The duo, based out of Los Angeles, formed in 2021, released their debut album Fragments in February of 2025,, and have been touring their fuzzy, pulsating shoegaze music ever since.
TREMOURS has actually played with Gary Numan before, joining a select number of his 2025 U.S. tour dates.
Fans of dark electronic and shoegaze soundscapes should check out the band. They clearly have a lot of potential and should be an exciting band to track over the next few years. The few songs I caught definitely had me hoping to see them come through again soon.
Gary Numan
From his early work with Tubeway Army to his seminal solo debut, The Pleasure Principle, and beyond, Gary Numan has always been an innovator. Numan has been cited as an influence by countless musical giants, including Prince for his synth-pop output and Nine Inch Nails for his pioneering work in what ultimately became the industrial movement.
While it’s impossible to talk about Gary Numan without his massive legacy, that’s almost disrespectful to the artist he remains. Go to a Gary Numan show in 2026, and you’ll see that he still has every bit of ferocious vitality and ambition that made him such a crucial figure in alternative music.
Numan and his band started the show hot with three energetic tracks, “Halo”, “Metal”, and “Haunted”. “Halo” and “Haunted” are both tracks from Numan’s 2006 record Jagged, while “Metal” goes all the way back to The Pleasure Principle from 1979.
The trio of tracks immediately demonstrates one of the most impressive aspects of Numan as a live performer. He still plays his entire catalog of music, but arrangements of older songs, like “Metal,” are updated to reflect his 1990s shift toward a heavier industrial sound. The result is a classic song that still feels true to its original purpose and feeling, yet is refreshed by new instrumentation and aesthetics. Gary Numan is often characterized as an artist whose sound “switched.” Still, when you hear some of his classics, it feels like the heavy industrial sound isn’t a switch so much as the logical conclusion to what Numan was doing on his earlier records.
That connection from Numan’s classic work to his modern sensibilities became a recurring theme of the show, with four songs from the Pleasure Principle on the set, including the instantly recognizable smash hit “Cars”, which continues to be a fun and danceable tune even in its current arrangement. Numan also played two songs from his previous band, Tubeway Army, which has proven to be a visionary project that bridged the gap between punk and electronic music.
One thing that’s clear about Numan’s music when performed live is that it can trend much heavier than his early work, but it never loses any of its innate enjoyability. The pained lyrical thematics and dark soundscape of a song like “Love Hurt Bleed” doesn’t stop it from being a stomping good time.
The band finished the set with his anthemic 2017 song “My Name is Ruin”, which functions as a solid encapsulation of everything Numan has become as an artist. The song is a six-minute haunting march of dark soundscapes, Egyptian-inspired melodies played with dissonant synths, and a particularly emotive vocal performance from Numan. If you’re fully unfamiliar with his post-new wave work, give this song a listen. Even though the studio cut is fantastic, it’s even better live.
If you have the opportunity to see Gary Numan on this or any of his upcoming tours, it’s definitely an opportunity worth taking. Check out some additional photos from the show below.
