Events

[NEW WAVE] On this side of the Atlantic, Gary Numan is oft thought of as a one-hit-wonder with his Top 10 1979 hit “Cars,” (which reached #1 in Canada and in the U.K.). But elsewhere, folks know he’s much more than that—an influential synth pioneer and daring composer with post-punk roots. Overseas, Numan’s success began with his band, Tubeway Army, which released a pair of albums prior to his going solo with The Pleasure Principle, and continued into the mid-1980’s when he began experimenting with jazz textures. Around this same time, he blazed the indie trail, releasing several albums on his own Numa label, which yielded U.K. singles that charted, though perhaps not as high. During the 1990’s he dabbled in film scoring before reinventing his musical image with a trio of albums—Sacrifice (1994), Exile (1997) and Pure (2000)—opting for an edgier, more industrially flavored tone that won him a new audience. Having lost the pancake makeup (actually born of an acne cover-up rather than a chosen look), Numan, now 59,  emerged in the 21st century as a revered musical vet of sorts, gaining accolades from admirers like Trent Reznor and Marilyn Manson. Now a longtime resident of California, where he lives with his wife and three daughters, he’s continued to release new music semi-regularly. Out this past September after a long delay, Savage (Songs from a Broken World) – his 21st album—continues down the path of neo-industrial hybrids cloaked in a concept about a post-apocalyptic desert world in which Eastern and Western cultures have blended. According to the loose narrative, religion remains the catalyst for our undoing. Numan pays Buffalo a visit on Saturday, December 2 to perform a set at Town Ballroom that features his new material alongside cherry picked faves going all the way back to Tubeway Army.