Gary Numan (Photo courtesy Lincoln Theatre)
Last year, industrial music pioneer Gary Numan released Intruder, his 21st studio album, via BMG. After canceling the initial plans to tour behind it due to a surge in COVID-19 in the fall, Gary is back on the road, and he arrives in DC to perform at the Lincoln Theatre on Tuesday, March 15!
Numan’s past few albums have been much heavier and darker. Interestingly electronic music has now become the sound of the masses due to the availability of cheaper technology at home. Anyone can make music now, which Numan finds liberating and thrilling.
“I don’t want to repeat myself,” Gary said. “People who have been around for a long time often tend to bland out a bit and become more middle of the road, or they hide in nostalgia and live on the back of what they did before. Both of those options are awful. Being proud of your legacy is one thing, but becoming trapped by it is another thing entirely. I’m not one for self-praise but I am very proud of the fact that as I’ve got to the more precarious latter part of my career the music’s got progressively darker and even less radio-friendly. I’ve done the opposite of playing it safe.”
Watch the official music video for “Intruder” by Gary Numan on YouTube:
Frequently working with producer Ade Fenton since the late 2000s, Numan released some of his most acclaimed and well-received work in decades during the 2010s, with 2017’s Savage (Songs from a Broken World) reaching No. 2 in the UK, his highest charting album since 1980. He continued exploring post-apocalyptic themes with 2021’s Intruder.
Working once again with producer Ade Fenton, Numan used a post-apocalyptic Earth as the setting for the release, charting humanity’s struggle for survival and its inevitable downfall. A companion piece of sorts, Intruder arrived in 2021. Like Savage before it, the project focused on mapping the effects of human destruction and climate change, this time from the perspective of the Earth itself.
Gary Numan
w/ I Speak Machine
Lincoln Theatre
Tuesday, March 15
Doors @ 7pm
$35
All ages