At a busy stop at Black Cat, The Chameleons once again stood apart as a paradox: an old-school band that eschews the past — and a group of musicians who embrace layers of thoughtful music while also proving accessible to new and young fans.
The Manchester band — long revered as one of post-punk’s most influential cult acts — played with the urgency and confidence of a band still discovering new ground rather than revisiting old victories. And speaking backstage before the show on April 17, frontman Vox made it clear the band sees itself very much in the present tense.
“We didn’t set out to reinvent ourselves,” Burgess said. “We just set out to move forward.”
That philosophy has defined the group’s recent resurgence. Following the release of Arctic Moon, The Chameleons have spent the past two years touring aggressively across North America and Europe. They have become true road warriors, reconnecting with longtime fans while steadily attracting younger listeners discovering the band through streaming services, festivals and social media. Vox said he has met fans as young as 10 years old at recent shows — often brought not by parents, but the other way around.
The band sounded energized by the response to the newer material, with several songs from Arctic Moon now firmly embedded in the live set. Guitarist Stephen Rice told me that audiences have quickly embraced the songs, often singing along despite the album’s relatively recent release.
That mix of old and new was reflected in the Black Cat setlist, which balanced classics such as “Swamp Thing,” “Up the Down Escalator,” and “Second Skin” alongside newer material including “Where Are You?” and “Saviours Are a Dangerous Thing.” The result was a set that felt remarkably cohesive — and fresh. The new songs carried an emotional atmosphere and shimmering guitar textures that made the band beloved in the first place, while avoiding the trap of sounding trapped in the 1980s.
Watch a visualizer for “Saviours Are a Dangerous Thing” by The Chameleons on YouTube:
And boy, does Vox not want to be trapped in the ’80s. I made an attempt to engage his enthusiasm with the new respect given to ’70s and ’80s post-punk English groups with the induction of Depeche Mode, The Cure, and now most notably fellow Mancs Joy Division into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but he was having none of it. The Chameleons as a legacy band whose sound is very much part of that groundbreaking and intelligent Second British Invasion, which is gaining more and more widespread recognition outside of Gen X adherents like myself.
While Vox acknowledged that The Chameleons are often grouped into the broader post-punk revival conversation alongside bands such as Joy Division and New Order, he seemed less interested in legacy than in momentum. In my personal opinion, the revitalized band has gravitas because of their powerful frontman but also because of the return of classic Chameleons guitarist Reg Smithies, whom Vox recruited from civilian life to rejoin the band for The Chameleons. Thanks to the addition of Reg, The Chameleons transitioned from Chameleons Vox to The Chameleons once again. It was a rare pleasure to see Vox and Reg together at Black Cat.
The current lineup has grown increasingly comfortable together, Vox said, and the band hopes to spend more time focusing on another album after touring slows later this year. Indeed, Metropolis Records has enlisted them for a follow up to the outstanding Arctic Moon album.
Our conversation turned toward the changing nature of live music itself. Vox lamented the sea of phones that now dominate concerts, arguing that constant filming has diminished spontaneity and experimentation onstage. He recalled how, in the band’s early years, songs could evolve organically in front of audiences without instantly appearing online hours later. Still, he acknowledged the double-edged nature of modern exposure: YouTube and Spotify have also introduced The Chameleons to entirely new generations of fans.
And at Black Cat, those generations were all in the room together. Veteran fans who first discovered the band through MTV or college radio stood alongside younger listeners hearing these songs live for the first time. Despite his disdain for YouTube, Vox confessed to watching a fan recording of “David Bowie Takes My Hand,” and he was struck by how good it sounded. And it sounded fantastic at Black Cat as well, particularly given the feelings that stir Vox when he sang an ode to his boyhood idol. And I use “fantastic” in the true meaning of the word in that not only is the music of extraordinary quality but also imaginative and out of the ordinary.
By the time The Chameleons closed the night with the towering emotional release of “View From a Hill,” the connection between band and audience felt less like a revival than a continuation of something beautiful and alive, not meant to be stuck in a museum.
Here are some photos of The Chameleons performing live at Black Cat on April 17, 2026. All pictures copyright and courtesy of James Todd Miller.
