Nik Kershaw
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Live in Germany 1984
published: 23 /
4 /
2011
Tommy Gunnarsson looks at a new concert film from Nik Kershaw, filmed at a gig in Germany in 1984 to promote his 'Human Racing' debut album.
Article
Last year, I did an interview with Nik Kershaw for Pennyblackmusic, and among the things we discussed there were his very complicated songs, especially on his first two albums.
And this is one of the first things that hits you when watching this DVD release of a concert in Montreux in 1984 (or is it Germany? Or Alabama Hall? The DVD cover tells us three different things on this point…). The concert kicks off with 'Cloak and Dagger” from Nik’s debut album 'Human Racing', which was released in 1984, and the album promoted on this very tour, and from the first notes of this song until the last notes on the album’s title track, which is the last song of the encore, you get your fair share of weird chord structures and unpredictable changes.
It is really a pleasure to see Nik and his live band play these songs live, even though Nik himself doesn’t seem to enjoy himself very much, as the only time he smiles is when the audience goes nuts during 'Wouldn’t It Be Good', one of his biggest hits. Or maybe it’s just because he didn’t show his true emotions very much, Well, that doesn’t really matter now, does it? It’s a great show, and some really great songs, among them the fantastic 'Dancing Girls' and 'Bogart'. Sadly, the second album, 'The Riddle', wasn’t out yet when he did this show. It would have been really nice to see the singles from that album played live as well.
Regarding the DVD production, there isn’t much to tell really. The picture quality is good, especially considering that is was filmed more than 25 years ago, and the sound quality is very good as well. The only negative thing is the confusion about where this show was actually filmed, which is either the result of bad proof-reading, or maybe they just don’t know.
Included in the package is also the same show on CD, which is a great bonus.