Queuing behind us for the bar at the Brudenell Social Club are a boy and a girl, the latter of which is surely not much beyond 18. Phone out, she tells her conversation partner that what’s about to play is “Really cool” and even as I get ready to tut loudly, the song she plays is…Space Age Love Song, by A Flock of Seagulls.
In a sense, why a teenager would be so transfixed by a song released over four decades ago is, in what was to become a theme for the night, something a little alien. Originally from Liverpool, tonight’s headliners’ self-titled first album sold more than half a million copies in the US in the early eighties, but after that success was modest; despite that though any new band would probably kill for their streaming numbers and this last night of a seventeen date UK tour is sold out.
Having fully reunited for the more recent albums Ascension and String Theory, the only original band member on stage this evening however is frontman Mike Score, the shaven headed vocalist doing a more than passable impression of Colonel Kurtz from behind his shades.
From a performance view, where you stand on heritage circuit gigs is where you stand on heritage circuit gigs. There is new material, with Some Dreams even being played twice, plus a handful of other tracks the crowd is told are selections come from a forthcoming eighth album.
The unspoken band-audience contract however is for time travel and although past blasts like the opener Modern Love Is Automatic, Nightmares and Man Made veer towards post punk, it’s the lush synthorama of The More You Live The More You Love, Transfer Affection and Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You) which set the wayback machine into full effect.
Probably due to a lengthy run of dates taking its toll, a couple of these are not absolutely nailed – and confusingly Telecommunication is interspersed by a rambling diatribe from Score about the existence of extraterrestrials and whether they’ve visited Leeds.
Just as the energy in the room begins to lag as a result, the quartet smartly play their ace cards. First, it’s the arcing old-neo-romanticism of Space Age Love Song and then – with original member Frank Maudsley brought up on stage to take over on bass – a thumping version of I Ran, a number long on sci-fi imagery but that still remains comfortably their finest moment.
Quickly returning for an encore gallop through Messages, afterwards Score wishes goodnight to everyone, including any little green men. From teenagers to ET, A Flock of Seagulls sure have a retro party for you, just park your flying saucer right outside.
The Voice Of Unreason 
It was amazing, I was so lucky to have gotten right to the front. Loved it 🤩
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