Tonight is one giant sausage-fest. A tip to middle-aged single women: if you ever want to meet a single middle-aged man then get yourselves down to a Magazine show - they hover in rabid abundance. A sea of bloated stomach’s and balding heads litter the crowd. While you may take this as a slightly ageist tone, please note I am also there alone, sipping into my overpriced beer, wondering aimlessly and searching the merch stand for vinyl like some lost soul. For a band that have transcended decades and genres with the influence of their music, it’s a shame not to see more young people here but at the same time it’s endearing to witness such loyalty amongst their fans. However, the king of baldheads and beer bellies tonight is the band’s main man, Howard Devoto. After the departure of the magnificent Barry Adamson, Magazine are now in their sixth incarnation and have just released their first record since 1981. As Deveto playfully jokes, “Welcome to Magazine 6.0, thanks for upgrading”.
Aesthetically they encapsulate everything naff about an aging band, Deveto in a giant flailing white shirt that makes him look like he’s come from a cult meeting and guitarist Noko sporting black leather trousers, Del Boy jewellery, and what looks like a dyed jet-black little goatee. Thankfully, what they look like doesn’t really mean a damn as soon as they strike up playing - while they may appear their age physically; they play with a gusto that sweeps you back thirty years to their heyday. There are not many bands that could lose Barry Adamson and John Mcgeoch as members and still continue to thrive, but Magazine tonight has a reinvigorated edge about them.
While we get new songs take from the latest No Thyself LP, we get plenty of trips down memory lane, and while the crowd is certainly embracing and respectful of newer material, the biggest responses inevitably come when Real Life material is spewed out - no more so than the closing moments of the set with a thunderous and rousing ‘The Light Pours Out Of Me’, of which the guitar hook is as intoxicating and uplifting as ever. The foreseeable late outing of 'Shot By Both Sides' is a blast of sonic explosions that sees the portly gentlemen in their forties and fifties go back to their youth, pogoing like they were nineteen again. They work as a tight, melded unit, and collectively there is a lot of talent and musicianship on display. Dave Formula’s keys are as idiosyncratic and manic as ever, Noko’s guitar is brutal and hacksaw-like in it’s ragged yet meticulous execution, and even the new bass player John ‘Stan’ White plays with a delivery and proficiency that makes him feel like he’s been doing this for years.
There was an air of cynicism and anxiety when I walked into tonight’s show, expecting yet another reunion band doing the rounds. However, I walked out with an awakened sense of hope and prosperity. There’s life in the old dogs yet.