Sparks

Sparks

May 28

THERE’S A RON AND A RUSS IN MY POOL

When: 22 May 2018
Where: O2 Academy
Support: Finiflex
Band Previously Seen: 29 June 2015, Troxy, London (as FFS)

 

I don’t think I have seen a crowd as enthusiastic and ecstatic as tonight’s for quite some time and all for a couple of pensioners who have been making quixotic, idiosyncratic  pop for more than 50 years. This was the first night of this particular tour and it seemed that the Mael bothers were a bit taken aback by the strength of the crowd’s appreciation and their obvious love for the pair.

 

Musically and creatively Sparks are also going strong at present. Their latest album, Hippopotamus, is their first in a decade (ignoring the musical The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman and the joint recording with Franz Ferdinand, FFS) and it is one of their best. We get about half that album tonight, including ‘What the Hell Is It This Time?’ which opens the set, ‘Edith Piaf (Said It Better Than Me)’, ‘I wish You Were Fun’. The album also provides two of the nights highlights:  the title track is a joy, Sparks at their most mischievous, wittiest, silliest best, and if you haven’t seen the video (a favourite of my bruv) then immediately correct that oversight by clicking on the sample video below; even better tonight is ‘Missionary Position’ (‘It’s a little retro/And a bit passé’), and which also has an excellent video online! Whilst Russ is the focal point, often bouncing around the stage (we all want whatever he’s on) and stoical Ron captures your attention with his own strange brand of magnetism from behind his keyboard their band is uniformly excellent and deserve a lot of credit for the joy coursing through the venue.

 

Whilst the new album rightly gets the most tracks played in the set it does not dominate and we are also given a musical tour through several other Sparks albums. Song after song is greeted wildly by the audience and show the full range of the Maels – ‘Dick Around’, ‘Propaganda’, a brilliant ‘Rhythm Thief’, a hypnotic ‘My Baby’s Taking Me Home’, and ‘Suburban Homeboy’ (the final encore). But of course two of the most rapturously received, and brilliantly delivered, songs are ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us’ and ‘The Number One Song In Heaven’ (which as always features Ron breaking out of character and dancing with measured abandon and smiling).

 

I last saw the brothers in the FFS incarnation and whilst that was a very enjoyable experience this was something else again – one of those nights when the communal musical experience transcended the world outside and for a couple of hours transported a couple of thousand people to the wonderful, uplifting, humorous, scabrous, danceable Mael world. Long may they reign!

 

Band page

 

Sample video