5 star live review

there is a 5 star live review in today’s Scotsman newspaper: Sparks POP REVIEW ANDREW EATON ***** CARLING ACADEMY, GLASGOW FOR A few years now, Sparks have put on two shows for the price of one; which you like best may depend on why you like this trailblazing and eccentric pop duo. If you love their wit, invention and inspired visuals, you’d probably have preferred the first half of their tour-opening Glasgow show: their new album, Hello Young Lovers, performed in its entirety. It was closer to live art than a rock gig; with their black-clad band hiding at the back, Russell and Ron Mael sparred with images on a screen centre-stage. Highlights included Ron – who these days looks more like a creepy office clerk than a mad dictator, if that’s any comfort – playing a 2D cathedral organ and having a punch-up with a cartoon Ron on screen, the word “Pow!” flashing as the blows landed. Pop Art meets Looney Tunes, it went down a storm, and more than made up for the album’s occasional lapses into self-indulgent whimsy. The second half, threatened Russell, would consist of “our other 19 albums”. Thankfully for those with jobs to go to, it was just a crowd-pleasing sprint through the best bits, for which the screen went away and the band, now sharing the spotlight, slipped into something more comfortable (apart from Ron who, being Ron, put on a tie and even stiffer trousers). If you love Sparks for the tunes, this was where to find them, faultlessly, energetically played by terrific musicians, and finishing with This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us and Amateur Hour, to near deafening applause. Other middle-aged bands take note. If you want to please your fans and please yourself in the same show, this is how to do it.