The Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth
Tonight the Pavilion in Bournemouth plays host to one of the most iconic 1980’s albums “World Machine”, a record that has just turned 40 years old and made the heady heights of number three in the UK Charts back in 1985. The album delivered some truly impressive singles and showed the band’s transition from their jazz-funk beginnings to the more mainstream funky pop to which they became loved. The band have a thoroughly passionate following and virtually every seat is taken in this majestic Art Deco theatre built in the 1920’s. Before Level 42 take to the stage we have the matter of a notable support in the form of Andrew Roachford.
Kicking off with “The Doctor”, you could really appreciate the wonderous acoustics in the big old building and the quality of Andrew’s voice, which effortlessly from the first note silenced the audience grabing their full attention. Surrounding himself with three top class musicians Chris Moorhead on guitar, John Tonks on Drums and David Levy on Bass, Roachford has given himself the best background in which to shine, with tracks like the soulful “Love Remedy” and a clever reworking of Bill Withers “Ain’t No Sunshine”. Using his piano periodically the singer adds significantly to the overall sound. The best known track “Cuddly Toy” gets many up out of their chairs on their feet, singing along in unison with this great track. Andrew encourages more interaction and the crowd duly oblige by clapping and repeating back the melodies. All too soon we are at the last track and the beautiful “Only To Be With You” is saved for the bands evening swansong.
As the short interval comes to a close you can feel the excitement within the air grow, the lights dim and the 7-piece band are bathed in multi-colour lights and lasers. Kicking off with the title track of the album that they are about to undertake, you can see an instant flash of recognition by the audience members; some clap, some sing the words while others sit back and take in all the band has to offer. The band comprise of the familiar to many Mark King on Bass/Vocals, along with his brother Nathan King on guitar with Mike Lindup on keyboards/vocals and drummer Pete Ray Biggin with one of the best CV’s in the business. In addition there is a three-piece brass section; Sean Freeman on saxophone, Nichol Thomson on trombone and Dan Carpenter on trumpet.
At eleven tracks long the album features some great tunes; notably “Physical Presence”, “Something About You” and the ballad “Leaving Me Now”. With the latter featuring some sublime keyboard work from Mike Lindup he meanders wonderfully throughout the whole track. It was nice to once again reconnect with some of the lesser known tracks, especially “Dream Crazy” and “Coup d’Etat”, which I used to listen to on my Sony Walkman back in the late 1980’s. Once the album came to it’s conclusion it feels as though the band let their hair down a bit and set about turning things up a notch with some of their greatest hits. The delightful “Running in The Family”, a thoroughly extended version of “The Sun Goes Down (Living It Up)” and one of my favourites the infectious “Lessons in Love”. By now the vast majority of the audience in the stalls were on their feet and many have crowded towards the front of the stage. The band are very interactive with the crowd with Mike and Mark both coming to the front giving high fives and letting fans take a few selfies. During “Love Games” the playful brass section really entertain with the quirky playful moves. It was all too soon for the band to leave the stage and with much hollering and applause, they return for an encore.
The crowd shout out requests for a host of their favourite songs, Mark leads everybody on before saying “We Don’t Do Requests” then launches into “Heaven in My Hands”. The brass section once again play a great part in making the song really stand out. The next two numbers were the highlights of the evening, “The Chinese Way” and final number the epic “Hot Water”. The band seems to treat these final numbers as a chance to have a bit of a jam and we are gifted a live 12 inch remix of each song with lots of extra solos and instrumental additions for us all to enjoy. This ends what has been a fantastic night and by the noise the audience were making as the band took their final bows, they all enjoyed it as much as I did.
Set Lists
Level 42
World Machine
Physical Presence
Something About You
Leaving Me Now
I Sleep on My Heart
It’s Not the Same for Us
Dream Crazy
Good Man in a Storm
Coup d’Etat
Lying Still
To Be With You Again
Running in the Family
The Sun Goes Down (Living It Up)
Love Games
Starchild
Lessons in Love
Encore
Heaven in My Hands
The Chinese Way
Hot Water
Roachford
The Doctor
High on Love
Love Remedy
Ain’t No Sunshine (Bill Withers cover)
All The Love We Need
Papa Was A Rolling Stone/This Generation
Cuddly Toy
Only to Be With You
Videos
Links
https://www.level42.com
https://www.roachford.co.uk
Article by Dave Chinery (Chinners)
Photographs by Lynn Frances Photography
