The previous night in Atlanta [September 4th] had me sharing a seat with my friend Sandra for Pulp in the front and center upper balcony while my friend Pam had secured general admission on the floor behind the front seating in the venue. At Pulp, our seats had a good unimpeded view of the concert stage in the not terribly large venue, which had been a church as the name implied.

This evening, the scenario was reversed. Sandra had gotten a front floor seat while once more I was in the front and center balcony, albeit the lower balcony this time, along with my friend Pam. That was what the expectation was. But during our tasty dinner together before the show at Alma Cocina, a distracted Pam kept looking at her phone. She had bought her Pulp ticket at an online reseller and she was eyeing better seating for Sparks this evening.

At a certain point with less than an hour before the show, she pulled the trigger on a pair of tickets. Of which she was sharing one with me. The tickets were front row center! This is so not how The Monk with his vows of poverty usually rolls! I typically buy at my comfort level. I’d secured fourth row seats at the Lost 80s show a few weeks earlier, but that was to see Peter Godwin up close in a rare event for certain.

I’d seen Sparks once before in 2013, and we were able to move in front of the stage from our seats for that one so with this being a double dip for Sparks, the urgency for a seat this amazing had not been there. The only time I’d had seats this good before that I could recall was the 1994 Duran Duran Orlando Arena show and the 1995 Bryan Ferry show at the Bob Carr Auditorium with second row, I believe, for each of those shows.

We entered the venue and made our way to the merch tables. We appreciated how the band’s merchandising manager had had several tours of merchandising experience with Sparks and eager chatted with Sandra about the band. There were only two t-shirt designs. A girl’s cut design with the Brothers Mael in black on white looked great but was not for me. The unisex design eschewed the distinctive images of the band over the [intentionally] crude graphics from the new album. I was not inspired… Until I saw something much more exciting!

I did not know that Sparks were releasing the “Madder!” EP in October, but weeks earlier, it was here in the merchandise on both 12” and CD formats! It sported four tracks that didn’t fit the flow of the “Mad!” album from the sessions for the first Sparks EP in their storied career. So that was coming home with me! The only thing better than t-shirts is actual music. Particularly a scoop like that one. We went to our seats and I marveled at how Pam and I would be sitting as little as six feet from Russell Mael.

I did not know that Sparks were releasing the “Madder!” EP in October, but weeks earlier, it was here in the merchandise on both 12” and CD formats! It sported four tracks that presumably didn’t fit the flow of the “Mad!” album from the sessions for the first Sparks EP in their storied career. So that was coming home with me! The only thing better than t-shirts is actual music. Particularly a scoop like that one. We went to our seats and I marveled at how Pam and I would be sitting as little as six feet from Russell Mael.

PRE-SHOW BLAST FROM THE PAST

As we awaited the show to begin, Pam and I talked among ourselves, enjoying the catching up after decades apart. At a certain point the gentleman sitting to my right asked me a question. “Had you ever made a videotape for a guy named Kevin?”

This was a loaded question. In the 80s and 90s there were no shortages of videotapes of music videos I made for friends as well as people I barely knew. I have actually formed friendships by scanning the video want ads in Goldmine magazine and offering the goods being sought out… at no charge, of course.

But this gent recognized my voice, and told me about a Human League videotape I had made for him in the 90s. He worked at Rock + Roll Heaven, the Orlando store I spent a lot of Saturday afternoons in, and DJ’d on the side and had complained one day that he didn’t have any Human League videos to show in clubs. And I had the Japanese League Greatest Hits laserdisc and was happy to provide a tape for him since the VHS was released only in the UK and Japan. You could have knocked me over with a feather, but there was an unexpected person I was also catching up with this evening.

SO MAY WE START

The pre-show music finally faded and the crowd lit up in anticipation. The band moved onstage and Ron and Russell each entered in very distinct garb. Ron was dressed in black Chinese Tai Chi frog jacket and pants while Russell was resplendent in a riotous red suit with a Japanese floral/stork pattern. He looked like a human bento box! On their “Live In London” DVD the concert opened with a unique song, relevant to the situation with “It’s A Sparks Show Tonight” but tonight they were able to repurpose an existing song that really set the pace; “So May We Start” from the “Annette” soundtrack!

Then we began our dive into the new “MAD!” album with the lead off single “Do Things My Own Way” making a proper impression. As with the last time I had seen Sparks, Russell put out a very physical performance. On the “Revenge Of Two Hands, One Mouth” tour, I marveled at how he seemed to be keeping time to the drum-free music with his body movements. Internalizing the rhythms in a way that was arresting for a gent who had just turned 65.

Russell will turn 77 in a few weeks and though he was not moving with that same height of intensity from a dozen years past, his demeanor was the furthest thing from what we expect from a late septuagenarian! Next in the set was one of the few wildcards for me this evening. I have 18 of the band’s 28 albums, so there are gaps in my Sparks knowledge. Particularly in their earliest period where I only have “Kimono My House.” I may be cheap, but I’m not stupid! So I had not heard “Reinforcements” before.

Fortunately, I’m well acquainted with the “Number One In Heaven” album so I appreciated the deep cut of “Academy Award Performance,” which, amazingly, was also on the Atlanta 2013 setlist when I saw them at Variety Playhouse. Then another new one to me came in the set with “Goofing Off” from “Introducing.” That album is a scarce one on the ground. I’ve never seen a copy in any format. A classic from “Number One In Heaven” ensued with the zippy, witty “Beat The Clock” giving Russell plenty of chances to show off his still adroit falsetto.

By that time Russell’s jacket was off, but he kept his vest on for the remainder of the show. The whole band next got a chance to shine vocally when they filled in for the choir of children on the tender “Please Don’t F*** Up My World” from “The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte.” I still need that one in the Record Cell as I’ve only seen LPs of it out in the wilds. Then came a fave rave cut from the “MAD!” album with “Running Up A Tab At The Hotel For The Fab.” It was a very different experience having a full band with the group this show. That their live band were also the band on their last three albums meant that as a unit, this lineup of Sparks were humming on all eight cylinders.

Next: …Answered Prayers