ABC
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
Four stars
On November 5, 1982 ABC played the Glasgow Apollo in support of the band's debut album The Lexicon of Love. On November 5, 2015, 33 years on, Martin Fry returned to the city with a band and an orchestra to celebrate his glorious first flush of youthful achievement.
And though a sometimes awkward, shy stage presence, Fry did seem thrilled at the prospect, buoyed up by the presence of Lexicon arranger and composer Anne Dudley conducting the Southbank Sinfonia.
It began with what you might call the Deutsche Grammophon part of the evening. As a taster of what was to come the Sinfonia – musicians who were probably not even born when The Lexicon of Love was released – played an extended orchestral overture of the album. A taster and a teaser, since the first half of the show was in fact a post-Lexicon showcase of the ABC songbook, kicking off with a full fat version of When Smokey Sings.
If not all the songs suited the full orchestral treatment (the dance anthem One Better World felt a forced fit), what was hugely encouraging was how good the new songs (Ten Below Zero, Flames of Desire) sounded. As trailers for Fry's proposed Lexicon of Love part two, they sounded impressively lush examples of pop craftsmanship.
But, really, everyone was here to hear the songs that Fry had written three decades ago. The sober-suited singer – no gold lame on show – was in particularly fine voice, alternately caressing and declaiming the lyrics his younger self wrote (after Valentine's Day he mopped his brow, suggesting there were "too many words in that one").
What made the night, though, was the full ballast provided by the orchestra. As the string section coloured All of My Heart pure silver at the evening's climax the thrill was palpable.
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