IT'S been a long road since Gary Numan released the albums Tubeway Army and Replicas under the guise of Tubeway Army and then had a massive solo hit with the 1979 release The Pleasure Principle.

Since then he may not have been in the mainstream (and some would argue that there was never anything mainstream about Numan’s music) but he has released a further 19 albums and become an icon of industrial synth music.

He arrives in Bournemouth as part of his 40th anniversary (R)Evolution Tour which actually coincides with his first solo release rather than his Tubeway Army work with tonight’s set list spanning the entirety of his career.

With the entire band dressed head to toe in black the evening starts with My Name Is Ruin and Remind Me To Smile followed by That’s Too Bad. A dark pulsating start that set the tone for the rest of the evening. Numan has always had a bit of a theatrical flare about him and that is evident as he moves around the stage flowing from one side to the other amongst the often dark lighting and smoke.

Replacement keyboard player Ade Fenton does a sound job having stood in at the last moment.

The main set closed with a thundering version of Are Friends Electric?, followed quickly by a four song encore that ended the night on a raucous high leaving just enough time to pick up The Pleasure Principle vinyl on the way out.