Level 42

Sat 18 Oct 2008

The Bass Playing Maestro Returns To Plymouth

Level 42

• Mark King – Vocals/Bass
• Nathan King – Guitar
• Mike Lindup – Keyboards/Vocals
• Sean Freeman – Saxophone
• Gary Husband – Drums

Level 42

One of the most successful pop acts of the 80s, Level 42 came to the Plymouth Pavilions last Saturday night and produced a great night of memory stirring nostalgia, with a set liberally spread with hit after hit to keep all fans happy. Right from the very beginning a cheer went up as front man, Thunder Thumbs himself, Mark King announced, we are here to play all the old hits, and from that point you knew the night was going to be a Level 42 connoisseurs dream.

Even with a stinking cold to contend with, Mark still put in an excellent performance, his vocals were hardly effected on the faster numbers such as set opener, ‘Fashion Fever’ or massive hit, ‘Running In The Family’, which was the song that started to entice the crowd to dance in the aisles, and the vocally testing ballad, ‘Leaving Me Now’, was flawless. Hailing from the Isle of Wight and drawing their name from the meaning of life, the universe and everything in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 1980 saw the bands first single, ‘Love Meeting Love’, with hits following throughout the rest of the decade and into the next, finally calling it a day in 1994 to follow different projects, until its resurrection to promote the greatest hits in 2002.

Level 42

The Level 42 of 2008 are very hard to fault, they sound great, have a fantastic rapport with the crowd, are backed by a vivid light show and use the large stage to their advantage, just to watch the utterly sublime bass playing technique of Mark is worth the ticket price. ‘Lessons in Love’ finally persuaded almost everybody to get up and dance, and eventually, much to the fans disappointment the show finally had to end with ‘Hot Water’, closing a highly enjoyable set.

Review by Greg Taylor
Photos by Christopher Williams