Gary and Raven Numan Light Up Dublin’s 3Olympia – Live Review
By Gary Numan
Telekon 45th Anniversary Tour
Gary Numan rolled into Dublin last night with the swagger of a man resurrecting a dystopian masterpiece, and the 3Olympia Theatre rose to meet him like a cathedral built for synth-driven salvation. The Telekon 45th-anniversary tour — complete with its razor-edged industrial stage setup — landed as a full-blown spectacle of lights, noise and neon-soaked nostalgia.
Bathed in a barrage of red-and-white lighting — part air-raid warning, part Star Trek warp-core glow — Numan stalked the stage like a dark prophet. His vocals sliced through the room with the same alien fragility that made Telekon feel revolutionary in the first place. The crowd — a mix of lifers, goth romantics and younger disciples raised on his influence — treated every synth stab and mechanized beat like sacred scripture…
The setlist, naturally, was the full Telekon album played front to back. Numan opened with “This Wreckage” — dark, mechanical, and driven by a beat that feels like it’s stalking you in the half-light. He dove straight into “Remind Me to Smile” before unleashing the ticking time-bomb tension of “Remember I Was Vapour.”
The rest of the set unfurled in true Numan fashion — all sharp angles and shape-shifting silhouettes, his every movement syncing seamlessly with the relentless shifts in light and colour, while the sold-out crowd devoured every second.
All shows must end, of course, and Numan chose to bow out with a blast of Tubeway Army classics — “My Shadow in Vain,” “Friends,” “Listen to the Sirens,” and a towering “Down in the Park.” Each one brought roaring approval from the crowd, sending a crescendo of noise rippling through the theatre.
Verdict
For anyone who remembers Numan rewiring our musical tastes back in the late ’70s and early ’80s, seeing him still command a stage like this is a thrill. He’s always been a boundary-pushing force, a conductor of synth and shadows, and tonight’s show was everything — and then some. After all, he is Gary Numan. #Wonderful
Setlist
| This Wreckage Remind Me to Smile Remember I Was Vapour I Dream of Wires Telekon Sleep by Windows A Game Called ‘Echo’ Photograph Please Push No More Like a B-Film The Aircrash Bureau | I’m an Agent The Joy Circuit I Die: You Die We Are Glass My Shadow in Vain (Tubeway Army song) Friends (Tubeway Army song) Listen to the Sirens (Tubeway Army song) Down in the Park (Tubeway Army song) |
Connect With Gary Numan
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter X
Opening Act Raven Numan
Raven proved she was more than just a pleasant addition to the tour. Having caught tracks like “Just a Number” and “Overwhelming” over the past year, the spark was always there — live, it ignited fully, marking her a support act who demanded attention.
Vocally powerful and with a stage presence to match, she opened with “Children of the Bad Revolution” — a track packed with all the hallmarks of a powder-keg dance anthem, and easily one of my favourites from her set.
Other standouts included the emotive “Here for Me,” the chant-like intensity of “Inside of You,” and her fearless take on Nine Inch Nails’ “In This Twilight,” which she absolutely smashed.
Raven Numan has bundles of talent, and her set was electric on every front. If there’s one gripe, it’s that the stage setup made it feel like part of the main show rather than a fully individual opener. Still, I can’t wait to catch her on her own tour — that spark has grown into a blaze that’s ready to roar. #GreatOpener
Connect With Raven Numan