Known for groundbreaking hits like ‘Cars’ and ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’, Numan remains one of Britain’s most distinctive and continually evolving performers, blending electronic innovation with dark, cinematic atmospheres. His Crystal Palace Bowl date will bring that vision to a large-scale outdoor setting, set against the backdrop of one of London’s most historic music venues.

Over the past decade, Numan has redefined his live presence with meticulously designed shows that combine striking visuals, industrial rhythms and emotional performances. This Palace Bowl appearance is expected to push that ambition further, pairing his signature production style with the dramatic setting of the Bowl. While full production details are yet to be revealed, the concert is anticipated to feature an extended setlist spanning his early synth classics, cult fan favourites and newer material from his post‑2010 renaissance.

Support on the day will come from Marc Almond, performing the songs of Soft Cell and solo hits, plus Ladytron, underlining the event’s focus on synth‑driven, left‑field pop and electronic innovation. For long‑time followers, the scale and setting of this show carry special resonance: more than 45 years after his landmark 1979 Wembley Arena concerts helped prove that electronic music could fill major venues, Numan’s return to London on this scale reaffirms both his enduring influence and his ability to command a crowd through pure creative energy.

Even in his late career, Numan’s cultural presence has remained strong, with his influence openly cited by artists ranging from Nine Inch Nails and Foo Fighters to The Weeknd and Lady Gaga. His sound, merging alienated lyricism, synth‑driven minimalism and heavy industrial undertones, has helped shape the blueprint for electronic rock and dark pop across four decades, making a summer night under the open sky feel like the perfect setting for his music.

As anticipation builds, the performance promises to be both a celebration and a statement, a night where nostalgia meets futurism in true Numan style, whether he is revisiting the icy pulse of his early synth‑pop or the towering, cinematic soundscapes of his more recent albums.

Tickets for Gary Numan at Crystal Palace Bowl go on general sale on Friday, February 20, at 10 a.m. Fans are encouraged to secure tickets early, with demand expected to be high for what is already shaping up to be one of summer 2026’s standout London shows.

You can buy tickets here.

Premiere: Ladytron share unreleased video for “Light & Magic”.

https://t.co/eoz4lnO7eQ@Under_Radar_Mag pic.twitter.com/DVxObgaREo

— Ladytron (@LadytronMusic) August 22, 2022

The video lay incomplete for twenty years and is spliced together from close-up stills of the band shot on slide film. The band told Under the Radar the story behind the forgotten video, “When we released Light & Magic it was expected that the title track would be a later single, and would therefore need a video clip of its own. But we were on the road and didn’t know how it would be done. We had all this beautiful slide film shot and envisaged animating it in some way, like a 1970s science fiction title sequence – Sapphire and Steel or something like that. We disappeared on the road, plans changed, and ideas were forgotten. Twenty years later here it is.” You can watch the video below.

September 17^th this year marks the 20^th anniversary of their landmark 2002 album, Light & Magic, and in celebration of the occasion, the Liverpool band delved into their archives. Along with the unreleased video, the band will release a short film about the recording of the album in Los Angeles and more unheard and unseen material, according to the magazine.

Ladytron were formed in Liverpool in 1999 by Daniel Hunt and Reuben Wu from Merseyside, Mira Aroyo from Sofia, Bulgaria, and Helen Marnie from Glasgow. The band named themselves after the Roxy Music song, “Ladytron”. Roxy Music co-founder Brian Eno spoke glowingly of the band in 2009, “Ladytron are, for me, the best of English pop music. They’re the kind of band that really only appears in England, with this funny mixture of eccentric art-school dicking around and dressing up, with a full awareness of what’s happening everywhere musically, which is kind of knitted together and woven into something quite new.”

In 2001 the band released their debut album 604 to universal acclaim, Pitchfork saying in their review of the album at the time, “They’re like an unabridged Encyclopedia of musical Eurotrash with a sharp pop sensibility. And with 604, they’ve made a fine debut full-length”; the review continued, “The tracks on 604 are sequenced intelligently and keep this slightly overlong album purring along nicely. Latter-day new wave may be old hat, but there’s still room for it when it’s done right.”

In 2019, following a four-year hiatus, the band released their self-titled sixth studio album,  Ladytron. The Guardian newspaper gave the album four stars out of five and said, “if any band was going to bounce back from years of acrimonious hiatus with a soundtrack to our troubled times, Ladytron seemed unlikely contenders. Yes, that Ladytron, from Liverpool, whose heavy-lidded, robo-cool vocals defined the electroclash movement of the early 2000s and who haven’t released anything since 2011. And yet their eponymous return is an immersive, invigorating and convincingly brooding stomp of disenfranchisement”.

The group released the new single partnered with artistic music video to applaud from fans. The video shows a cinematic comeback and features an enchanting performance from dancer Alexandra Tsiapi, graduate student at The Scottish School of Contemporary Dance located in Glasgow.

Chris Gordon has this to say about their beautiful new music video, “The video is a collaboration in movement,” he continues “Anthony knew Alexandra (Tsiapi) could express something physically that we do our best to express with words and weird noises. I spent a January morning filming her improvise to “Like Butterflies” in her beautiful top floor Georgian studio in Govan (Glasgow). She jerked and fluttered and floated all across the room with such grace and commitment, perfectly synched to the spiritual sense of the song.”

The new album set to be released in the coming year will be the groups second studio album and first album since 2006. However new music was still released, during the hiatus the band released the single ‘A Tall Tale’, the single marks not just one but two collaborations with Ladytron member Helen Marine, released 23^rd October 2020.

The Glasgow group formed in 2004 and released their first EP in 2005 entitled ‘Union of Knives’, followed by the EP ‘I Decline’ in April 2006 and found recognition through NME Magazine. The band released their debut album ‘Violence & Birdsong’ in July 2006 and found a fan in DJ Zane Lowe who played their music on his show drawing in avid listeners and fans. Through soundtrack listings and festival appearances, the band broadened their audience. Track ‘Opposite Direction’ was used in two TV shows, ‘The Vampire Diaries’ and hospital drama ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and further tracks were used in ‘Supernatural’.

Other collaborations include a commissioned song from The Tate Modern, the band were invited to create a track inspired by artwork as part of the ‘Tate Tracks’ project which went on to win an award. The song created through the project; ‘Circular breathing’ was featured on listening devices to enhance the viewer’s experience of ‘The Four Season’ by Cy Twombly. Fans heart sunk in 2009 when the band decided to call it quits, but their sighs did not last long as of July 2020 via social media they announced that a reunion was on the cards.

With such a long break between albums Union of Knives have sure come back with a vengeance, and with the tease of new music ahead, fans can rest assure that the band is back in business.

Click here to listen to the single.

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A post shared by Union Of Knives (@unionofknivesmusic) on Oct 30, 2020 at 10:48am PDT

‘A Tall Tale,’ is the second single released by the band in advance of a full album due to drop before the end of this year. The band announce on their website that ‘new material will be released on all the usual digital platforms and will be available in good old fashioned physical format.’ So far we have seen two music videos from the band accompanying the album’s first two singles, ‘High On Account of 0,’ and ‘A Tall Tale,’ with the rest of the album still to come.

Helen Marnie launched her solo career in 2013 under the artist name Marnie when she released ‘critically lauded,’ album ‘Crystal World,’ and continued in 2017 with her second album ‘Strange Words and Weird Wars.’  Before launching her solo career, Marnie helped found ‘one of the most respected pioneers in electronic music,’ band Ladytron ‘the best of English pop music.’ Receiving such praise from Eno must have been very important for the band since their name is taken from from the title of a song by his band Roxy Music.

Marnie last performed live as a solo act in 2018 at The Hug and Pint in Glasgow and Ladytron last scheduled tour dates for earlier this year. It is likely to be a product of the increased spare time that life under lockdown has given all of us that Marnie has taken to collaborating with bands like Union of Knives for exciting new releases and music videos. ‘A Tall Tale,’ is top of Union of Knives popular tracks list on Spotify with 39,692 plays already in the short time since its release last week.

‘A Tall Tale,’ is topped only in total plays by the band’s previously released songs ‘Opposite Direction,’ and ‘Evil Has Never,’ both of which featured on their 2006 album ‘Violence and Birdsong,’ hand have therefore had an additional 14 years to accumulate plays compared to their latest release which has reached a high number of plays very quickly. It is likely that the cult popularity of Ladytron and Helen Marnie’s resulting pedigree in the electronic music community has led to the quick and positive response to the track, as well as excitement surrounding Union of Knives’ return to music releases after over 1o years of silence.

Union of Knives’ video for ‘A Tall Tale,’ featuring Helen Marnie is available to stream on IGTV now as well as the band’s Youtube channel. The track is also available to stream in audio only form on leading platforms Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and Amazon Music.