On September 7th, 10cc played a nostalgic Sunday night show at Kemba Live! alongside opening act Max Gomez. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This show was 10cc\u2019s latest in their \u201cUltimate Ultimate Greatest Hits Tour,\u201d taking them around the United States, Europe, and Oceania. Due to the tour name, I knew that this would not be a showcase of 10cc\u2019s deep cuts, but nevertheless, the structured nature of a greatest hits tour did not mean that 10cc left their cheeky and slightly absurd British humor behind in the twentieth century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Formed in 1972 in Stockport, UK, 10cc\u2019s experimentation in art, prog, and experimental pop and rock has earned the band a legendary spot in the tomes of rock history. For those unfamiliar with their history and sound, much of 10cc\u2019s early-to-mid \u201870s tunes play like a genuine fever dream, while in the later 1970s and \u201880s, their sound leveled out to one more reminiscent of Supertramp, Electric Light Orchestra, Gerry Rafferty, and Queen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The concert was held at the indoor portion of Kemba Live! despite perfect weather because this layout enabled organizers to make it an entirely seated show, allowing for a wonderfully comfortable and civil concert-going experience. While the crowd skewed older, there were a few maverick 10cc super-fans in the mix who brought enough excitement to make up for everyone else\u2019s overall mellow disposition.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While 53 years have passed since the 10cc\u2019s founding, the band actually has 55 years of history. In 1970, founding members Eric Stewart, Lol Creme, and Kevin Godley first banded together under the name Hotlegs, changing their name to 10cc not long after the addition of Graham Gouldman. Gouldman is now the only founding member of 10cc who is still in the group, although all four original founding members live. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While not immediately relevant to this concert, I would like to include a bit about Godley and Creme\u2019s careers post-10cc. The two left the group in 1976 to pursue their duo act and to develop the guitar accessory The Gizmo \/ The Gizmotron, which they invented in 1969 and patented in 1975. The device was meant to attach to a guitar and vibrate the strings, resulting in a synthesizer-like sound. While featured on albums by Paul McCartney\/Wings, Led Zeppelin, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Cocteau Twins, and Throbbing Gristle, due to its tendency to malfunction, not only did the device fail commercially, but it also bankrupted its manufacturer. Godley and Creme eventually fell out due to creative differences and reportedly have yet to reconcile. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eric Stewart remained with 10cc for nearly two decades longer, and also split due to creative differences. Since his 1995 departure, Stewart reportedly refuses to speak with Gouldman and considers the current touring outfit an illegitimate 10cc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, there do not currently seem to be any hard feelings between Godley and Gouldman, as Godley played in 10cc\u2019s London show in March of this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to bassist\/vocalist Graham Gouldman, the current lineup is rounded out by guitarist\/occasional vocalist Rick Fenn, drummer Paul Burgess, guitarist\/keyboard player Mick Wilson, and multinstrumentalist\/vocalist Andy Park, since 1976, 1973, 1999, and 2024, respectively. Despite the group\u2019s personnel changes throughout the years, the current members of 10cc spoke well of their old bandmates and told fond stories of writing some of the older songs together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The show opened with New Mexican solo act Max Gomez. A folk artist, Gomez was a bit reminiscent of 70s storytellers such as Woody Guthrie and James Taylor. I enjoyed Gomez\u2019s entire set, as he is a talented writer and charismatic performer. I found my favorite part was the debut of an unreleased song, so I look forward to seeing what Gomez does for his third album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
10cc began their performance at a pleasantly punctual 8:30 pm with an unconventional start: they played the entirety of a lengthy recorded remix of Hotleg\u2019s \u201cNeanderthal Man,\u201d before taking the stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
10cc have a knack for taking a sad song and making it silly, with several songs even using the word \u2018silly,\u2019 as best exemplified in \u201cSilly Love,\u201d and more yet existing in the realm of the absurd, gimmicky, and lighthearted. If you have the attention span and a sense of humor for this, then you will also get the chance to enjoy some brilliant experimentalism. However, many of the songs on the setlist would be considered a bit long by today\u2019s standards, so, if you are Pinkpanthress, this show is seriously not for you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of the straight-up wackiest songs included \u201cLife\u2019s a Minestrone\u201d and \u201cClockwork Creep\u201d. While \u201cThe Second Sitting for the Last Supper\u201d and \u201cGood Morning Judge\u201d were silly in name, they are sneakily celestial in practice, and the live renditions of \u201cThe Wall Street Shuffle\u201d and \u201cThe Things We Do For Love\u201d made me gain a true appreciation for these 20th-century classics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The true crowning jewel of both 10cc\u2019s setlist and their discography is 1975\u2019s \u201cI\u2019m Not in Love.\u201d Both lyrically clever and atmospherically stunning, the \u201cI\u2019m Not In Love\u201d live rendition surpassed all expectations that 10cc set when the song topped charts in the year of its release. Likewise, the band delivered a lively performance of \u201cDreadlock Holiday,\u201d putting a surprise twist at the end by replacing the lyric \u2018Jamaica\u2019 with \u2018Columbus\u2019 when singing the line \u2018Don\u2019t like Columbus, I love it.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group also played a solo song by Gouldman, released in 2024, titled \u201cFloating in Heaven,\u201d which featured legendary guitarist and astrophysicist, Queen\u2019s Brian May, with a guitar solo and backing vocals on the recording. This song is nearly ambient, ironically sounding more like 1980s Eno than Queen. Nevertheless, it added an entirely new dimension to the performance, as I found the backstory of Gouldman being entranced by a satellite to be very humanizing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the conclusion of their fifteen-song set, a large share of the audience stood and began to leave, not expecting an encore. But as the band returned to the stage, the exodus reversed. The band signaled that their performance had truly ended by playing a recording of Glen Campbell\u2019s \u201cWichita Lineman\u201d as crowds filed out of the venue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This show was what I expected, which is exactly what you want from a \u2018Greatest Hits\u2019 show. 10cc themselves are a very likable group, and I could not help thinking during the show how these guys\u2014bar the much younger and American Park\u2014are some lucky British kids\u2019 cool grandfathers. If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend catching 10cc on their ongoing victory lap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
On September 7th, 10cc played a nostalgic Sunday night show at Kemba Live! alongside opening act Max Gomez. This show was 10cc\u2019s latest in their \u201cUltimate Ultimate Greatest Hits Tour,\u201d taking them around the United States, Europe, and Oceania. Due to the tour name, I knew that this would not be a showcase of 10cc\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":1917,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[24,25,27,19],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1916"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1916"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1921,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1916\/revisions\/1921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}