China Crisis

China Crisis

The Arc, Stockton-on-Tees

20.11.2014

Back with a new album, their first in 20 years - courtesy of an online pledge campaign - China Crisis are currently touring the UK.

They pulled the curious trick of being their own support act, with the trio of Eddie Lundon, Gary Daly and Brian McNeil performing a small number of stripped back songs before taking a break. They emerged again around 20 minutes later, joined by three more band members.

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I'm not particularly familiar with China Crisis and their style and am still not so sure what to make of some aspects of their performance. The on-stage language was enough to make Stocktonians blush (no mean feat) and some of Gary Daly's humour and dance moves - bordering on self-parody at times - made it unclear just how seriously he was taking things.

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However, musically everything was impressively tight. Highlights from the back catalogue included African and White, Christian, Working With Fire and Steel, Black Man Ray and Diary of a Hollow Horse.

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The new album, Autumn in the Neighbourhood, is currently at the 'polishing prior to release' stage. A handful of the new songs were giving an airing, topped and tailed by requests not to record and post them on the Internet, partly so as to not to spoil the impact of the new album's impending release and partly because the band was apparently aware that mistakes could be made on songs they had played only rarely. The songs in question were Autumn in the Neighbourhood, Fool and Down Here on Earth. The first impressions are very favourable. Indeed, it would have been good to hear more of the new material.

Incidentally, even though the online campaign smashed through the initial target, it is still possible to pledge and claim a suitable reward.