Mike & The Mechanics – The Barbican, York – Friday 14th March 2025

MIKE CAN’T DANCE

A couple of years on from when we were last here at The Barbican, Mike Rutherford brings his Mechanics legacy up to date. It’s not yet the halfway point of a thirty date tour that climaxes at the Royal Albert Hall before heading into Europe. Amazingly it’s been forty years since the Mechanics first album. Apart from Mike, the line up is totally refreshed from that eponymous debut album, but the current gang is well bedded in.

It’s a tour that sees main mechanic, Mike Rutherford, hobbling on and offstage on crutches. he explains even before a note is played “I went and broke my f@@king hip!” However, he has a wide high seat on which to comfortably perch and a willing tech to deliver the tools of his trade and all is well. He jokes that he’s going to leave his moves to Tim Howar and we make a mental note to include the phrase: ‘Mike can’t dance.’

SET ONE

The Mechanics have built a set that gives a nod of acknowledgement to the Looking Back album – a best-of compilation encapsulating hit singles celebrating forty years since their debut record – but doesn’t stand still. There’s the small matter of looking forward with a couple of new songs. These rock stars don;t like the sound of retirement.

The opening flurry fulfills the promise of the billing. The hits come thick and fast. The standard early set duo of of Beggar On A Beach Of Gold and Get Up remain the scene setters

Two new songs – one for each of the Tim Howar/Andrew Roachford duel vocal combo. Song For You A Song For Me and East And West Of The Sun play to their respective strengths – the soul of Roachford and the musical theatre prowess of Howar. They bode well for the possibility of a new album. Likewise, the more recent Let Me Fly (less a production piece without the gospel voices) and in particular the bombastic Simple Minds stadium thumper, The Best Is Yet To Come serve the latter day Mechanics legacy well.

The promise of ‘a drift into Genesis’ sees one wag is quick off the mark with the shout for Supper’s Ready – not one Mike has heard since, probably the previous night. Albatrosses and all that. More predictable for this unit is Land Of Confusion, although the more accessible/pop strands of Rutherford’s old band will drift into view later in the set.

SET TWO

The newest Mechanic, Nic Collins once again proves to be a star. He seems to have gelled into the unit seamlessly and is noted having some fun throughout the set with Luke Juby and Tim Howar. Maybe a bit of a man crush going on there!? “His dad sat behind me for 53 years,” says Mike, looking back with a tinge of nostalgia.

The setlist star comes with the acoustic set that opens the second half. It’s a gentle stroll, sorry nostalgic drift, through Invisible Touch and Follow You Follow Me, but also into the Mechanics legacy. The sobriety of Nobody Knows and the contrast of the glass half full optimism of Everybody Gets A Second Chance a reminder that beyond the hits, thehat legacy has some depth.

SWITCH FLICKED

The Living Years gets the inevitable ovation, yet the switch gets flicked by the Roachford showcase of Cuddly Toy. Not much can match the electric energy of the Roachford voice and his landmark hit. Even I Can’t Dance which follows feels palatable as they band build on Mike’s riff without over-egging the cake.

Ruthers adds his own carefully planned solo to All I Need Is A Miracle as he has in the first half with Silent Running, leaving main guitar duties to the man he admits is more infinitely qualified, Anthony Drennan. The audience by now is stretching collective legs and all the while Tim is working the front stalls and making the day of a front row VIP, telling her he’s gonna love her for the rest of his life.

Mike and his Mechanics have the hits and beyond. The extended Word Of Mouth with solo spots might have been tested some by the end of the evening. Maybe better suited to the main set to leave the encores with a punch. However, no doubt that the boys will be back in the towns, looking like they’re not going to be calling time for a while yet.

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