Sparks, MAD! tour – O2 Apollo, Manchester – 21st June 2025

Sparks go MAD! in Manchester

Last month, Sparks released their 28th album, MAD! which shot to number 2 in the UK album chart, their best performance since 1974. This month, they’re taking MAD! on tour across the UK, Europe and the US.

The Reinforcements

Manchester’s O2 Apollo saw the immortal, flamboyant duo strut their remarkably agile stuff, especially noteworthy since the Mael brothers are getting on a bit. Ron on dour, enigmatic keyboards will be 80 in August, Russell on soaring, frantic vocals turns 77 in October. Sure, Ron’s trademark dance was shorter and less energetic than it used to be and Russell’s leaps into the air are measured in inches now rather than feet. Still, an impressive, non-stop, action-packed evening treated the packed out crowd of eager Sparks fans, known in the trade as The Reinforcements. Such has been the roller-coaster of the music industry for the brothers that they know better than to count their chickens.

So, may we start?

Opening with a song that has opened all of Sparks’ shows since it first appeared in the film Annette, Russell kicked off the evening with a polite request of the audience. “So…. may we start?” Thousands of voices screamed “Yes!” and the slick, well rehearsed band burst into those opening staccato piano chords that signal a song that really was made for the job. It’s hard to imagine Sparks ever opening with anything else.

“The authors are here and they’re a little vain.”

Introducing MAD!

Next up, one of the releases from the new album, Do Things My Own Way, served as a reminder that Sparks’ inconsistent chart success has often resulted from them being perhaps a little too avant garde for the record buying public. The album builds on the newfound success that Sparks have enjoyed, particularly with younger audiences, since Edgar Wright made his documentary (The Sparks Brothers) and Cate Blanchett appeared in one of their videos and danced with them at Glastonbury in 2023. By continuing down their own path, fame and success may have finally found them which seems more authentic than if they had always chased the latest fads.

The band played a little tribute to their fans with the next song, aptly entitled Reinforcements, and rounded off the first quartet of the evening with Academy Award Performance, a song from the 1979 No. 1 In Heaven album. The evening was getting off to a richly comprehensive start, mixing up the latest releases with some less well known tracks from way back.

Infectious rhythms

Beat the Clock was another old favourite that rubbed shoulders with a modern classic, Running Up a Tab At The Hotel For The Fab. It’s a song with the infectious bass rhythm that you might associate with Kraftwerk or The Human League and the urgent chord progressions and grungy guitar that are straight out of Depeche Mode’s playbook.

The strangest thing about the song is hearing Russell’s soft tones where David Gahan’s should be. Luckily, the song’s bridge slips straight back into Sparks’ home turf of weirdly playful operetta just to make sure you don’t forget who you’re listening to.

Dark satires

Big brother Ron caused quite a stir as he shuffled forward to centre stage for the ‘Ron version’ of Suburban Homeboy, a straight-down-the-line epitome of Sparks’ writing style, marrying a jolly, bouncy, catchy, singalong tune with lyrics that sound equally jolly until you actually listen to them at which point they become the darkest of satires.

“I am a suburban homeboy with a suburban ho right by my side, She’s known as Miss Missy Tannenbaum and she’s one freak bitch, ain’t no lie” … “She yo yo’s me and I yo yo her back” … “Props to our peeps and please keep your receipts, And we are suburban homeboys.”

It’s a song which so neatly parodies cultural appropriation in middle class America whilst also being irresistible to sing along to.

Sartorial back catalogue

The big song off the new album, the cinematic, epic, Drowned In A Sea Of Tears was a riveting highlight in the setlist. It marks the other extreme of Sparks’ songwriting style. At one end, subversive singalongs, at the other, epic operettas telling stories of life’s complexities.

Throughout the evening, Russell leapt and posed around the stage just like it was the good old days. Each Sparks tour comes with its own trademark wardrobe. For MAD!, Ron is all in black, which makes his rare forays to centre stage all the more exciting, whilst Russell sports a gorgeous floral suit.

A glance around the audience pretty much shows the full back catalogue of tour outfits. Breton stripes, berets, yellow, red and black, pink… for Ron and Russell it must be a very visible testimony to their impact on the lives of their fans. Anyone can wear a tour T shirt – Sparks fans really go the extra mile.

Cinematic influence

The evening wound to an almost-close with the three big ones, the holy trinity for Sparks fans; When Do I Get To Sing “My Way”, The Number One Song in Heaven and This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us.

My Way and Town illustrate an interesting point that comes up in Wright’s documentary, that a large part of the influence on the brothers’ songwriting came from their frequent childhood trips to the cinema.

My Way really does put Ron and Russell in the centre of the silver screen. Town pulls together a series of familiar movie tropes to tell a story of unrequited lust set against Russell’s soaring, gravity-defying vocal gymnastics that make Bohemian Rhapsody sound like a nursery rhyme.

Number one in Heaven

The Number One Song In Heaven is the most important song for many Sparks fans, merging infectious Giorgio Moroder synth beats which are almost too fast to dance to with lyrics which aren’t actually what they seem to be about. Ian Curtis even cited the album as the influence for Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart. Superficially, it’s a song which says that Sparks are so good that their music is number one in Heaven. Beneath the surface, well, people argue about the real meaning of the song. Some say it’s about the club music industry, some say it’s about advertising. The debate is part of the attraction of Sparks – their music is rarely what it seems to be.

Closing the set is another song from MAD!, Lord Have Mercy. It sounds a lot like something from The Beatles, maybe Let it Be or Hey Jude, with that singalong ending loved by Sparks audiences. In sympathy with a lot of artists these days, Sparks use the song to call for peace and understanding in the world. Just be nice to each other is the basic message. So easy to imagine yet seemingly as out of reach as ever.

Encore!

The evening can’t close without knowing who’s who and so the audience aren’t fooled by the band’s departure from the stage. Minutes later, of course they’re back to treat Manchester to the song which made Cate Blanchett famous (as a pop video dancer) – The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte. Cate sadly doesn’t make an appearance and so the audience are only too willing to step in, waving their arms frantically in sympathy.

The band are introduced and the grand finale ensues – All That from the 2020 album A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip. It’s an anthem of a song, and as perfect a closing song as So May We Start is an opening. A beautifully curated catalogue of thought provoking music indeed.

Ron and Russell take a moment to thank the audience, not in a trite, superficial way but with a deep sense of heartfelt gratitude. Ron says that the support of fans gives them the energy and the motivation for where they’re going next. It’s an optimistic tease and one which, knowing Sparks, will continue along the same highly individual path that Sparks and their Reinforcements have travelled for 54 years so far.

See Sparks Live

Sparks are touring until July 2025.

Sparks online: Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / YouTube / Bandcamp / Spotify

Keep up with At The Barrier: Facebook / X (formerly Twitter) / Instagram / Spotify / YouTube