Gary Numan: 1,000 - Live at the Electric Ballroom Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Gary Numan: 1,000 - Live at the Electric Ballroom Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 3, 2026

There's a treasure trove of information available for inveterate "chart geeks" (like yours truly) in terms of artists from somewhere other than the United States who have significant and consistent successes in other markets while only interstitially making waves on this side of the pond. One such notable example is Gary Numan, who had already had a Number 1 smash in the UK (albeit as part of Tubeway Army) with Are "Friends" Electric? in 1978, before Cars got to Number 1 in the UK and Number 9 in the US. But as Paul Harvey used to famously intone, "the rest of the story" is where chart action really diverges, with Numan repeatedly demonstrating pretty impressive chart action for singles in the UK through the eighties, and arguably on at least intermittently into the nineties, while kind of amazingly Cars remains his only real charting Hot 100 single in the US, and even more amazingly one of only two chart appearances on the main singles chart. While he has managed a couple of mid- chart attainments on the US Dance chart over the years, his aforementioned second "main singles chart" release was I Die: You Die which maybe humorously fulfilled its title by stalling at Number 102. All of this trivia may therefore allude to the fact that this Blu-ray release may be more of an attraction in the UK, something that may be further suggested by the performance's venue, The Electric Ballroom in London. The concert's number is a reference to the fact that this documents Numan's advertised 1000th solo performance, and the multipage MediaBook this disc in housed in offers a seemingly complete list of every live performance Numan has given, stretching back to 1979, in support of that accomplishment.

The concert's track list can be seen in screenshot 10 of the menu the disc boots to.

Gary Numan: 1,000 - Live at the Electric Ballroom Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Gary Numan: 1,000 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of BMG with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. This comes with a prefatory warning about strobe effects, flashing lights and other endangerments for epileptics, and I'll only say even those not encumbered by that issue may occasionally need to look away from the screen, which often is filled with incredibly bright flashes of light that all but obliterate the image, which, along with some de rigeur quick edits, can be a bit much to stare at. A lot of the concert features a relatively dimly lit stage with an upstage triangular panel that offers an array of imagery. The at time overwhelming changes in light values can lead to posterizing, and maybe ironically some of the darker moments can show very minor signs of banding in terms of smoky stage effects. Clarity is actually rather appealing when light sources are fulsome enough (and on long enough) and people aren't jumping around. Despite an interlaced presentation, combing artifacts really aren't a problem. Detailing on the upstage panel itself is also quite good.

Gary Numan: 1,000 - Live at the Electric Ballroom Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Probably disappointingly for many, there's no surround track on this disc, and instead the concert is offered in LPCM 2.0. That seems especially churlish considering Numan's entire history with synthesizers and layering various sounds, and may seem a peculiar omission given things like the wash of a low frequency drone D and sound effects that begin the concert which arguably could have been more immersive and with better low end in a surround mix. Even given the synth patches that predominate many tunes, aspects of this performance almost lean more toward power quartet flavors. The stereo track is nicely imaged and well prioritized, and vocals are well mixed into the proceedings.

Gary Numan: 1,000 - Live at the Electric Ballroom Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interview (HD; 9:31) offers Numan backstage.

As mentioned above, this is packaged in a MediaBook, with two CDs, and an exhaustive listing of each and every live performance Numan has given throughout his long career. The CDs are housed in pockets inside the front cover and first page (which is a sleeve), with the Blu-ray disc housed in a pocket in the back cover.

Gary Numan: 1,000 - Live at the Electric Ballroom Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Maybe because I am in fact on this side of the pond, I really wasn't completely aware of the breadth of Numan's writing and arranging, and I found this concert to be energetic and engaging, though my hunch is I'm not going to be alone in thinking this release really could have benefitted from a surround audio mix. Otherwise, though, Gary Numan: 1,000 comes Recommended.