Kelsey Heng on March 8th, 2014

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Words and photos by Kelsey Heng

Numanoids of all generations piled into the historic Mayan Theater on Thursday night to catch a glimpse of electronic music’s dark god Gary Numan. Supporting his 20th album “Splinter: Songs From a Broken Mind,” the 55-year-old is on a quest to prove he is still pioneer to the very movement he helped set into motion more than three decades ago.

The night’s eclectic audience showed just how far a late ’70s chart-topper’s appeal can reach. From women who proudly laid claim to having loved Numan since the release of “Tubeway Army” in ’78 to the younger front row crowd in matching Numan T-shirts passing around fan club invite cards, there was an undeniable sense of belonging.

From the first charging bass synth line of “Resurrection,” Numan, with arms constantly outstretched and displaying the energy of a man half his age, strutted, prowled and sneered for a lengthy 22-song set. Providing no more than a few “thank-yous” and split second grins, Numan kept to his ambiguity and defiant theatrics as his band provided the industrial darkness to match. Performing last year’s album nearly in its entirety, renditions of the classic hits were seamlessly weaved throughout including, “Down in the Park,” “Cars” and what was an out-of-body experience, “Are Friend Electric.”

For the man who is essentially known for having pioneered electronic industrial music, Numan’s stage performance didn’t once shown signs of slowing under the rise of the genre’s popularity. He performs with the tenacity of a man not even near being ready to close out on his legacy. Now a Los Angeles resident and new friend of Nine Inch Nails leader Trent Reznor, local fans seem hopeful his stage appearance will become more frequent, following his upcoming SXSW appearance, of course.

Roman Remains and Big Black Delta set the tone for the night and stood up well in proximity to the legend. Big Black Delta, led by L.A’.s favorite strobe lit silhouetted dancer Jonathan Bates, is usually the innovator of any lineup. However, with Numan, the band was a perfect pairing and came across as a voice of modern-day electro-industrial creation. London-based group Roman Remains – the new project from the Duke Spirit’s Liela Moss and Toby Butler – supported their debut release “Zeal,” giving grunge dissonance a punk playfulness.