Bolshie glam rockers, synthpop pioneers, a quasi-classical comeback at the turn of the millennium – the one thing Sparks have never been is understated. Even so, the setlist for their new world tour is considerable in its breadth.
Even the band’s soundtrack to 2021 musical Annette is represented via grandiose opener So May We Start. Arriving amid chiming bells and flashes of light, the Mael brothers settle immediately into that old dynamic: Russell the flamboyant frontman, strutting around the stage in his tailored black and red suit, his face still boyish in its glee. His mustachioed, bespectacled brother Ron is his opposite, hilariously po-faced behind his keyboard – the Roland logo cheekily misspelled as Ronald.
