Spandau Ballet have been called many choice names over their 35-year career, from vacuous opportunists to preening narcissists to vile Thatcherite hellspawn. It’s therefore a considerable surprise to peer behind their glossy sheen to discover five down-to-earth, genuine geezers.
That, at least, is the impression that emerges from Soul Boys of the Western World, the tremendous new band biopic constructed almost entirely from original archive footage. They premiere this film here tonight before a gig which, as singer Tony Hadley wryly reflects, is the first time they have played the Albert Hall since 1983, “when True was number one”.
The George Hencken-directed movie adroitly traces their trajectory from north London punks to Blitz Club clotheshorses to 80s chart-dominating purveyors of bombastic blue-eyed soul. It is lent poignancy by their acrimonious split and subsequent intra-band court case over royalty payments, before they finally buried the hatchet and re-formed five years ago.
It’s thus a touching moment when Hadley and band leader and songwriter Gary Kemp, the two main adversaries in the bitter break-up, open the set alone in the spotlight to croon Through the Barricades. Nevertheless, it is one of Spandau’s more ponderous, clunky numbers, and Hadley’s stentorian bellow will forever be an acquired taste.
It’s easy to forget that Kemp’s initial musical epiphany was the alien exoticism of glam-era David Bowie, and Spandau’s 1980 debut single To Cut a Long Story Short remains a sharp exercise in art-pop weirdness, all twitchy synths and bubbling urgency. The muscular funk of Chant No 1 (I Don’t Need This Pressure On) similarly dates from an era when they were perceived – and certainly perceived themselves – as firmly in the vanguard of the New Romantic revolution.
Yet thereafter tonight’s set reflects their calculated subsequent decision to ditch cult status and agenda-setting futurism in favour of slick, chart-friendly shoulder-heaving soul. Typical is Only When You Leave, which finds Hadley punching the air in time to Steve Norman’s trademark sledgehammer sax break like a footballer with a particularly rudimentary goal celebration.
They close with the double whammy of True, the juggernaut power ballad that Kemp was inspired to write by Altered Images singer Clare Grogan, and Gold, the brash blare of self-belief that appears to be constructed from pure titanium. It may be the least subtle song ever written, but, like Spandau Ballet, it mainlines sheer chutzpah.
• Soul Boys of the Western World is on general release from October 3.
