Review: Level 42 bring ‘World Machine 40th Anniversary Tour’ to Cambridge Corn Exchange

The jazz-funk pop band, who formed on the Isle of Wight in 1979, brought their World Machine 40th Anniversary Tour to the Cambridge Corn Exchange on Wednesday, 8 October.

Led, as ever, by founding members singer/bassist Mark King and keyboard player/vocalist Mike Lindup, the much-loved group are celebrating four decades since the release of World Machine, one of Level 42’s best-known and most successful albums.

And fittingly, they played the album this evening in its entirety, but not before Roachford provided excellent support, their timeless 80s anthem Cuddly Toy - memorably used in the opening credits of the 2013 film Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa - generating the biggest response.

The seven-piece Level 42 (guitar, bass, drums, keyboards and a three-man horn section) opened with the title track of World Machine and followed it with the album’s other nine tracks, all performed in the order in which they appear on the record.

Track three, the mega-hit Something about You (also the band’s biggest chart success Stateside), was definitely the highlight for me early on.

It sounded as good and as fresh as it did all those years ago, as does Mark’s voice and bass playing.

Indeed, long hailed as one of the best bass players in the world, the frontman demonstrated his sublime skills on the instrument throughout tonight’s performance.

Mark spoke to the crowd for the first time after Something about You, thanking us for coming and asking how we were.

He then introduced the next song, the melodic Leaving Me Now as “the ballad”. It was another standout from the set.

After the World Machine songs came to an end with Lying Still, the band moved on to other songs from their impressive discography - Running in the Family, The Sun Goes Down (Living It Up) and, of course, the 80s pop classic that is Lessons in Love the most familiar among them.

The three-song encore consisted of Heaven in My Hands, The Chinese Way and Hot Water.

This was an enjoyable evening of music, delivered to us by a very competent band, though it has to be said that, for me, none of the other songs quite hit the heights of pure pop perfection like Something about You does. What an absolute gem of a song that is!