Into Live Music Review: Dave Formula & Noko

Concert: Dave Formula & Noko 
Venue: Glasgow, Saint Luke’s
Dates: 8 May 2026

It’s 2026 and here we are, watching and listening intently as Magazine’s keyboard player Dave Formula introduces the band. With his son Max on drums, singer Peter Petersen’s progeny Tim on bass duties with guitarist Noko – who played in Magazine 2009-2011 – completing the line up, it’s clearly a family and friends affair. At this point I looked around the jam-packed audience and it was evident that mums and dads were there with their kids (great parenting skills by the way) and of course, there were a slew of pals ready to drink in the music.

Let’s go back a while. It’s 1990 and I am asked by a new pal if I’ve ever heard of the band Magazine. ‘No’ I replied and soon I was handed three CDs to listen to, Real Life, Secondhand Daylight and The Correct Use of Soap (the latter remains one of the best album titles ever). Suffice to say, I became a convert.

Fast forward thirty-six years and as I look to my right, that same pal is standing next to me. His forearm tattoo of the Real Life album cover may be a little faded given the passing of time but like me – and those in the crowd – he is wrapped in the moment. A friendship that has endured for years built on music and nights like this. It really was a family and friends affair.

The night is billed Dave Formula & Noko Play Songs From Under the Floorboards and for ninety minutes or so, we were treated to a bewildering array of musicianship and tunes from Magazine’s back catalogue delivered with such pathos, connecting instantly with the listener, feelings that run deep and will remain intensely vivid for some time to come.

The band started with the instrumental The Thin Air, a track never played live before and therefore completely unexpected. With Formula’s keyboards a key feature, its cathedral-like majesty could almost have been preordained as solemnity and reverence echoed around the old church venue. 

There has been much written about punk and its aftermath – arguably the most fertile period for music in the last sixty to seventy years – but what is undeniable is the virtuosic and innovative impact of bands like Magazine, Gang of Four and Wire. A welcome run out of the Sly & The Family Stone cover Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) and you can forget post-punk, this was post-funk for the ages. A glorious take, Tim’s bass lines and Max’s drums locked in to provide the foundation for an unashamedly gaudy groover.

Singer Peter Petersen, the the front-man of French new-wave band Affection Place has history with Magazine, going back to 1980 when they supported them. His vocal was delivered with a nod to Devoto but never to the extent that it becomes a parody or a tribute. Petersen has his own style and that came through evidently on the night. With a look that straddled both Left Bank chic and Rat Pack cool and with an air of French self-assuredness, the songs were delivered with aplomb. Meanwhile, Noko, to his right, looked incredible. A post-apocalyptic space-age punk with the guitar chops to match. Far left, Formula moved from one set of keyboards to another, not quite the mad professor, more the musical mixologist. 

The high-tempo rockabilly dash of Model Worker (including a pre-song diatribe against the current POTUS) went down well but it was Permafrost that was the true highlight of the night. I sometimes get asked why I still go to gigs, aren’t you past all that…..What???? Well, I’ve been going to gigs for over forty years now and it’s moments like these, a musical fix injected into my sonic veins that will keep me coming back for another forty years. Words can’t and will never describe that feeling and it certainly doesn’t happen at every gig but when it does, you know. The bass felt threatening, the lyrics dangerous and the keyboards from another world. Cinematic, dark, brooding. A ‘moment’.

A Song From Under The Floorboards and The Light Pours Out Of Me were fitting tracks to end the gig. The latter again highlighted Noko’s guitar, the Pied Piper of fret work, the crowd enthralled and following each note hypnotically.

A three song encore ended with the first cut I ever heard by Magazine, Shot By Both Sides; a felicitous finale to the night. The drum rolls, the guitar peaks, the bass surges and the keyboard sounds exploding forth were an absolute joy, the crowd studied in appreciation all night but now gone in another ‘moment’………..

Review by John Welsh
@welshjb