Watch ABC’s live session here - featuring hits from classic album The Lexicon of Love

Virgin Radio

6 May 2022, 06:36

Fronted by Martin Fry, ABC joined the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky to perform live from the top of the tower, and to chat about the upcoming 40th anniversary tour for album The Lexicon of Love. 

The band are playing venues across the UK in June, including a night at Royal Albert Hall in London and a hometown show in Sheffield. When speaking about their hit debut album from 1892, Martin told Chris: “I think most of our generation, like the guys in Duran Duran and Depeche Mode, you’d seen all the punk rockers, but they’d kind of not gone to the top of the charts, so we were chasing a bit of international pop stardom, I think. So, it was very ambitious.”

Talking about the upcoming tour, he added: “It feels good to come back after 40 years and play with a full orchestra and the band. 

Referring to the band’s slightly more stripped-back set-up for their set at Virgin Radio, the vocalist said: “This is our bijou set today, just for you guys!

Speaking more about The Lexicon of Love and its sound, Martin said: “We wanted to fuse a few ideas. We’d be out on a Wednesday night, listening to Earth, Wind & Fire and Sister Sledge, and then listen to Joy Division and The Fall, so it was kind of mixing up those worlds back then. That went into the thinking behind it.”

For the live set from the top of the tower, Martin was joined by Pete Rinaldi on guitar, Fergus Gerrand on percussion, Steven Williams on keys and Rob Hughes on sax. The original line up consisted of Martin, David Palmer, Mark White, and Stephen Singleton.

While at Virgin Radio, they played their smash hit Poison Arrow, which was the second single from The Lexicon of Love.

During his chat with Chris, Martin spoke about the first time ABC played on Top of The Pops. He said: “Wednesday afternoon, signing on the dole on West Street in Sheffield, and then [we] hitch-hiked to London. I think they taped the show on a Wednesday. And then, you’re through the portal!” 

He added: “The nice thing about having a hit record is that you have a couple of shillings come through the door, and I bought a washing machine. It was tough sitting in the laundrette!”

During their live session for Virgin Radio, the band played a cracking cover of Stevie Wonder’s Uptight (Everything's Alright).

Martin was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1986, at just 27 and when the band was at its zenith. He told Chris: “27 was a long time ago for me, but I did recover from that whole experience. But it was tough, being at the height of your powers and not being able to do everything that you wanted to do, through illness. I take that with me when I climb onstage, definitely. It’s a privilege to be up there on stage.”

He continued: “It’s wonderful to be able to climb onstage and play The Look of Love or Poison Arrow, or All of My Heart. You kind of grow into those songs. The years roll by, and to look out into an audience and see, when we play All of My Heart, sometimes people are wiping away a tear. They’re tears of joy, but a lot happens in 40 years. There are many ups and many downs. The rise and fall. 

“Everybody’s life is a rollercoaster, so I think that definitely feeds into the atmosphere at the gigs.”

Chris asked Martin what his first ever live performance was, to which the vocalist replied: “The first time I ever stepped onstage was at Middlesbrough Rock Garden, with Mark White and Steve Singleton, who were in Vice Versa. We got bottled off stage. We never left the stage, but they were throwing stuff at us.”  

He added: “I came off and they said, are you okay, and I said, ‘I love this.’ What can I say? Is that why I’m standing here today four decades later? I guess so.”

For tickets to The Lexicon of Love 40th anniversary tour visit abcmartinfry.com.

For more great live sessions and interviews listen to The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky, weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or catch up on-demand here.