The White Noise album was recorded on 11 December 1984 – the second-last show of Numan's Berserker Tour. It was released in March 1985 and reached number 29 in the UK album chart,[3] outperforming the Berserker (1984) album. White Noise also enjoyed great success in Belgium where it went to number 2.[4] An edited version of the show was released on video as The Berserker Tour in 1985 (subsequent DVD releases featured this shortened version of the show, until the entire concert was released on DVD in early 2008 under the title Cold Warning).
A month after the release of White Noise, four tracks from the album ("Are 'Friends' Electric?", "Berserker", "Cars" and "We Are Glass") were released as The Live EP. It reached #27 on the UK Singles Chart, outperforming the two singles released in 1984 from Numan's Berserker album (the title track, which reached #32, and "My Dying Machine", which reached #66).
Track listing
All tracks written by Gary Numan.
All timings are approximate and will vary slightly with different equipment.
Numan can be heard breaking into laughter during the show's closing number, "Are 'Friends' Electric?" This was because members of the support act, the music group Hohokam, put on women's clothing and broke onto the stage during the song's performance. One of the pranksters lifted his bra cup and "flashed" Numan, causing Numan to laugh.[6]