Review: Bryget Chrisfield, Photos: David Harris
Handheld paper fans are the savvy accessory of choice with tonight’s overnight low forecast to be a sweat-inducing 26 degrees.
As we settle into our seats anticipating The Human League – who will perform their hits-laden debut album Dare! (1981) in full plus additional synthtastic smash hits – we clock an upstage riser elevating a pair of white, space-age synth stations either side of a drum kit.
The house lights dim – what the heck? Looks like these synth pioneers will hit the stage 15 minutes earlier than advertised! The Human League’s bombastic orchestral intro tape sets the scene as three backing musicians sporting matching suits – think: Men In Black, minus the dark shades – take their positions on the riser and usher in the uplifting, incandescent Mirror Man. “Oo-Oo-Oo-OOoo!” – we coo on cue until our vocalists arrive on stage.
Lead singer Phil Oakey bounds out. Gone is the edgy asymmetrical haircut, he’s now a self-described “bald, old guy with a stick-on beard”. Glamorous BV duo Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley appear, dolled-up to the nines. Squee, we already know this is gonna be one for the ages!
Oakey found Catherall and Sulley – then 18-year-old schoolgirls with no previous professional performance experience – dancing in the Crazy Daisy Nightclub in Sheffield. And these ladies still move as if they simply can’t help themselves, hips hypnotised by the crisp beats and synth wonderment they’re experiencing. They do a fab job of conducting audience handclaps/arms swaying overhead throughout as well.
For song two, Tell Me When, both keyboardists strap on their keytars before heading downstage to bookend The Human League’s three singers.
By the time we arrive at The Lebanon (song five) Oakey has disappeared briefly several times for costume changes, although potentially just switching out sweat-drenched shirts. Covering a lot of ground in his platform footwear, Oakey is an imposing presence and his passion for fashion throws up some spectacular looks, our personal fave of which he changes into before the aspirational slice of bliss that is The Things That Dreams Are Made Of: a debonair black-and-white checked suit with trademark flared pants. “Everybody needs love and adventure… cash to spend… love and affection… two or three friends…” – the gospel according to The Human League.
Set highlight (Keep Feeling) Fascination’s keys hook evokes a playground taunt, but it’s the opposite of annoying. Oakey has said he often tried to mimic Iggy Pop’s deep baritone, which this song’s how-low-can-you-go, “Hey, hey, hey, HEEEEEEY!” part demonstrates.
Visuals wonderfully enhance each songworld, with Open Your Heart dealing a nostalgic Pac-Man fix on the giant screen behind the band.
“Add your voice to the sound of the crowd…” Oakey coaxes during The Sound Of The Crowd, for which the keytarist duo once again joins the action down front. Do Or Die’s chirrupy, still cutting-edge hook makes a couple of front-row diehards froth as they synchronise their ‘80s sidestepping while fanning themselves to the beat – substitute backup dancers, in case needed.
Oakey returns to the stage donning a Matrix-esque leather coat for the moody I Am The Law. Then the ladies join him for Love Action (I Believe In Love). Oakey plucks a piece of A4 paper from the front of the stage, flipping it to reveal the word “Saturday”, printed in large font. “As if I don’t know what day it is!?” he responds, a bit crankily. The song that propelled The Human League to superstardom, Don’t You Want Me, closes out their main set and proves to be the satisfying singalong moment we all anticipated. “I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar…” – Sulley’s co-starring turn, clearly her fave part of the set, goes down particularly well.
Opening the encore, Being Bold, which evokes Visage’s Fade To Grey, gives the drummer permission to shine on his electronic drum kit. Then it all draws to a close Together In Electric Dreams, Oakey’s swoon-worthy collab with Giorgio Moroder for 1984’s Electric Dreams film.
“These are the things/ These are the things, the things that dreams are made of…” – as we spill out of the Palais, this refrain repeats on loop in our internal jukebox like a mantra. How good were the ‘80s? Just by looking cool in da club, like Joanne and Susan, you could wind up in a chart-topping band! Not to diminish The Human League in any way, their timeless appeal cannot be denied.
