The 80s had its own sound and The Human League were the sound of the crowd.
‘Dare’ was a massive album in Australia. ‘Don’t You Want Me’ is a classic. After eight years The Human League has returned to Australia to remind fans of the quality of a music era that no longer exists. The Human League’s show was a bit like time travel because there truly is no 21st century band who sounds like this anymore.
When The Human League landed towards the end of the 1970s, Led Zeppelin was still a band, John Lennon was still alive and Elvis had just left the building. What came out of England as we entered the 1980s was a changing of the pop guard and The Human League were one of the bands that lead that change.
Now at 62 Philip Oakey’s delivery of the songs he created 35 years ago with Susan Sulley and Joanne Catherall is true to the original. The only thing that Philip gives less of these days his hair. Across a 90 minutes set The Human League manage to represent their entire career starting as far back as 1980’s ‘Being Boiled’ from the pre-Dare album Travelogue before Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh left to form Heaven 17.
‘Dare’ was such an important moment of 80s music and justifiably gets a dominate placement in the show. While Oakey, Sulley and Catherall slipped out for a costume change the audience filled in on vocals for the first half of ‘Don’t You Want Me’.
The Human League started to dominate the 80s charts the futurist electronic sounds started to become mainstream. The hits came one after the other with ‘(Keep Feeling) Fascination’ and ‘Mirror Man’ being released in between albums to keep up with audience demand.
Philip Oakey even squeezed a solo hit in ‘Together In Electric Dreams’ in around the time with Giorgio Moroder and without Susan and Joanne.
The Melbourne crowd was one faithful brethren and got right into this after being starved of a live show for the past eight years.
The Human League, Melbourne, 13 December 2017 setlist
Sky (from Credo, 2011)
Mirror Man (from Fascination EP, 1983)
Heart Like a Wheel (from Romantic, 1990)
The Sound of the Crowd (from Dare, 1981)
Soundtrack to a Generation (from Romantic, 1990)
Seconds (from Dare, 1981)
The Lebanon (from Hysteria, 1984)
Human (from Crash, 1986)
Behind the Mask (new)
Open Your Heart (from Dare, 1981)
Love Action (I Believe in Love) (from Dare, 1981)
Tell Me When (from Octopus, 1995)
(Keep Feeling) Fascination (from Fascination EP, 1983)
Don’t You Want Me (from Dare, 1981)
Encore:
Being Boiled (from Travelogue, 1980)
Together in Electric Dreams (from Philip Oakey & Giogio Moroder, 1985)
Remaining The Human League Australian dates
15 December 2017, Sydney, State Theatre
16 December 2017, Gold Coast, The Star
17 December 2017, Brisbane, The Tivoli
Pseudo Echo opened for The Human League and will continue to open all of the remaining shows.
