In 1981 The Human League famously asked, “Don’t You Want Me?” and even after 30 years, at least to this NYC audience, the answer was a resounding “Yes!”. Last night the Best Buy Theater was packed with fans who came to see The Human League perform their hits spanning 3 decades as well as hear material off their new album, Credo. To a blog that worships electronic music, particularly the bands profiled in the definitive british synthpop documentary, Synth Brittania, seeing the Human League after seeing other luminaries like Gary Numan, OMD and Erasure all in the past year, this concert was to be the icing on our electronic cake.
The story of The Human League’s humble beginnings to its meteoric rise is the modern day take on a fairy tale. After a falling out with Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh (who would go on to form Heaven 17), lead singer Phil Oakey was left without a band, and in desperate need of recruiting new members to record an album. He discovered teenagers Joanne Cathedral and Susan Ann Sulley after seeing them dancing at a nightclub in Sheffield. With his new lineup, they went into the studio and recorded the album Dare. Fourth Single, Don’t You Want Me (urban legend has it Oakey originally protested its release, but finally relented), with its high gloss, big budget video would bring The Human League international acclaim and become one of the top selling singles of the year. After an absense of 10 years, they have released a new album, Credo, that is a sorta return to their Dare era sound.
We arrived at the theater shortly after doors had opened and were able to get to the front center stage without any problem (an advantage of seeing English synthpop artists in America). Opening act, Men Without Hats took the stage at 8:30pm. Lead singer, Ivan Doroschuck came out wearing a leather biker outfit and wore a …gasp…HAT and pranced around the stage while performing hits such as Safety Dance, I Like, Pop Goes the World and Where Do The Boys Go?. He was received warmly by the crowd who appreciated his energy and enthusiasm. At times problems with sound caused me and the floor to vibrate, and these technical sound difficulties would foreshadow later problems that nearly derailed a highlight performance from The League.
The Human League took to the stage at 9:30pm. We liked the mod white stage and equipment (even the microphones and stands were white) and minimal staging. They began the set after some mood music with new single, Never Let Me Go, which had their kaleidoscopic trippy video playing on a huge projection screen behind them to great effect. This was followed by two early classics, Open Your Heart and a personal favorite of ours, Sound of the Crowd.
Although the crowd was appreciative, the next few songs weren’t met with the same level of frenzy as Empire State Human, a fan favorite, which got the crowd dancing. This was followed by lead single, Night People, off of their new album, Credo.
Things took a dramatic change, after Oakey asked the audience to sing along to fan favorite, (Keep Feeling) Fascination, when a malfunction with the speakers caused the sound (particularly bass) to be reduced dramatically. Oakey was visibly shaken, but took things in stride, pacing the stage and shooting daggers at the sound technician while the girls adopted a “the show must go on” attitude and got the audience singing. It was a beautiful moment, where the artist and audience were united and determined not to let it ruin the performance. The problems with sound were only temporary and by the end of the song, the sound was back to normal, which was just in time for their biggest hit, Don’t You Want Me, that had the audience singing and hanging to every word (yes, I freely admit I was singing, “I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar”).
I was worried that with the sound problems, there may not be an encore, but The Human League did not disappoint and came back out to perform the single that started it all, Being Boiled and the not technically, but still League aligned, Together In Electric Dreams, which upon reflection seemed like the perfect closing to a perfect evening spent in electric dreams.
Set List
Never Let Me Go
Open Your Heart
Sound of the Crowd
Heart Like A Wheel
The Lebannon
Egomaniac
Empire State Human
Night People
Human
Love Action
All I Ever Wanted
Tell Me When
Mirror Man
(Keep Feeling) Fascination
Don’t You Want Me
Being Boilded
Together In Electric Dreams
I just want to give a special thanks to my sister Allison for taking photos and being the perfect concert buddy and for The Human League who gracially met us and fans after the show. They were very genereous with their time and allowed us to take pictures.
Related:
Concert Review: Erasure. L’Amour For the Old, A Little Respect For the New
Concert Review: Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Concert Review: Tom Hadley of Spandau Ballet
Bop 2 Pop 
Great article! Loved the vids too!!
Great article. I was at the show too, 2nd row near the right stage speaker. I was the Asian guy with the black shirt standing to the right of you and your sister. Your videos came out nicely. Mine had a muddy sound with the bass reverb so loud to the point a couple of them were unlistenable upon review.
The referb was crazy! I tried to video tape songs that didn’t have a lot of bass so they wouldn’t come out so bad. I totally remember seeing you! It was a great show!
Saw them do this show at very front of a crowd of about 10 000 back in the summer just before they took it across the Atlantic, in a word, awesome!
That’s so cool. I had a great time at the NYC show. Wore my Marsheaux tshirt and was shocked at how many people knew them. Love Action was my highlight of the show.
Sound of the Crowd, Lebanon (change the place name and it still tells a current story!) and Electric Dreams the highlight for me! The show was an outdoor summer gig only a few mile from Sheffield so nearly home town for them and a bill that featured the best of 80s Brit music, Toyah, Heaven 17, Level 42 to name a few but Phil, Joanne and Susan blew them all away!
Those are great tracks. I loved the video backdrop for Sound of the Crowd (I videotaped it) and I have to say Susan Ann Sulley totally stole the show. She was amazing. Everyone’s draw just dropped she had so much attitude and energy.. stunning.