THE HUMAN LEAGUE

In the late 1970s, in the England of Rotten and Vicious, you had to have a pair of balls of steel to crawl onto the stage in the punk clubs of Sheffield and the surrounding area with more electronic boxes than guitars. We would have loved to have been there when THE HUMAN LEAGUE plugged into the mains in a local club without a trace of nervousness and unleashed “Being Boiled” on the audience for the first time. It's always great to witness a turning point in pop music live, of course. 'Being Boiled' became an indie hit, and the LPs “Reproduction” (1979) and “Travelogue” (1980) were solid proof of Philip Oakey's flawless talent for reaching the highest heavens with his melodies, using just a few notes, a bunch of bleeps and a friendly drum machine. Two-thirds of the group were waved off, two singers (Joanne and Susan Ann) jumped into the crater left by the boys' exit and voilà: “Dare” (1981) became the masterpiece that the new synthesiser pop craved. ‘Dare’ is so magnificent that the entire British and European competition spent months, if not years, tossing and turning in bed, consumed by envy. For forty-five years, we have been listening to at least a few tracks from that album before going to sleep, and after all this time, it still feels like a kind of private Christmas Eve every time. Incidentally, no one remembers what they were doing in November 1981, but everyone remembers listening to “Don't You Want Me”. After “Dare” came “Hysteria” (1984) and “Crash” (1986), bringing with them even more hit singles. Fun fact: a group of experts once calculated that the number of bedroom walls covered with posters of Joanne and Susan Ann, whose smiles conquered your night-time dreams at the time, are roughly twelve times as long as the Great Wall of China. Finally, The Human League's concerts, which have now crossed the boundaries of the twenty-first century. The light shows are among the best, the beats and sounds show no signs of ageing, and the songs, oh man, the songs. Ask hundreds of British and European competitors of The Human League what they think of Oakley's wonderful songs. That will keep them tossing and turning for years to come.  Join us on Sunday 2 August.