The Human League
The Human League
Posted: 14 Dec 2010
The Human League
The Sage, Gateshead
13 December
The Human League packed out The Sage and, despite the claims that this was a showcase of their first album since 2001, it turned out to be a tour through their frequent visits into the upper echelons of the singles charts.
As the songs rolled by it was a reminder of just how many massive hits the Sheffield electro pop outfit have enjoyed. Virtually every song had the audience on their feet: Mirror Man, Love Action, Tell Me When, Fascination, The Lebanon, Open Your Heart, Together in Electric Dreams and of course Don’t You Want Me – arguably the best pop song of the 80s – were all lapped up.
Front man Phil Oakey stalked the stage, pounding from side to side while fellow vocalists Susan Ann Sulley and Joanne Catherall brought life to the synthesised music dominated by deep, heavy bass lines.
Throughout the show, a backdrop of film montages provided visual accompaniment to complement numerous costume changes. Clips of Adolf Hitler, animal carcasses being butchered and nuns French-kissing could keep an amateur psychologist looking for deep resonance in the compositions. But essentially The Human League are more Top of the Pops than Old Grey Whistle Test and pretty good at it they are.
The long-awaited new album ‘Credo’ is out in March. Just two songs were played from it: Electric Shock which opened the show and the new single Night People. Maybe there could have been more of a taster of the new material as, at barely 70 minutes including encores, the show came to a sudden halt just as it was in full swing. It was an early finish for a 40-something audience re-living their youth and remembering much later nights than this one.
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