Heaven 17

 

Storm Claudia ensures I have a vile drive up for Heaven 17’s hometown gig at the Octagon Centre in Sheffield. The venue is sold out but is still roomy. Perhaps that's deliberate for us oldies.  

Tonight's support comes from Rusty Egan’s disco. Egan was the drummer with Visage as well as being in many other bands. Tonight, being a DJ is almost all there is to it as he plays the hits of the 1980s. He does play us one track from his new album which is called ‘Stranded’ which apparently he has recorded with Peter Hook and he tells us he wants to film us for the video. So, we all wave. There is no sign of Peter. 

Then at ten past eight someone comes on stage and taps him on the shoulder. Clearly telling him he's ran out of time and to get off the stage. So, he does. 

There are minimal stage changes to do between bands as he didn’t have much kit and Heaven 17 don’t use fancy things like guitars, so there’s none of them to tune either. But hang on. Is that a guitar I see? Wasn’t these fancy guitar things the reason Martyn Ware left the Human League? 

But then I’m distracted from my thoughts as the lights drop and ‘Crushed by the Wheels of Industry’ thunders from the stage. This has always been a favourite of mine but my first thoughts tonight are WTF is Martyn Ware wearing. Closely followed by my second thought that Glenn Gregory still has a very strong voice. I try to concentrate on the music without being distracted by Ware’s jacket and his fedora.  

The two of them are joined on stage by two backing singers, Rachel and Kelly, along with keyboard player Florence Sabeva. The other ex-Human Leaguer, Ian Craig Marsh, left the band in 2006. 

‘We Don’t Need This Fascist Groove Thang’ is next and aligns with the message Gregory’s chest. It is a song that shouldn’t be relevant these days, referencing as it does a rogue President of the United States in Ronald Reagan, but obviously it is. Then it’s ‘Play to Win’, the song that got them on ‘Top of the Pops’. 

Between tracks, Gregory and Ware banter with each other. They talk about the old days, the Human League, and the fact they met up with Phil Oakey today in Fagans Irish Bar. They say they tried to get Phil to guest with them tonight and do ‘Being Boiled’ but they failed. He wanted to rehearse whereas they were just happy to see how it went. Then they play ‘Geisha Boys And Temple Girls’ which is about a night out in Sheffield. 

An excellent ‘Come Live With Me’ is followed by Gregory doing the first part of ‘We Live So Fast’ on an acoustic guitar. Wow, I didn’t know he could play and he was really good. Then we blast into the full version. 

The set list comes mainly from their first two albums but their second, non-album, single ‘I'm Your Money’ makes an appearance but is curtailed when someone is ill in the crowd. Then once everyone is alright again we get a sing-along to ‘Let Me Go’. 

 

At the end of the main set they leave the three girls alone on stage to start ‘Temptation’ while Martyn Ware gets some big feathers on. 

After a short break, Gregory and Florence Sabeva start the encore with ‘Party Fears Two’. This is a song by The Associates that they sung at Billy MacKenzie’s memorial. It’s a little bit emotional. 

The next song, a cover of Bowie’s ‘Let's Dance’ is just plain odd and then they close with the previously mentioned ‘Being Boiled’ but without Phil obviously.   

This is the first time I’ve seen Heaven 17 live but then they didn’t even do a tour until 1997. Ok, so I’m still thirty years late to the party but I’m here now.