Metamatic Forums Socialising The Green Room The Human League

After threads dedicated to other artists such as Gary Numan, Blancmange and, er, Zaine Griff thought it was about time we had one dedicated to the mighty Human League.
I was inspired by reading this about yet another "80s revival" tour .. aren't The Human League really worth more than this?
Your views please ladies and gentlemen..

The League are worth much more than that! Sadly though, they've been playing those nostalgia package tours since the late 90s. I guess its a good earner for them.

But are they going to play greatest hits forever?

I work opposite the building their private studio is in - think we ought to formulate a plan to kidnap them, and lock them in with their synths and a tape recorder!!

They should start thinking about doing more tours in their own right again. If artists like John and Numan dont like to get tied down to their own 'album gigs and nostalgia tours' too much, then the League should take note and stay away from these 'package tours'.

Holy cow! ..and do they actually go in there sometimes??

Not as much as they should do these days.

In 8 years I've only ever seen Phil outside once! Though I have seen his car more than once... though that doesn't necessarily mean he's in the studio! He could be in the Red Lion or anywhere!

I saw The Humming Leg a couple of times in 1980 when they were still a good band, just the three of them on stage with Adrian (?) doing the slide shows. That's when they used to do their awesome cover of Perfect Day. I never liked their stuff after Travelogue, really lost interest.

Fast forward to 2006 (I think) and me and my mate went to a Human League gig at Barrowlands in Glasgow. We walked out after the support act finished and the bouncers explained to us, with a look of concern on their faces, that we wouldn't be able to get back in if we left now. We just laughed and walked away to the nearest pub. Who was the support act? Some guys called John Foxx & Louis Gordon. And believe me, that's the only way you'd get me to a Humming Leg gig these days!

Ô¿Ô

You have no idea how much I loved this band. But you just have to let some things go.

It was the 'Secrets' tour for me that was the final nail in the coffin. Superb album - a real return to form. So my heart sank when I saw them on the tour which was essentially the same set of songs they've been plundering for years now, with just one or two tracks from 'Secrets' thrown in and I suspect this was only done for legal reasons to avoid the trade descriptions act.

I want to see a pioneering synth band, performing new material, if I wanted to see a cabaret act with a Bontempi, I'll get the ferry to Dublin.

It's just not The Human League anymore. Only the name remains.

I've seen the Human League the last 5 years running and they do their own shows as well as these money spinning here and now things.

My last 2 reviews

The Human League

Newcastle Academy 10/12/06

4th Christmas in a row that I've seen the League and every time they are the model professionals pumping out in their own inevitable style exactly what the majority of the crowd want to hear. You can't fault them in that respect as the stage show was easily the best so far, the sound was fabulous and since Phil has got his ear piece in he doesn't ruin his voice early on in the tour any more leaving the rest to suffer his strained tones.

But

I must be honest now in IMHO it's all turned very predictable and over safe... where was the spark....the electricity...the excitement? It's now just a Christmas disco and badly needs an injection of new material. Come on they must be getting a tad bored doing the same stuff year in year out? I know Secrets wasn't the hit it deserved to be but it must be time now to head back to the studio and try something new or it will all just fade away.

Good one after which just goes to show how peoples perception is iffy as overheard 2 blokes talking about the size of the audience.

'How many here 3000....4000?'

'Nearer 3000 and at that they will be making £5k each. Not a bad nights work'

Well then let's take this apart. For a start The Academy hold's just under 2000 and there were 4 people in the balcony seats which holds around 400. I can tell you from experience of the place as I've been 10 times since it opened last year that it was not packed down stairs by any stretch of the imagination so that's probably only about 1000 to 1200 people in there and tickets were £20. So £20 to £24k max between 7 of them on stage not to mention the promoters, sound and light engineers and the road crew.

You work it out.

Human League

Sage Gateshead 11/12/07

It must be Christmas (Ho yes it is!) because as regular as panto the League are on tour again. It's the 5th year on the trot I've seen them and last year I did say that they were becoming stale and boring and needed new material....well has anything changed??????

Truthful answer is this year Yes and No?

On reading the notes in the programme they claim they had been considering doing there seminal album Dare in it's entirety but had decided against it. So why change their mind now?

I think the answer is cynical as this may sound is the success OMD and Gary Numan had last year doing the same with Architecture and Morality and Telekon all albums being from the same time frame. Difference is this when the others did it the re-arranged the songs to suit a live performance where the League played the album track by track and even tried keeping the breaks in between the songs as it was on the album. This to the purist would seem the thing to do but it didn't let the gig flow like it should have and had the effect of getting the slightly stuffy sage audience up and down like yoyo's when the songs went from the up beat dance pop stuff to the slower more serious stuff the album contains. I just got fed up and made my mind up to stand after the first 2 songs but others just persisted until the album part of the gig finished.

The stage show was the best so far by a mile and the League where as professional as ever and I really had a good night but it still needs freshening up. The sound was brilliant and it was a sell out which they have failed to do anywhere in the last 5 years (Not that it's been empty by any means). The problem is that they already play Darkness, Love Action, Sound of The Crowd, Things that Dreams Are Made Of, Open Your Heart and what's that other one .......Don't You Want Me which is the majority of Dare during a normal set and It ready summed up when they did there 'Greatest Hit's' section of the show and Phil introduced All I Ever Wanted as the latest song....2001 for Christ sake.

In Short

-ive's.... Diss-jointed song selection... Same material

+ive's.... Venue....Sell Out.... Good Stage Show....Great Fun!

All in all 6 out of 10.

Yes they do their own shows Gary, but i just wish they would not do the nostalgia to such a degree. And going in that studio to make a new album could only help.
Unlike some artists who enjoy a bit of retro, they seem to be stuck in it. Its a shame, as their one of the greats in the field of synth music.