The Human League - A Premier Performance

Carol Decker and the rest of T'Pau took the stage at an unusually early time of 6.45pm, when most of the audience was still waiting to enter the AO Arena in Manchester. They performed to a nearly empty arena, giving the impression to those in attendance that they had accidentally entered the sound check. However, this didn't stop Decker from delivering her heart and soul, as expressed in one of their hits.

By the time the band had performed their worldwide number-one hit, China in Your Hands, the hall was beginning to fill up on what had seemed like a missed opportunity to witness a band still at their peak.

As Sophie Ellis-Bextor arrived on stage in one of her trademark sparkly dresses, she boasted that she had finished her Christmas shopping in the city earlier in the day—also in the bag tonight was an engaging, entertaining, and exciting set. 

Like a resume of one of the best Christmas party playlists you will hear over the festive season, her all-too-brief set ended with Murder on the Dancefloor, as her mission to warm up the audience for tonight’s headliners had been accomplished in style.

The Human League made a spectacular entrance; without revealing too much, anyone who witnessed the recent Janet Jackson tour will understand that the ploy is not particularly original.

Rather than solely relying on their greatest hits, the band also drew from their earlier work following their successful period.

The Path of Least Resistance and Empire State Human both from their debut album, Reproduction, gave an insight into their electronica influences before the band discovered their pop sensibilities.

Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley accompanied Oakey as he sang the big hits that followed, his rich voice as commanding as ever, sounding like some of the best eighties pop songs you will hear—which, in many cases, they are.

The Sound of the Crowd and, of course, Don’t You Want Me, the latter teased with a somewhat overlong introduction allowing the three singers to have a costume change, ended a night that might have seemed nostalgic, though as far as being a pinnacle of eighties music goes, the band is still at the top of their league.

The tour continues in the north with a date at Leeds First Direct Arena on Friday, 13th December.