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Live Reviews
Live Review: The Human League at Royal Festival Hall in London on 10 Dec
By Marc Samuels | Published on Thursday 16 December 2010
If ‘Credo’, the League’s forthcoming album, is indeed a return to their original aesthetic, as promised by Phil Oakey during this gig, then the brutal modernism of the South Bank somehow feels like an apt venue for the group’s futurist pop.
Opening the set with a new song (the pulsating ‘Electric Shock’) is a brave move, as for that matter, is Phil Oakey’s decision to wear a black hoody for his stage entrance (which he soon sheds for smarter couture, but for a time he looks like a cross between Kenny from South Park and an unsavoury local teenager). And whilst both said track and brilliantly daft new single ‘Night People’ are greeted with polite applause, it’s the hits the crowd inevitably go wild for; ultimately everyone is here for the exercise in nostalgia that this was always going to be.
All the group’s synth-pop classics are wheeled out – ‘Mirror Man’, ‘Love Action’, ‘Tell Me When’ et al and there are few surprises, though League purists are appeased with crunchy renditions of ‘Being Boiled’ and ‘Empire State Human’, whilst the appearance of ‘Heart Like A Wheel’, from 1990’s under-rated ‘Romantic?’ album, is also very welcome.
The stage design’s stark white minimalism adds to the sleekness yet the films on the backdrop are a little bit hit and miss, which is a surprise given the League have always projected a strong visual identity, understanding its power as the MTV-era took hold in the 80s. But footage of US marines and explosions in The Lebanon is just awkwardly unsubtle.
That said, it doesn’t take the edge off a riotous romp through a back catalogue that, with electronic pop the defining sound of the last few years, has finally become ageless, even though these songs have always felt like an intrinsic part of our pop history. Phil and The Girls seem to have enjoyed themselves too, let’s hope’s the new album (out in March) proves to be worth the wait. MS
