HEAVEN 17 + MAGNETIC SKIES – CONCORDE 2, BRIGHTON 21.5.23
Heaven 17 are becoming as synonymous with their now seemingly annual pilgrimage to Brighton’s Concorde 2 as Madness are with their Christmas bonanzas at the Brighton Centre, the band enjoy playing this venue and faithful fans enjoy their appearances here. Accordingly, this was my third such encounter with Heaven 17 at the Concorde 2 and one I was looking forward to after watching Brighton and Hove Albion secure European football for the first time in their history earlier in the day.
Although not sold out, the venue was busy with a crowd consisting almost exclusively of an over-40’s age demographic, many of whom appeared to have followed the popular new wave synthpop band from their early days on the Sheffield music scene. Therefore when Glenn Gregory, Martyn Ware et al strode on to the stage, they were unsurprisingly greeted with great alacrity.
For the next 65 minutes or so, we were treated to a run-through of some of their most recognisable work, proceedings kicking off with the ever-popular ‘We Don’t Need This Fascist Groove Thang’ banned on release by the BBC due to its allegedly libellous references to the then-US president Ronald Regan. This song is always a good party starter and so it proved, closely followed by pop-funk number ‘Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry’ with the audience adding the obligatory “woo woos”!
Next up was ‘Play To Win’ which they performed on their first ever ‘Top of the Pops’ appearance and another set highlight included their UK number 5 hit ‘Come Live With Me‘ which still sounds as good now as the day it was released. An extended version of one of my favourites ‘And That’s No Lie’ sounded great, keyboardist Florence Sabeva facilitating its inclusion in the setlist.
Master of synths Martyn Ware had celebrated his 67th birthday two days before this performance, so singer Glenn Gregory with his perennial smile led the rest of the band and the crowd in a chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’. What Glenn didn’t mention was his 65th birthday was just three days before Martyn’s, but you wouldn’t know with his effervescent stage energy.
A couple of small gripes. Bar one track, the setlist was exactly the same as when the group played here 51 weeks ago, so resisting the urge to copy/paste/amend the review was tempting, but as a professional of course I would never do such a thing!
Additionally, I cannot understand why a band with such an impressive back catalogue continually insist on playing the insipid two bleep cover of version ‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin”(a cover of The Human League’s cover of the Righteous Brothers original) when fabulous authentic tracks like ‘I’m Your Money’ and ‘Sunset Now’ and are omitted from the setlist. The gentleman behind me joined in every word as did many in the crowd, so clearly the subjective nature of music is always going to be polarising when it comes to such matters. Their other cover of David Bowie’s 1983 number one ‘Let’s Dance’ was accorded due care, sounded great and the crowd obliged as the title implores.
Forty years ago to this exact day, Heaven 17’s biggest hit ‘Temptation’ was kept off the UK’s number one chart position by Spandau Ballet’s ‘True’ and was once again the outstanding track of their set, this blistering performance featuring a stunning multi-octave vocal from Worthing based Rachel Meadows who managed to emulate Carol Kenyon’s original and then some. Once again, I felt this should have finished the performance, but after a brief interlude and the Bowie cover, the band finished the set with their crowd-pleasing version of The Human League’s ‘Being Boiled’, the audience providing the overhead claps in perfect coherence and authenticity granted due to Ware being a founding band-member and having co-written the song.
At the end of the show the band stepped forth to reveal keyboardist Florence was carrying a future member of Heaven17, her baby will undoubtedly be born with music in its DNA. In summary, this was another enjoyable return to Brighton for the band and a great way to round off the weekend and a memorable day.
Heaven 17 are due to return to Sussex twice later this year as part of the 40th anniversary celebration of their second LP ‘The Luxury Gap – 40 Years of Temptation’ Tour. This takes place at the De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Monday 13th November 2023 during which this superb album will be performed in its entirety. They are also on the bill as support for Soft Cell’s outdoor concert at Wiston House, Steyning in September.
Heaven 17 setlist:
‘We Don’t Need This Fascist Groove Thang’
‘Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry’
‘Play To Win’
‘Geisha Boys And Temple Girls’
‘Come Live With Me’
‘This Is Mine’
‘We Live So Fast’
‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’’
‘Let’s All Make A Bomb’
‘And That’s No Lie’
‘Let Me Go’
‘Penthouse And Pavement’
‘Temptation’
(encore)
‘Let’s Dance’
‘Being Boiled’
Support this evening was once again provided by excellent London four piece synthpop outfit Magnetic Skies, who formed in 2019 and draw heavily on a retro-80’s influenced electronic sound but with original compositions sounding like you’ve heard them somewhere before, but almost certainly haven’t.
A couple of tracks which received an airing tonight that are worth checking out as an introduction to their music are ‘Into Paradise’ with its expansive swirly synths and their final track ‘Not A Fire’ with a really catchy hook, singer Simon Kent giving an impassioned vocal performance. Their latest single ‘You Shine On’ was released in February 2023 and has a dreamlike sound. All the aforementioned can be found on Spotify, Bandcamp and Soundcloud. A debut album entitled ‘Empire Falling’ is due for release later this year.
