It appears that synthpop legends, Heaven 17, can’t seem to stay away from our beloved county these days, as they have announced that they will be making a welcome return this coming Spring. Although this time around they will be playing live in Brighton at Chalk in Pool Valley for the first ever time. On the last few occasions, the Concorde 2 has been their venue of choice, or at the Brighton Centre, when part of a larger group of bands. The date for your diaries this time around will be Sunday 25th May 2025. You can purchase your tickets for this concert HERE.
The last few Brighton concert dates have been 21st May 2023, 28th May 2022, 26th October 2019, 25th May 2019, 10th June 2017 and 22nd May 2015. The last Sussex concert was at the Wick Street Festival near Polegate on Friday 30th August 2024. So many gigs I hear you cry! But what you must consider is that clearly there’s still a demand for this early days offshoot of The Human League.
Astonishingly, Heaven 17 came together back in 1980 when Martyn Ware (keyboards, drum machine, vocals) and Ian Craig Marsh (keyboards) decided to leave The Human League and give it a go and so they formed the production company British Electric Foundation (B.E.F.). B.E.F.’s first recordings were a cassette-only album called ‘Music For Stowaways’ which dealt with instrumental electronic compositions. Almost immediately, the duo called on the talents of their old chum vocalist Glenn Gregory and thus Heaven 17 was formed. They dropped their debut game-changing single ‘(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang’ in 1981, which was followed by (for me) their finest hour in ‘I’m Your Money’ which was backed by an electronic version of the then Buzzcocks recent ‘Are Everything’ single. Heaven 17’s debut album was unleashed on 18th September 1981, this being ‘Penthouse And Pavement’ which climbed to No.14 in the UK album charts….they had arrived and still remain to this day!
These days, the core of Heaven 17 is frontman Glenn Gregory and synth legend Martyn Ware, who to be honest haven’t troubled the charts this century, but such the chemistry between the two, as singer Glenn tends to take the mickey out of Martyn quite a bit, but in a jovial working class Sheffield lads banter kinda way, and this gives off an enjoyable fun element to their sets, along with jolly decent electronic music, that fans lap it up and keep on coming back for more.
There’s a trusted format where you know that at some time during the evening they will be playing fan favourite ‘Temptation’ as well as other deep cuts including ‘Come Live With Me’, ‘Play To Win’, ‘Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry’, ‘Geisha Boys And Temple Girls’, and ‘Let’s All Make A Bomb’. It’s quite likely you’ll also get one or two early recorded Human League tracks as well such as ‘Being Boiled’ and their take on ‘You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling’. They might even throw in a curveball such as David Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’ or ‘Boys Keep Swinging’, but all in all you simply know that you’re going to have an entertaining night out!
So you know what to do……………..Purchase your tickets HERE.
