Get ready for a truly iconic night as On The Beach proudly presents synth-pop legends The Human League, live on Brighton Beach for a one-off headline show under the summer sky on Wednesday 23 July 2025, with gates open at 4.30pm and curfew at 10pm.
Celebrated for their timeless anthems like ‘Don’t You Want Me’, ‘Human’ and ‘Together in Electric Dreams’, The Human League will bring their unmistakable sound to the seaside for a spectacular evening of nostalgia, energy and pure 80s magic.
With the waves crashing beside you and the sun setting over the sea, this is more than a gig – it’s a moment. Join thousands of music lovers for an unforgettable night with one of Britain’s most influential electronic bands, set against the iconic backdrop of Brighton Beach.
Support acts include Marc Almond of Soft Cell fame, Toyah and new act A Thousand Mad Things.
Don’t miss out – this will sell fast!
Pre-sale ticket release: Tuesday 15 April 10am
General sale: Wednesday 16 April 10am
Sign up and Ticket info: www.thehumanleague-brighton.com
Having debuted in 2021 on Brighton’s seafront, On The Beach is now entering its fifth year on the south coast. With a programme of sold-out shows that includes Fatboy Slim, Chase & Status, Above & Beyond, Bicep, Underworld, and Carl Cox as well as Royal Blood, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, The Libertines and The Kooks. On The Beach is already having a huge impact on the UK’s festival circuit.
More on the Artists…..
Synth pop’s first international superstars, The Human League were among the earliest and most innovative bands to break into the pop mainstream on a wave of synthesizers and electronic rhythms, their marriage of infectious melodies and state-of-the-art technology proving enormously influential on countless acts following in their wake. The group was formed in Sheffield, England in 1977 by synth players Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh, who’d previously teamed as the duo Dead Daughters. Following a brief tenure as the Future, a period during which they added and lost synthesizer player Adi Newton and enlisted vocalist Philip Oakley, they rechristened themselves The Human League. The trio recorded a demo and played their first live dates. The slide presentations of “director of visuals” Adrian Wright quickly became a key component of their performances.
After they signed with the indie label Fast, The Human League issued their first single, ‘Being Boiled’, in 1978. A minor underground hit, it was followed by a tour in support of Siouxsie & the Banshees. After a 1979 EP, the instrumental ‘The Dignity of Labour’, the group released its first full-length effort, ‘Reproduction’. A dark, dense work influenced largely by Kraftwerk. ‘Travelogue’ followed the next year and reached the UK Top 20. Still, internal tensions forced Ware and Marsh out of the group in late 1980, at which time they formed Heaven 17. Their departure forced Wright to learn to play the synthesizer; at the same time, Oakley recruited bassist Ian Burden as well as a pair of teenagers, Susanne Sulley and Joanne Catherall, to handle additional vocal duties.
The first single from the revamped Human League, 1981’s ‘Boys And Girls, reached the British Top 50. Recorded with producer Martin Rushent, the slicker follow-up ‘Sound Of The Crowd’ fell just shy of the Top Ten. Their next single, ‘Love Action, reached number three, and after adding ex-Rezillo Jo Callis, the League issued ‘Open Your Heart’, another hit. Still, their true breakthrough was ‘Don’t You Want Me. The classic single, as well as parent album ‘Dare!’, both topped their respective charts in the UK, and went on to become major hits in the U.S. as well. A tour of the States followed, but new music was extremely slow in forthcoming. After a Rushent remix disc, ‘Love And Dancing’, the Human League finally issued 1983’s ‘Fascination!’ EP and scored a pair of hits with ‘Mirror Man’ and ‘(Keep Feeling) Fascination’.
The much-anticipated full-length ‘Hysteria’ finally surfaced in mid-1984, heralding a more forceful sound than earlier Human League releases. The record failed to match the massive success of ‘Dare!’, however, with the single ‘The Lebanon’ earning insignificant airplay. The group soon went on indefinite hiatus, and Oakley recorded a 1985 solo LP with famed producer Georgio Moroder titled simply ‘Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder’. To the surprise of many, The Human League resurfaced in 1986 with ‘Crash’, produced by the duo of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The plaintive lead single ‘Human’ soon topped the U.S. charts, but the group didn’t capitalize on the comeback success and disappeared from the charts for the remainder of the decade.
When The Human League finally returned in 1990 with ‘Romantic?’, their commercial momentum had again dissipated. The single ‘Heart Like A Wheel’ barely managed to rise into the Top 40. The record was the band’s last with longtime label Virgin. As a trio consisting of Oakley, Sulley, and Catherall, they ultimately signed with the EastWest label and teamed with producer Ian Stanley for 1995’s ‘Octopus’. The album went largely unnoticed both at home and overseas, with the single ‘Stay with Me Tonight’ issued solely in the UK.
A resurgent interest in synth pop and post-punk during the early 2000s enabled the group’s 2001 album ‘Secrets’, which saw the group update its early sound, considerable press coverage. In 2002, previously unreleased recordings of the Future and the embryonic Human League were compiled for ‘The Golden Hour of the Future’. Steady touring continued for several years, as documented on ‘Live At The Dome’ which was recorded at their concert at Brighton Dome on 19th December 2003. Additionally, there were performances of ‘Dare!’ in its entirety and a ‘Steel City Tour’ with Heaven 17 and fellow Sheffield natives ABC. The Human League remained connected to their local roots in the studio as well. ‘Credo’, released in 2011, was produced by fellow Sheffield natives I Monster. The career-spanning anthology ‘A Very British Synthesizer Group’ was issued five years later, promoted with performance dates across Europe.
Since the split of synth pop duo Soft Cell in 1984, singer/songwriter Marc Almond has pursued a solo career that allows his multi-dimensional theatrical and musical personas a creative freedom his former band couldn’t. Almond’s reedy yet emotionally resonant voice tends to waver around notes rather than hitting them and completely inhabits songs so as to become inseparable from them. Between 1982 and 1987, he issued three albums with the Willing Sinners — including the seminal ‘Stories Of Johnny’ — that depicted him as an aesthetic descendant and modern incarnation of the pre-War Weimar Republic’s cabaret singers. 1988’s ‘The Stars We Are’ marked a brief return to dance and theatrical pop.
1993’s provocatively titled ‘Absinthe (The French Album)’ reveled in obsessions with chanson and romantic excess. Between 1995 and 2000, he offered a new vision of wonderfully sleazy, emotionally wrought pop on albums such as ‘Fantastic Star’ and ‘Open All Night’. 2003’s ‘Heart On Snow’, recorded in Moscow, offered poignant Russian songs. 2009’s ‘Orpheus In Exile: Songs Of Vadim Kozin’ paid tribute to the persecuted Russian songwriter. 2014’s ‘The Dancing Marquis’ featured collaborations with Jarvis Cocker and Jools Holland. The ten-disc career-retrospective ‘Trials Of Eyeliner’ appeared in 2016, while Almond worked in Los Angeles with producer/multi-instrumentalist Chris Braide on 2020’s ‘Chaos And A Dancing Star’. Almond and Dave Ball’s reunited Soft Cell released ‘Happiness Not Included’ in 2022.
For 42 years Toyah has taken to the stage like no other. She has won numerous awards and nominations from singing to writing to acting. In 2001 Toyah was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Central England in Birmingham. In 2018 Paul McCartney awarded Toyah a LIPA Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts Companionship for Outstanding Achievement in music, drama, performance and media.
Toyah was awarded a star on the Kings Heath Walk of Fame and a star on Birmingham’s Broad Street Walk of Stars recognising her achievements. She has been an inspiration and role model for generations through her iconic hit singles, film and theatre roles and steadfast commitment to always being individual and creative.
From punk princess to cult stage actress, Toyah Willcox is a uniquely gifted performer and an inextinguishable flame. Charismatic, outspoken and impossible to categorise, she is one of Britain’s beloved household names – an award-winning rock legend as well as a much-loved stage/screen actress and music composer. Toyah has amassed thirteen top 40 singles, recorded twenty-five albums, written two books, appeared in over forty stage plays, acted in over twenty feature films and presented hundreds of television programmes.
“Cry and dance, dance and cry”.
London-based vocalist, producer and musician A Thousand Mad Things, will make his musical debut this year via Nettwerk and will be heading out on an impressive early run of live performances, releasing his first single in April.
He brings a modern interpretation of 80s alternative and synth-pop, simultaneously delving into driving club-ready beats, cold wave and the chic-er end of modern goth aesthetics. His songs invoke deep themes shrouded by a dark ironic wit and tell tales of close encounters, unrequited affection and introspective moments of self-realisation.
A Thousand Mad Things is set for a meteoric 2025 and is already firmly cementing himself as a must watch artist.
