Photo Credit: Cuffe and Taylor
Words: Melanie Luff

On the third night of their summer festival run, The Human League took to the Southampton Summer Sessions stage, just outside of the historic Guildhall. Phil Oakey, Joanne Catherall, and Susan Ann Sulley are synth-pop legends, the longest serving members of the band and have performed together across four decades. This show precedes a run of summer shows around Europe, continuing into July and August. The city of Southampton was busier than normal on this warm summer evening, as the crowds strolled in through the park and filled up Guildhall square. Sulley thanked the crowd for so many attending, since this was a Thursday night so many would have work in the morning.

The evening was kicked off by synth-pop band Blancmange, as the sun began to set behind the guildhall. The band, consisting of Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscombe, warmed up the crowd with hits such as ‘Living On the Ceiling‘ and ‘Feel Me‘. Next up, Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey caught the last rays of sunshine of the evening, as the sunset still perfectly lit the stage. Backed by all female musicians, the four brought energy and all white outfits. Bailey even brought out a huge red balloon to throw around the crowd, but this unfortunately instantly got taken by the wind over the fence. There was hope it would be returned after bouncing off the wall of the Southampton university building, but instead it impaled itself on a tree branch and burst. The crowd kept their hands in the air anyway to dance along to hits like ‘Doctor Doctor‘ and ‘Hold Me Now‘, plus a cover of Talking Heads’ ‘Psycho Killer‘.

Then, just before 9 o’clock, Phil Oakey emerged, dressed in all black, with shoulder pads as sharp as his flares were wide, followed by Susan Ann Sulley and Joanne Catherall in vibrant pink dresses. They opened with ‘Sound Of the Crowd‘, the band’s first commercial hit that reached number 12 on the UK chart in 1981. A fun and fitting song to begin their set- “the music was loud” and the crowd was too. As the light got lower, the vibrant visuals looked hypnotizing behind the trio and the accompanying band, who gave just as much energy into their performance. Along with the ever-changing visuals, the trio changed outfits multiple times throughout the night with Oakey also wearing a sharp black suit and a leather trench coat (to name a few wardrobe changes), and Sulley and Catherall changing into a black, sparkly dress and jumpsuit.

Around halfway through the set we heard songs ‘Seconds‘ (the B side to massive hit ‘Don’t You Want Me‘) and ‘The Lebanon‘, which feel just as relevant and poignant today as they were on release. As always, The Human League don’t neglect to share thought provoking lyrics and themes, whilst also continuing to bring the party and nostalgia with other synth-pop hits such as ‘Love Action‘ and ‘Mirror Man‘. The sound of the crowd really surged when the first notes of UK and US number one hit ‘Don’t You Want Me‘ began. The band allowed the crowd to sing the first verse alone, as if they were a practised choir, before reemerging with Oakey now wearing an all white ensemble. As this is their biggest hit (and one of the highest selling singles of all time), some questioned whether this could be the end of the night, but after shouts of “we want more” from the crowd, Oakey returned alone to begin the encore with ‘Being Boiled’, the band’s debut single from 1978.

Catherall and Sulley then joined the stage with their third costume changes, Susan with her own shoulder pad ensemble with sparkling fringed gloves and Joanne dressed with bright red feather sleeves and headdress. The trios fashion is just as daring and fun as it was back in the 80s. They closed the show with the hit 1984 single ‘Together in Electric Dreams‘, as the crowd danced and sang their hearts out. The trio joined together at the centre of the stage to thank the crowd after they sung their final lyric of the night “we’ll always be together”, which felt like a fitting sentiment as they’ve consistently performed live shows throughout their whole career. The only regret of the night, which he shared with us just before departing, may have been that Oakey never managed to make time to drink his tea that had been sitting on the front of the stage.