I was back at the 1865 for the second time to see a band I've listened to for 40+ years and who I've seen a couple of times before, but not for 13 years - My last time was in Bournemouth in 2012.
However, I kept seeing reviews saying how good Heaven 17 were in recent gigs and when I saw they were playing a 'pre-Festival' gig at the 1865 (where I'd enjoyed seeing Nouvelle Vague) I snapped up a ticket.
There was no support (rarely a loss) and the schedule said Heaven 17 would be on stage at 8:30PM.
I arrived about 45 minutes earlier, treated myself to a decent pint of beer at pub prices (If only more venues offered this option!) and found myself a few rows back from the stage with a decent view.
As the 8:30 'on stage' time drew nearer the venue filled up and, while I can't say for certain, it looked near capacity to me.
At 8:30 sharp, 3 women appeared and took their places, one behind a large keyboard setup at the rear of the stage and the other two behind microphones to the right (from our viewpoint).
A few moments later a man in a silver suit and a glittery fedora appeared, followed by a taller man in a baseball cap. Obviously most of the audience recognised them as Martyn Ware and Glenn Gregory respectively.
Martyn doesn't look that healthy, if I'm honest, despite only being 2 years older than Glenn, who looked quite good, despite the long departure of that mop of golden hair that once was as much part of his persona as his voice.
However, Martyn has always been the background maestro of Heaven 17 (and BEF and the Human League!) and Glenn very much the 'front man'.
Quickly the beats started and I recognised a favourite of mine, "Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry".
Things were going well, Glenn's voice sounded strong, the music was hard to resist moving to (but few seemed to fighting the urge anyway) and then Glenn and the backing vocalists were signing acapella, accompanied by much of the audience.
I (and I'm sure much of the audience) thought this was deliberate, but then Glenn stopped singing well before the end ofthe song.
It seemed the master sound console had 'died' - Not a great start, were we going to get half a song for making the trip?
Luckily not, a few minutes of fiddling upstairs, while Glenn chatted with the audience and the keyboards came back and then the vocalists were singing into their mics and audible and then so was Glenn.
Sadly, they gave up on "Crushed..." and moved onto their next song in the set, although few complained as it was "Fascist Groove Thang" and the glitch was forgotten.
Glenn talked a lot between songs (by his own admission), but we got a set full of old favourites (most were from the first couple of albums), which was probably to be expected and suited a Friday night audience familiar with the band and keen to enjoy themselves.
The set seemed quite 'front loaded' with many of their best known songs early on.
We had "Play To Win", "Geisha Boys and Temple Girls" (with an explanation that it was about going out in Sheffield!), "Come Live With Me" and "We Live So Fast".
As at Bournemouth all those years ago, Glenn and Martyn performed "You've lost that loving feeling" as a duo, something Martyn and Phil Oakey did in their Human League days. I could probably have done without that, to be honest, but it seems to be a bit of a 'party trick' for the duo.
After that, we had lesser known tracks "This is Mine", "And That's No Lie" and "I'm Your Money" and then the main set rounded out with "Let Me Go", a very energetic performance of "Penthouse and Pavement" (possibly my favourite H17 track) and then the inevitable "Temptation".
I'd have to say the female vocalist on this wasn't as good as the one had been in Bournemouth and it's not my favourite track, but the crowd loved it and it was energetic.
Glenn said they'd be back if we made some noise, to which the crowd loudly roared and Glenn joked "Not that much noise!"
The encore was 3 covers, sort of.
The keyboard player and Glenn returned first, to perform a slowed version of The Associates "Party Fears Too" in honour of Billy Mackenzie along with the revelation that Billy had given Glenn a whippet!
This was followed by a lively rendition of Bowie's "Let's Dance" and finally "Being Boiled", a song from Martyn's time with the Human League.
The audience loudly cheered and applauded and the lights came up.
So, had they still got it? Definitely! Glenn sounded good and, no doubt, the electronic nature of the music ensures that aspect doesn't disappoint.
An energetic, lively performance, enhanced by an enthusiastic audience meant this was a great night out.
#heaven17
Setlist:
Crushed by the Wheels of Industry
(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang
Play to Win
Geisha Boys and Temple Girls
Come Live With Me
We Live So Fast
You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'
This Is Mine
And That's No Lie
I'm Your Money
Let Me Go
Penthouse and Pavement
Temptation
Encore:
Party Fears Too (Associates cover)
Let's Dance (David Bowie cover)
Being Boiled (The Human League cover)
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