The Human League have book another trip down under.
Following on from their sellout Australian tour in 2024 The Human League will return in January and February 2027 with their Generations: The Greatest Hits Tour, bringing decades of iconic hits to fans nationwide.
The tour will start in Perth with a show at the Perth HPC (formerly HBF Stadium) in Mount Claremont on Wednesday 27th January 2027. They’ll then head to Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, and Brisbane.
Early bird pre-sale tickets are available from Wednesday 4th February, ahead of general public sales on Friday 6th February.
The Human League has been regular visitors over the years appearing at The V Festival in 2009, touring alongside Culture Club in 2017 and returning for their own tour in 2024 – which sold out super-fast.
They have a stack of hits including the eternal dance classic Don’t You Want Me, alongside Fascination, Human, Sound of the Crowd, Love Action, Tell Me When, Mirror Man, The Lebanon and so many others.
The band formed in Sheffield in 1977 and were initially an experimental electronic outfit. They released two albums in quick succession 1979’s Preproduction and 1980s Travelogue.
The band was set up by Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware. Their first choice for a vocalist was Glenn Gregory, but when he was unavailable they asked old school friend Philip Oakey to join the band.
After two albums there was a split in the band as they argued over their direction, reportedly Oakey wanted to explore more pop sounds, while Ware wanted to be true to their electronic roots. Ware and Marsh decamped and went on to form British Electric Foundation (B.E.F.) and later Heaven 17 – where Glenn Gregory was available to be their vocalist.
Left with the responsibility of delivering an album and a tour Oakey searched for new members, discovering teenagers Susan Ann Sulley and Joanne Catherall dancing in a nightclub.
The next album The Human League put out was a huge smash. When Dare was first released Countdown host Molly Meldrum declared it was as good as all the albums by The Beatles, Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and the best albums by Pink Floyd and The Beach Boys. The claim drew a lot of flak but it’s one Molly stands by to this day.
The apex of 80s synth-pop, Dare contained four hit singles, including the synth pop masterpiece Don’t You Want Me, Love Action, The Sound of The Crowd and Open Your Heart.
Whilst band leader and lead vocalist Philip Oakey initially thought Don’t You Want Me was the weakest track on the album and relegated it to the last track on side two of the album, it was released as the 4th single in November 1981. Aided by an iconic video and the rising influence of MTV, it went on to become the biggest single from Dare and is to this day a staple on radio playlists worldwide.
After defying expectation and finding success with Dare the band continued to find success in the 1980’s with their follow ups Hysteria (1984), and Crash (1986). Oakey also scored a hit teaming up with Giorgio Moroder for Together in Electric Dreams.
Hysteria included the hits Louise and The Lebanon while Crash saw the band working with US producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis who had just created Janet Jackson’s breakout album Control. Jam and Lewis wrote Human and Love is All That Matters for the band.
As the 1990s arrived the band didn’t have as much commercial success but they continued to record releasing Romantic (1990), Octopus (1995), Secrets (2001) and Credo (2011). The single Tell Me When from 1995 saw the band back in the charts in Europe, and while it wasn’t a hit here in Australia it got airplay on Triple J.
Early bird presale: Wednesday, 4 February 9am (local) – Sign up link for presale Here
General public Tickets on sale: Friday, 6 February 9am (local) Here
