British band The Human League will return to Australia in 2024 playing their iconic Dare album in full alongside their many other hits.
21-07-23 UPDATE: Second Perth show announced for Wednesday 13th March 2024
Hailing from Sheffield, The Human League dominated the airwaves and charts throughout the 80s with their stylish synth-pop that remains as fresh, current and highly influential today as it did when released.
Pioneering a new era in music, The Human League were one of the first bands to use computers and sequencers to create rhythm and music paving the way for the decades of electronic music that were to follow. In 1982, the Sydney Morning Herald was already describing them as “one of the first futurist bands”.
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.
Rolling Stone magazine ranks Dare in the top 100 albums of the 1980s, describing it as “an alluring synthesizer-soaked brand of rock, most remembered for its slick synthesizers, drum machines, dance rhythms and palatable pop”.
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 flack but it’s one Molly stands by to this day.
Dare came at a time of great transformation within the band. It was the group’s third album following on Reproduction (1978) and Travelogue (1980). Founding members Ian Craig Marsh and Leon Ware decamped to found Heaven 17 and also release music as the British Electric Foundation.
Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley were asked to join as dancers and backing vocalists. Oakey reportedly discovered the two then 17-year-olds partying in Sheffield’s Crazy Daisy Nightclub, neither had any previous experience in performing.
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.
OUTinPerth caught their performances at the V Festival over a decade ago, as well as their 2017 appearance alongside Culture Club at the RAC Arena, and can attest that they are a great act to see live.
Human League’s Australian tour will kick off in Brisbane on 6th March 2024 with a show at the Fortitude Music Hall, before heading to Sydney’s Enmore Theatre on Friday 8th March, Melbourne’s Palais Theatre on Saturday 9th March, Adelaide’s AEC Theatre on Monday 11th March, before wrapping up at the Astor Theatre in Perth on Thursday 14th March.
OIP Staff
