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A totally un-ironic awesome '80s weekend with Erasure and the Human League | Photo gallery + live review
The whiff of '80s nostalgia was in the air this weekend as concert goers queued up for back-to-back shows from electronic pop heavis. Erasure (Friday and Saturday at the Congress Theater) and the Human League (Saturday at Oysterfest) headlined a weekend of synth-pop goodness. The stage was set for retro indulgence, except that unbeknownst to the masses, there's nothing nostalgic about either band. The Human League released its ninth studio album Credo earlier this year while pop fop duo Erasure's new album Tomorrow's World hits stores October 4. Both are worth a listen.
At a crowded Congress Theater on Friday, Andy Bell and Vince Clarke emerged onto the stage, a neo-gothic fantasia with a Greco-Roman twist, and burst into their opening number "Solo Luminus," to cheers. Bell was sporting a glittery red blazer and Trojan headgear. "Good evening to you all," he announced in the city he later in the evening would claim as his second home, "my it's echoey in here isn't it?" As the lighting bathed the stage in an aqua glow, the crowd went wild as Bell burst into a second song, "Always," an Erasure classic. For the third number, the band's infectious new single "When I Start To (Break It All Down)," Bell removed his jacket to reveal a fitted vest laced tightly in the back like a corsette over his taught frame. During "Blue Savannah Song" he started twirling around the stage, it was then my friend noted Bell underwent double hip replacement some years ago.
Giddy theatrics (for which Bell is well known) were at a minimum this time around, perhaps given the fact that he's now 47, but that didn't stop the boys from cranking out crowd-pleasing hit after hit including "Drama," "Ship of Fools," "Victim of Love," "I Love to Hate You" (a showstopper for sure), "Breath of Life," "Chains of Love," "Sometimes" and ending with "A Little Respect." I was surprised at how often Bell's voice veered into soul singer territory. It sounded just lovely at times. An encore yielded to additional songs, "Oh, L'amour" and "Stop!" which were augmented by a fabulous faux stained-glass backdrop. Casual fan that I am, I went home happy.
But it was the Human League I was more excited to see. Relegated to street fairs stateside (in 2003 they headlined Northalsted Market Days), the band closed out Oysterfest in Roscoe Village on a gorgeous Saturday night and played a full 17 song-set that roped in greatest hits, little-known gems and a few new tracks from Credo.
When the band opened with new song "Never Let Me Go," lead singer Phil Oakey emerged in a silver rain slicker looking svelte and fit at 55. With white microphones in hand, Susan Ann Sulley took lead vocals while Joanne Catherall sang back up stage left against a backdrop of a huge poster of streetfest sponsor Guinness. The band then belted out back-to-back hits from Dare! including "Open Your Heart" and "Sound of the Crowd." To my surprise, the band played an updated and glittery techno version of"Heart Like A Wheel," the only respectable hit from Romantic? the 1990 album and flop that sent it into pop exile (until its career was ressurected in 1995 with the U.K. hit album Octopus). When Oakey announced later in the evening that he was going to play a song from the band's first album, the crowd went wild, assuming incorrectly that he was going to play something from Dare!. But Oakey reached way into the vault and instead played the giddy, goofy "Empire State Human," the only single from the band's 1979 album Reproduction.
Other minor hits and rarities followed including new song "Night People," the #1 1986 anthem "Human," "Love Action," "All I Ever Wanted," "Tell Me When" and "Mirror Man." No strangers to keeping American fans happy, the band ended with "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" and "Don't You Want Me?" I give the League credit. Like their street fest appearance in 2003, the Human League doesn't show up and deliver a half dozen songs, collect a paycheck and go home. It offered a thoughtful set, multiple costume changes and a few surprises (Oakey himself banged out a few numbers on keyboard). The band played a two-song encore that included their first recorded track "Being Boiled" followed by "Together in Electric Dreams." During the former tune, Oakey subbed out the word Buddha and instead sang, "Listen to the voice of Guinness," later quipping, "Will it get me free Guiness." I hope Guiness wrote the League a nice check for their Chicago show. It earned it.
