Heaven 17 @ Waterfront, Norwich

Let’s get the confession out of the way first. When Heaven 17 were riding high at their chart peak in the early to mid 80’s I wasn’t listening to them. The word METAL proceeded by heavy, thrash or hair was where I was at. Clearly my tastes have broadened over the intervening decades but I still felt like a virtual novice when I arrived at a busy Waterfront on Friday night. Formed from the ashes of the original Human League line up it was no surprise that the set began with a version of early League track Circus Of Death. This excellent start continued with some of the best known Heaven 17 songs, not least (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang and Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry thrown in right at the start of the set.

For me though this brilliant early start was somewhat stopped in its tracks by their cover of You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling. Yes I know it was covered on the debut Human League album. Yes I know the song is a classic, but in my opinion it gave the gig a whiff of cheese that had been absent up until that point. For a moment it became like a drunken karaoke night or a dodgy wedding. I think I’m probably in the minority with this point of view however, judging by the crowd bellowing along around me. Thankfully things soon got back on track with some perfectly judged electro pop – Play To Win was a delight and Let Me Go had everyone breaking out their very best 80’s moves. They even had the sheer balls to play Temptation before the end of the gig, choosing to end the main set with it. There’s generally a reason why songs become huge hits and this truly is a fantastic track which more than delivered. They returned for an encore of Bowie’s Boys Keep Swinging before ending the night with their version of the Human League’s classic 1978 track Being Boiled. I find it astonishing that Being Boiled is almost 40 years old; it’s so ahead of its time and incredibly ground breaking. It was then that I realised that Martin Ware is actually the Godfather Of British Electronic Music – the Don!