Heaven 17 - Pete Wylie — Outline Norwich

Check out our picture gallery taken on the night HERE

Hanging around a surprisingly roomy LCR (as is so often the way with early starting Saturday gigs) I found myself idly wondering at the 17:41 projected onto the back wall. Fool that I am, I puzzled over the significance of a quarter to six for a while before the penny dropped that the gig was an unwieldy celebration of Heaven 17’s 41st year. It was a sobering reminder of how long they, and fans, have been waiting to celebrate their longevity in this troubled times. One of many bands, I suspect, that missed out last year on being able to chalk up a round number.

Before they took to the stage we were warmed up by Pete Wylie. In previous outings, the support slot was filled by the inestimable Blancmange and xPropaganda – both big shoes to fill. I’d be fibbing if I said he managed it, but he is such an affable fellow, it would be hard to take exception to his one man and his guitar performance. Not quite one man, to be fair, as he had roped in a mate to press the button on his laptop Sleaford Mods style. Unfortunately the mate wasn’t up to the task, with hilarious consequences, turning his set into a post punk homage to John Shuttleworth. Wylie had a wonderful self-depreciating sense of humour, defiantly gainsaying the record company’s assessment that Heart as Big as Liverpool would only sell in his home town – “they were wrong - it didn’t sell there either”. So despite cockups aplenty, the good natured banter on stage made for an entertaining half hour, and when the songs did get going, it was surprising how many rang a bell.

The one thing you could never accuse Heaven 17 of is surprise. Given that this was a celebration of their 41st year, I suppose it’s to be expected that much of what we were offered would be from the earlier part of their career, but in all honesty, it’s generally what they serve up. Last year we got the whole of Luxury Gap, which meant a rare outing for the likes of Key to the World and The Best Kept Secret but it looks like they’ve been put back in the toy box for now. In fairness, the extraordinary burst of creativity that produced their first two albums must make it difficult to squeeze in much else, once the bankers from the early eighties have been ticked off. In spite of delivering eight albums over those forty years, only And That's No Lie and This Is Mine off of their third earned a place in the set.

If I sound a tad disappointed (I do know they will never perform Don’t Fear the Reaper) it’s a half-hearted disappointment, as it’s hard to imagine them leaving out Fascist Groove Thang(despite John Wilson’s sorely missed bass) Wheels of Industry or Lets all Make a Bomb. And no evening would be complete without Play to Win or We Live so Fast. Along the way, we did get a staple from Ware’s Human League days - a rather touching cover of the Righteous Brothers’ Loving Feeling - but this was the exception to the rule. After a brilliant and heartfelt Let Me Go, the backing singers were unleashed for a superb rendition of Penthouse and Pavement, followed inevitably by Temptation. In the brief pause before the encore, the question on everyone’s mind must have been - how to follow that? The inspired solution was David Bowie’s Let’s Dance, before wrapping things up with the Human League’s seminal Being Boiled.

So many of the band’s classic songs reveal their left left-leaning, mordant world view at the time, and these songs seem both prescient and still relevant, as Glenn Gregory was quick to point out. The sentiments contained within, however, seemed oddly disconnected to the joyous mood on stage. Glenn Gregory and Martyn Ware beamed and chuckled throughout, having what looked like the time of their lives, as did the decidedly mature audience. A few youngsters appear to have sneaked past security when their backs were turned, but for the most part this was a crowd dancing and mouthing along to songs they had known and loved for all of those forty years. Perhaps they say this to every audience, but I got the sense the band were genuinely bowled over by the ecstatic reception they received from Norwich.