Gig played on 19/12/05

The idea of a nostalgia fest at Christmas by a band whose heyday was two decades ago is enough to send any right-thinking music fan scampering home to dig out those old Bogshed Peel sessions and Festive 50 lists. Who, after all, would want to spend an evening in the company of a group seemingly well past its sell-by date surrounded by hoards of office party casualties and the kind of people who venture to gigs just once a year? Well, your correspondent for a start.

Why? The simple reason is that a gig from The Human League is something special to behold. This isn't an exercise in karaoke or enjoying music through rose-tinted headphones but an experience that at once sounds utterly timeless and of its time, yet is still genuinely thrilling. Of course, it helps that they're in a position to deliver one utterly delightful pop confection after another - "Fascination", "Sound Of The Crowd" and "Mirror Man" are all present and correct - but when it's backed with a performance that's driven by an urge to entertain rather than cruising on past glories, the effect is supremely beguiling. Chuck in an element of high camp via three costume changes and Susanne Sulley and Joanne Catherall's vital presence and it's impossible for them to fail.

Phil Oakey is in fine voice throughout. "The Things That Dreams Are Made Of" actually manages to sound more pant-wettingly exciting than it did back in 1981 when the stylus hit the first grooves of "Dare" as its bass line throbs with an insistence that's irresistible and you can only nod in agreement between dance steps when Oakey advocates the audience to "Dream life the way you think it ought to be / See things you thought you'd never see". And who, other than the most miserable of churls, is going to argue against that?

The only drawback to an otherwise splendid set comes courtesy of a guitarist who is clearly in the wrong band. Throwing ridiculous metal shapes - as well as his plectrums at the end of the gig - things come slightly undone via his contribution, the execrable "Rock'n'Roll Is Dead", but this is soon made up for by an incredible "Empire State Human" and "Being Boiled", songs that really should have the early period Human League mentioned in the same hushed and revered tones reserved for Joy Division and Cabaret Voltaire. Factor in a double-whammy of "Love Action" and "Open Your Heart" and The Human League's position as a national treasure is assured.

by James Marshall