68. Heaven 17

The Forum

13 November 2014

This one was a box-ticker for me and my best mate. We’d both been long-time admirers of Heaven 17, specifically Penthouse and Pavement, that glorious hybrid of funked-up synthpop and boardroom dystopia, but for reasons lost to time (or possibly laziness), we’d never actually seen them live. So, when the chance arose, we did the only sensible thing: secured tickets and got a bottle of wine down us to ensure optimal nostalgia absorption.

At some point during pre-gig lubrication, my friend launched into an impassioned monologue about the first time he’d heard “Play to Win”, and how he’d become inexplicably obsessed with the spoken-word hook: “and then he said…”, a line so fleeting yet oddly hypnotic that it had burrowed into his subconscious like a synthpop earworm. This naturally led us down a rabbit hole of other musical quirks, those blink-and-you’ll-miss-it details that inexplicably make a song great.

The gig was a full-throttle celebration of Heaven 17 and early Human League, a Steel City synth spectacular, with Glenn Gregory’s baritone slicing through the funky classics of our youth: “(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thing”, “Crushed by the Wheels of Industry” and “Temptation”. It was a rollicking ride through the sounds of Sheffield, with more groove than an ‘80s office dancefloor littered with yuppies on expense-account cocktails. Sadly, my friend had to make an early exit before the encore, leaving me to soak up the final synth swells alone. But the night wasn’t over yet.

Post-gig, Glenn and Martyn materialised at the merch stand, happily signing records for anyone still upright. Seizing the moment, I grabbed a record from the merch table for my best friend, asked the band if they could sign it with a little message. I told Glenn of the story that had got my best pal into them as a band, and with a knowing grin he scrawled: “To M…. and then he said"