Heaven 17 - "Penthouse & Pavement" live in concert 2010

HEAVEN 17
November 26th 2010, HMV Institute Birmingham



Just like OMD, who performed their album “Architecture & Morality” in its entirety plus many hits back in 2007, Heaven 17 is on tour to perform their 1981 gem “Penthouse & Pavement” in its entirety and, of course, the evening doesn’t end there.

Heaven 17 has always been regarded as a mere spin-off from The Human League, which at some stage included Heaven 17’s Martyn Ware, who co-wrote the leagues major hit “Don’t you want me?”, which on that cold November night in Birmingham is being performed in an acoustic manner by Heaven 17 vocalist Glenn Gregory.

Live musicians join H17 on band and the whole experience was just fantastic. Apparently the band felt the same as they were calling the crowd in Birmingham “audience of the tour” – and the energy on the night was electrifying.

Not least because Heaven 17 are in top notch form and the songs sound great – the video screens added yet another dimension to their performance.

The songs sound tighter than on the record and it is just great to see the band return to perform an album they have never performed live before.

The show also featured the mega hits “Temptation”, “I am your money” and the legendary “Let me go”, which has always been a personal favourite of mine.

They talked about the loss of their friend Bill MacKenzie, who overdosed way back in 1996 and performed a song of his with just Ware on synthesizer and Campbell on vocals. Goosebumps material!

Martyn has worked with and produced many artists – among them Terence Trent Darby and he recorded a meditation music album with living legend Vince Clarke of Erasure, Yazoo and Depeche Mode fame back in the year 2000.

Another highlight of the evening was the last track on the night: “Being Boiled” another Martyn Ware co-penned song.

What a great night out, what a great band!



Comments

lineswine said…
Vocalist Glen Campbell?
You sure about that?
Let's try "Glenn Gregory".
TJ said…
oops, changed - cheers
This Wreckage said…
Another "oops": Don't You Want Me was not co-written by Martyn Ware. According to Music Brainz, the writers were
Philip Oakey (lyricist, composer)
Jo Callis (composer)
Philip Adrian Wright (Human League) (composer)

As any songwriter ever will tell you, that's important.

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