The Human League has still got it, Baths has got it for some

Live Report - The Human Leageu & Baths live at Paradiso, 2011

Nothing says, Hey boy, you are in a transition phase, then first being surrounded by forty and fifty year old people who all seem to signify one way of how your future coul look like, and consequently being surrounded by hip young kids contorting their bodies in such a way that makes your own body say, Did I ever do that? Surely not. The former happened while watching The Human League doing their Credo tour, and the latter took place when fifteen minutes later young kid Baths played the upper room at the same venue. Two entirely different crowds and entirely different concerts of two bands who were spawned by an entirely different generation and an entirely different world situation. Surprisingly, non belonging to me, which doesn’t mean to say I cannot enjoy it.

The Human League, to do the mandatory history bit for the ones who forgot or the ones who never knew, are a band hailing from Sheffield and – gasp – the Seventies. Although, really, the Eighties, as that is when they had their greatest successes with, for example, the album Dare and their consequent hit ‘Don’t You Want Me Baby’ off of that album. Grunge set in during the Nineties, which knocked the well-being out of the band in every which way imaginable. But slowly they recovered, and even to such an extent that they are still touring the world as a six piece (including the three old time vocalists Philip Oakey, Joanne Catherall, and Susan Ann Sulley), and they are touring to support their recently released album Credo (which has already led to remixes by such names as Aeroplane and Villa).

Obviously, they have aged a bit. Oakey is 55, and you know it is not nice to unveil a woman’s age, but even they (even they!) have added a few years. No disqualification, but time simply does that, and not just to the band, but also to their audience. The crowd consists of people in their forties and fifties. There is indeed a batch out there who were born in the Seventies and Eighties and probably have never witnessed the band during their heyday, but their music has trickled down into their culture. The band has probably aged better in gay culture than in normative culture. This is not surprising, as there are a fair few elements in The Human League (both then and now) that can be considered as bearing characteristics also (not solely, mind you) belonging to queer culture.

Luckily, if queer culture has thought us anything it is how to throw a party, so if you borrow the characteristics for that you are sure it is going to be a show. During the gig there are multiple changes in dress (though Oakey’s not as outlandish as in the olden years, but the girls are not letting age get to them), Oakey has worked on his appearance mixing the masculine (the leather trench coat, the almost army like trousers, and the working man’s boots) with the feminine (lip gloss, a bit of make-up), and the girls are working it like diva’s. Especially Susan Ann Sulley is busting out some moves on high heels, and surely her behavior on stage as a diva is something that gays traditionally are drawn to (as in, general gay culture, not as in, every gay man on this planet). Because it has been argued that, when stigmatized or marginalized in society, for one’s self-invention one tries to create in oneself the belief of being sublime. This might all sound like a big bunch of mumbo jumbo to you, but with the audience tonight as it is, I thought it might go a little way to explain it.

Not that The Human League is gay or that it can only be adored when belonging to some sort of sub culture, therefore the band has churned out too many tunes in their heyday. The Credo singles like ‘Night People’ add some oomph and a bit more beat to it (am I suddenly in a rave one might wonder), but the band knows that there are also plenty of people who want to hear their older stuff. And so the band works their way through renditions of ‘The Lebanon’, ‘Mirror Man’, a theatrical performance of ‘Empire State Human’, ‘Fascination’, and maybe their biggest hit: ‘Don’t You Want Me Baby’.

With older bands you always wonder whether they are A) dong it for the money, or B) doing it because they like to but secretly don’t cut it anymore. Luckily they still have a bit of oomph left in them. Oakey is hitting the notes both in high and low register and he still has quite a booming voice. The girls are working it and having fun and singing a bit, and then you’ve got the whole battle with the keytars going on and everything: they really went all out on this. Even hanging up a big screen up there where they show both silly animations and snippets from classic cinema. That they have gone all out, that they still have the skills to pull off good renditions of their rich back catalogue, and that they are visibly enjoying being on stage: it all leads to just a good night out and (thankfully) not just some old people who felt an old itch or had seen their bank account was getting low on funds. Hats off to them for just doing what they like, still doing it well, and still wanting to do it well and give the audience a good night. The tickets are (contrary to most “previously iconic bands”) decently priced to say the least, so it’s good bang for your buck it is, whether you are there just for nostalgia, just to see a band that is part of your cultural heritage but you missed during their heyday, or just because you want to see a good, professional band and have a good night out.

Now, at that point in the evening I felt pretty young, but by the time I got to the upper room of the venue where Baths is performing I can’t help but think of the song ‘Losing My Edge’ by those who ceased to be (and for those who have ceased to be). Baths is Will Wiesenfeld, who is at least three years younger than me if not more. He is still senior to the gathered crowd though. Before starting he muses out loud who have just come from The Human League downstairs, and he has a hard time containing a smile while saying he is curious to see what they think of it. Now, I am not a whateverosaurus just yet, so I know what is coming is glitchy, knob-twiddling electro that has nothing at all to do with the (synth) pop songs The Human League just churned out. However, there is no way for me not to feel like the geezer who in fact just came from The Human League downstairs.

To be frank (or to be delusional about it), this has never been my kind of thing. Even in years previous I have always left this glitch and that 8-bit genre for what it is. The gathered crowd, obviously, has not. Contorting and twisting their bodies in ways now unimaginable to me. They are dancing to the sudden stops, turns, and twists in Baths’ music. Experimental, yes, and Wiesenfeld obviously is trying to find just the right moment to stop and go and reverse. As one who has been a fervent and vocal supporter of the return of Disco and House, this doesn’t have a beat for me to dance to. My body is saying, Nah mate, you can’t move to this, but my eyes are seeing that indeed my body is speaking from his own limitations. These kids are grabbed by the music which makes them go in every which way their body takes them. Rarely have I felt as voyeuristic as during this.

So it begins. A transitional phase where I have left one part of my life behind and have not yet fully acquired the veteran status that I can go to gigs of bands who started out when I a was youngster and think, Blimey, I bought this record forty years ago. With that said, undoubtedly The Human League makes accessible music, and they have tons of tunes that transcend both generations and cultures (despite perhaps being rooted in one generation/culture more than the other). Not to mention that they can still put on a good show. I don’t quite see Baths ever transcending that much, but for the niche he is currently playing to he is providing that what for these kids is going on. And any time you have a crowd that size (and for a young band sizeable it was) and have them react physically to what you are doing, then you are making music, sometimes it is that simple.