LONDON 2002 REVIEWS

 

The Telegraph December 2002

Simon Briggs

THE BEST AND WORST OF 1980S RELICS

At this time of year, tradition requires that punters must pay good money to watch ageing non-entities make asses of themselves on stage. But wait before you book that pantomime. The same effect can be achieved, with a stockingful of belly-laughs, at this reunion of 1980s relics.

Now in its second year, the Here And Now tour is establishing itself as an annual cringefest, best watched through slightly parted fingers. The line-up, though, is different every time...

...Here And Now's headline act, the Human League, whose already lugubrious synth-pop was further undermined when one of their computers broke down. Unfortunately for Phil Oakey and his accomplices, an unplugged set was not really an option. They struggled on, doing their best to confirm my theory that if love is blind, nostalgia must surely be tone-deaf.