The Human League
The Warfield
June 5, 2026
Photos by Raymond Ahner
Few bands are as synonymous with the music of the 1980s as The Human League. Despite the fact that they’ve continued to record and release music since the decade came to a close, their most popular and beloved songs were all released during that time. And those are the songs that a sold-out crowd at The Warfield had come to see the band perform.
The lights dimmed and drummer Rob Barton sat behind his electronic kit, playing a steady minimal rhythm. Soon keyboardists Ben Smith and Nick Banks stepped out onstage to cheers from the audience, each donning a keytar and playing the lead and bass synth parts of “The Sound Of The Crowd.” But what really sent the crowd over the edge was when singers Philip Oakey, Joanne Catherall, and Susan Ann Sulley came onstage to begin the song proper. It was the perfect way to kick off the band’s set.
And what a set it was. Spanning from the band’s more experimental earlier work all the way to their often overlooked later albums, there was something for both casual and more diehard fans played throughout the night. Philip Oakey was in command of the audience from the get-go, his voice sounding like it’s barely changed over the decades. Songs like “Seconds” and “Human” still sounded fresh and exciting despite the band having played them hundreds of times over the years.
Using a large screen that took up the entire backdrop, visuals played in time with the songs, adding an extra dimension to all of them. Add the great sound system at The Warfield, and more aggressive songs like “The Lebanon” sounded absolutely huge.
With his various wardrobe changes and frontman status, Oakey did step back for the song “One Man In My Heart,” where Joanne Catherall’s demanding vocals made me do a double-take once she started singing. And of course his duet with Susan Ann Sulley during the band’s most popular song, “Don’t You Want Me,” absolutely brought the house down.
The Human League are just as important now as they’ve ever been. With countless other musicians, both of their time and more contemporary ones as well, having taken inspiration from the band over the years, seeing them performing live reminded me of their lasting influence on popular music and how empty certain playlists and compilations would feel without Philip Oakey pushing the band forward all of these years. Here’s to many more of them.
Opening the show was Alison Moyet. While she rose to stardom as the singer of the short-lived synth pop duo Yazoo, enough of her too-short set was focused on her solo material as to remind the crowd that songs like “Love Resurrection” hit just as hard as “Situation.” For anyone who might have had a concern that her voice has diminished over the years, it still packs a wallop and is just as powerful now as it was when “Don’t Go” was first released. She absolutely killed it and I’m so glad to have finally seen her live.
Playing second was Soft Cell. I’m not going to get into whether Marc Almond and a keyboardist and two backing vocalists are really Soft Cell or not, what I will say is that after having had the misfortune of seeing Almond live now three times I just can’t get into him as a live performer. His already limited vocals have deteriorated drastically over the years, to the point where he sounded like he had just been pushed onto the stage after being disconnected from life support. Honestly, he should have opened the show, as the energy of the room notably nosedived once he came onstage.
