Does anybody still go clubbing these days?
Memories of lava-hot dancefloors certainly filled the air at Heaven 17's show in Dundee. I'm not saying the city's Music Hall served as a proxy for the Blitz Club, but the Sheffield legends are a throwback to that fertile period when socially aware electronic music and a party vibe didn't have to be mutually exclusive.
Heaven 17 nail their colours to the subversive disco mast early, the politically charged synth barbs Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry and (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang making for a thrilling opening salvo.
First released in 1983 and 1981 respectively, both the surprisingly minor hits of their day remain a testimony to the priority status the Sheffield outfit has habitually afforded to a mean soulful groove.
Equally infectious offerings Play To Win and We Live So Fast served to further underscore musical mastermind Martyn Ware and besuited frontman Glenn Gregory's affection for a shape-cutting Saturday night out and perfectly framed the more downbeat moment of melancholic grandeur that was Come Live With Me.
Backing singers Hayley Williams and Rachel Meadows are a key part of the five-piece, which is completed by acclaimed keyboardist Florence Sabeva, and their contributions were hugely significant in adding vocal colour and dexterity alongside Gregory's trademark baritone, as well as glamour.
A treat for long-time H17 diehards in particular was a super-smooth rendition of And That's No Lie, with Glenn explaining that the epic cut from 1984 album How Men Are was only made possible as a live offering thanks to Ms Sabeva's arranging expertise.
Feelgood comedy moments abounded in between songs – mostly involving Martin and Glenn giving each other a good-natured ribbing, or the front row followers who had brought along their own cheeky cue cards.
Those excitable ladies nestled in alongside H17 super-fan Sumo, who Gregory pointed out had attended an incredible 276 of the band's gigs – one more than himself!
Ballroom-style favourite This I Mine and the bouncy Giorgio Moroder tribute I'm Your Money with its Love To Love You Baby intro upped the tempo once more – paving the way for further contrast.
Introduced by Gregory as "beauty, spark and moments of love from a shitty flat in Ladbrokes Grove in 1981", a sweeping Let Me Go with its dramatic pitch changes was no less than outstanding.
Heaven 17's biggest hit Temptation probably summed up the night's club feel best as it was given an almost rave-like makeover that sent the temperature inside the converted church building soaring.
The band's encore included a fitting tribute to late Associates frontman Billy Mackenzie, with Glenn revealing that the extrovert Dundonian – one of the many guest singers on Ware and Marsh's British Electric Foundation albums – gave him his first whippet puppy.
He went on to recall how H17 performed their slowed-down version of Associates classic Party Fears Two at Mackenzie's memorial concert at Shepherd's Bush Empire in 2007 – 10 years on from his death – before struggling to perform the emotional anthem as a duo with Sabeva as tears overwhelmed him on a couple of occasions.
As Gregory himself acknowledged, the mood changed massively as the full line-up returned for a suitably swaggering take on David Bowie's Let's Dance, with early Human League sci-fi thriller Being Boiled capping a glorious set.
Who's coming out for a dance tonight?
