They are mad, bad, and dangerous to know. No, they are not Dead or Alive. They are the inspirational duet from Sheffield, England known as Heaven 17 and they are coming to the Observatory in Santa Ana. This band is one of the quintessential bands that came out of the UK in the ‘80s.
THE OBSERVATORY
Santa Ana, California
October 1, 2022
Formerly members of The Human League, this band mixes great music, electrifying overtones, wicked lyrics, and tosses in a fictional band name taken from the feature film “A Clockwork Orange.” All blended together you have Heaven 17!
For me, the ‘80s gave me bands I still listen to, Psychedelic Furs, OMD and Boingo topped my list. The two hits that were a big part of my teenage angst included “Let Me Go” and “(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang” by Heaven 17.
The founding members of the band remain as the core: Glenn Gregory on vocals and keys, alongside Martyn Ware also on keys.
Earlier this year, Heaven 17 announced their North American tour which is set to land in OC at The Observatory on October 1st. Recently, Gregory said, “It could be classified as Heaven 17’s first official tour of the continent.” He went on to say “Our first trip to America as Heaven 17 was to New York in 1981; in fact, it was my first-ever trip to the USA and was a truly amazing experience. I can’t remember how on earth this came about, but we were going to play our first-ever live performance at the legendary Studio 54. We have, believe it or not, only ever played the States twice since then – once at a brilliant sold-out gig at The Highline Ballroom in NYC and the other at the Music Tastes Good festival in Long Beach, California, both in 2017. So, it’s certainly way past the time for Heaven 17 to finally come and tour in America and we are on our way! We know we have some amazing fans over there and we’re really excited to, at last, be able to play in front of all of them.”
There are a lot of great bands still performing from the era, Heaven 17 is one of them, trust me they are special. If you want to see what the ‘80s was like in an English pub, check out this band when they come to OC on October 1st!
