SHEFFIELD has recently been busy playing host to the dignitaries of its music scene past and present.
Jarvis Cocker played a homecoming gig, Arctic Monkey Alex Turner performed at the City Hall with The Last Shadow Puppets, while Richard Hawley turned out for the opening of Lady's Bridge as well as working with Tony Christie to produce Made in Sheffi
eld, an entire album dedicated to the city.
To top off this flurry of activity, three iconic bands of Sheffield's electropop golden age in the 1980s joined forces for the Steel City Tour.
Heaven 17, ABC and The Human League pioneered a musical movement, starting out as arty anti-rock experimentalists, mastering the techniques and exploiting the potential of a new electronic sound.
Eventually they emerged as triumphant pop innovators whose influence can still be heard in today's charts as well as on the fringes of avant-garde electronica.
Thirty years on they show no sign of slowing down.
The homecoming gig at the Arena on Saturday night, the last of the tour, kicked off with Heaven 17, charismatically led by Glenn Gregory.
With their own funky spin on the electropop sound they romped through the Heaven 17 hits, including the sumptuous 'Come Live With Me' and Gregory's personal favourite 'Let Me Go'.
They finished the set with an extended version of their signature tune 'Temptation', which got the crowd singing along, unperturbed by the impossibly high notes.
ABC stepped out next. Frontman Martin Fry charmed the audience, an old-fashioned smoothie in a dapper suit with a flash of silver hair.
"We've been travelling all round the UK," he says, "but we knew tonight was going to be the best."
Their set is slick – Sixties crooning, Seventies disco and Eighties synths rolled into one – with no shortage of old favourites for the fans. 'All Of My Heart', 'Poison Arrow' and 'Look Of Love' are all much-loved gems.
Through a cloud of smoke and haze of red lights, Phil Oakey appears in a sweeping trench coat, commanding the stage with panache.
"It's lovely to be here on the Meadowhall floodplain on the wettest and coldest day of the year," he remarks.
Despite the fact that they have been doing this for three decades, The Human League still have a futuristic ambience and it is easy to see why they are hailed as electropop pioneers. They sound as fresh as ever.
Oakey is flanked by Susan Anne Sulley and Joanne Catherall, like two glamorous cyberpunk dolls; the three of them make a captivating line-up.
The Human League are accompanied by an impressive array of lights, colours and images on a huge screen. It is a theatrical performance which includes several costume changes. But this does not detract from the quality of the music.
Oakey's rich, deep tones contrast with the warble of the synths. Hits like 'Love Action' and 'Don't You Want Me?' represent pop at its best.
But the night belongs to 'Electric Dreams', the final song of the evening – beautifully uplifting pop perfection, leaving everybody in the Arena with a spring in their step and a sense of pride in the musical heritage of the Steel City.
