After a critically acclaimed 6 Music gig with super fans La Roux earlier this year Heaven 17 bring their classic album Penthouse and Pavement to Birmingham’s HMV Institute on Friday 26th November. Justifiably featured in the book ‘1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die’ it spawned a penthouse full of classic synth n’funk tracks including ‘(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang’, ‘The Height Of The Fighting’ and (still a dancefloor filler today by all accounts) ‘Play To Win’.
Simultaneously taking the piss out of the yuppies who shoved it in their Walkman’s and used it to soundtrack their vacuous lives as well as appealing to the cool kids AND making it into the charts, it’s a true classic in every sense of the word (and when you think what they did with what was still emerging technology in those days it’s nothing short of a musical miracle). Thirty years down the line the album’s been rediscovered by a whole new generation, many of whom, like Ellie and Ben from La Roux, are simply blown away by just how fresh it still sounds. I’ve actually been playing it myself for 30 years and I’ve yet to get bored of it. There aren’t many albums like that eh?
Notorious for not playing live when it was first released this gig will be one of the first times it’s ever been performed in its entirety. Not content with merely bringing it to life however the band has also prepared what’s being pitched as a live digital visual show in collaboration with a whole bunch of graphic designers and filmmakers too...intriguing. At the time of posting this tickets are still available right here. He-La-Hu!
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