Human League/B-52’s, September 2 at the Hollywood Bowl

It was billed as “Totally ‘80s Night” but that could be an insult to the bands that played, since they’d moved beyond being ‘80s kitsch (or acted as if they had) and had even put out new material, at least one band playing there as part of the tour for their new material, but those bands also wouldn’t be able to play the Bowl on the strength of their new material or from being a longevity band.  So a “totally ‘80s night” it was.  As long as the bands played a hit every third song, the audience, most of which was well liquored-up and either gay or a parent with the night off, didn’t mind.  I wasn't particularly a fan of every band on the bill but I thought it would be a fun night and it was another show to go toward the 5-shows-at-the-Bowl deal I got.  We were there for the B-52’s, who I’d never seen before.  Maybe a gigantic monstrosity of a venue isn’t quite the best place to see them, and maybe the clubs they still play isn’t either, but probably any place you can party at was enough for them.  The tickets said the show started at 7 so we thought we’d be fine to get there by 9, surely with time as the bands before them played, so we thought we had plenty of time but we got there around 8:30 and the outside area of the Bowl was already cleared out, everyone inside to see the B-52’s, who were already on.  We only missed a song or two but it was the biggest mess we’d ever had to try to find our seats, fighting through the alternating darkness and strobe-lights, and the crowd that’d already been drinking since before sundown.  We brought our dinner but it was such chaos it was difficult to eat, and since everyone was so obnoxiously drunk around us, we were a bit put off of drinking ourselves, though we did anyway, just to deal with everyone else.  And nothing against those partying around us -- that’s what they were there to do, I just wish we had gotten there in time so we could settle in and get to a place, both physically and in our intoxication, we could enjoy it ourselves.  And certainly no reason to not party with the B-52’s: their new stuff just about fits in with their hits, at least if you’re drunk you couldn’t tell them that much apart, and they have the wild spirit and experience to be able to mix it all up anyway.  Doesn’t even matter how old the band is, they’re probably going to be partying with the same gusto long after the rest of us are gone, and well into heaven.  They can party with the entirety of the Hollywood Bowl and still have lots of energy to spare.  I don’t know why they weren't headlining that night at the Bowl; you’d think everyone was there for them but most of the place stuck around for the Human League.  I don’t know how it turned out that that band were the headliners but maybe it wasn’t based completely on popularity.  They have more hits than I remembered, and it was enough to carry the show, but they were playing it like it was just another show for them; I don’t know how they could think that they could get into the Hollywood Bowl when their last American hit was over two decades and at least one whole head of hair ago.  But the crowd that was left still seemed into it, and maybe the Human League are still making decent music, maybe even stuff that’s charting somewhere in the world (though not nearly in America), but it could also be the case that everyone was wasted and wanted to keep partying and didn’t feel up to staggering back to reality quite yet.  I was impressed that the band was confident enough to not even have a full band, instead being that lead, bald guy, then just two guys in the back playing synthesizers and the two chick singers who hadn’t completely fallen apart in the years since they had videos on MTV, though it was probably that same confidence, maybe even arrogance, that made them think that they were headlining the Bowl on the strength of their current music and appeal.  We never got into the groove that the party had going on but it was a good enough show, seeing a band that didn’t quite deserve the Bowl but had a few tunes worth hearing.  I was good just with "Human," which came about half-way through (surprising that they would play what I thought was their biggest hit but they had other stuff that they played at the very end that was good enough).  I’d rather see a band that could be held up by their music rather than a nostalgic venture but I’m good just to see legends like the B-52’s.  We got there too late to see Berlin and the Fixx, which we were fine to miss, especially since they also had new material, though I’m not sure if that would work for or against them.


The B-52's set-list:
"Pump"
"Private Idaho"
"Mesopotamia"
"Funplex"
"Give Me Back My Man"
"Roam"
"Party Out Of Bounds"
"Love In The Year 3000"
"Cosmic Thing"
"Hot Corner"
"Love Shack"
"Planet Claire"
"Rock Lobster"