The Human League - 2000s

2000s

In 2000 the band signed to Papillon Records a subsidiary of the Chrysalis Group.

The band released their next album, Secrets, in 2001. The band was still presented as the Oakey, Sulley and Catherall trio, although Neil Sutton was credited with keyboards, and co-wrote most of the material with Oakey. Despite being well received by critics as their best album since Dare (the music climate at the time seeing a new interest in electronic pop music with the electroclash movement), the band's new record label, Papillon developed financial problems, and was closed by the parent company shortly after the album's release, leading to poor promotion and sales. BBC Radio 1 also refused to playlist the single "All I Ever Wanted" because, now in their 40s, the band did not match the radio station's demographic target audience.

Secrets entered the UK album chart at No. 44, but fell off the chart the following week.

Susan Sulley said that the rejection of Secrets was "the lowest the band had been since 1992 and after putting in so much time and effort in to an album that then failed, nearly causing them to call it a day."

To accompany the then-stalled album, the band conducted the 2001 'Secrets Tour'. Along with Sulley and Catherall, the band had Neil Sutton on keyboards. Long time studio engineer David Beevers had become part of the on-stage line-up controlling the sequencers from behind his deck of twin Apple Macintoshes. Oakey further recruited multi-instrumentalist Nic Burke, then aged 21, who he had seen playing in Sheffield, to play electric guitar and keytar. To round off the line up in 2002, percussionist Errol Rollins was added to play the electronic drum kit. Rollins was replaced by Rob Barton in 2004.

As a point of honour the band refuses to use playback; they always play live and rehearse before every appearance, ensuring that no two performances are the same. This was clearly demonstrated in 2002, when the band was booked to appear on UK national TV channel GMTV, where they were to play "Don't You Want Me" before being interviewed. The producer was astounded when the band arrived at 5 am (three hours early) expecting to set up and rehearse; it had been assumed they would just mime to playback. Joanne Catherall explained why on air during the interview: "We simply don't sound like we did 20 years ago; it would be wrong if we used tapes, so we do everything live."

In 2003, a second single from Secrets, entitled "Love Me Madly?", was released independently as a private venture by Nukove, a small independent label especially set up to release Human League material, but it did not have funds for promotion and the single did not chart.

Throughout the following years, the band has continued to tour frequently, enjoying enduring success and popularity as a live act. In 2004, they released The Human League Live At The Dome, a DVD of a live show in filmed at the Brighton Dome complete with a compilation CD called Live at the Dome. Prior to this, in 2003, Virgin records had released The Very Best of the Human League, a DVD of most of their previously recorded music videos. The DVD sold well in the UK and US, and was accompanied by a compilation album of the same name.

At the end of 2005, the band together with EMI released a compilation album of remixes called The Human League Original Remixes and Rarities aimed at the DJ/Dance market in the US and UK.

As well as dedicated Human League tours, the band has since appeared at many independent concerts and festivals worldwide. They have played at such prestigious events as the V Festival in 2004 and 2009, Homelands in 2005, Nokia Trends in Brazil 2005, and Festival Internacional de Benicàssim in 2007

On 22 September 2006, the band performed on the US network television show, Jimmy Kimmel Live!. This was immediately before the highlight of 2006, which was the band playing to an audience of 18,000 at the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles on 24 October 2006, one of their largest concerts to date. This was followed up by an 11-venue tour of Europe in November and December 2006.

The band has been the subject of, and appeared in, various TV documentaries and features such as Channel 4's Made in Sheffield and the BBC's Young Guns: The Bands of the Early 1980s. In June 2007, Sulley and Catherall presented a documentary on Sheffield’s pop music history entitled The Nations Music Cities for VH1.

In November and December 2007, to mark their 30th anniversary (1977–2007) the band conducted their highest profile tour since the Secrets tour of 2001. The 'Dare! 2007' tour encompassed 20 European venues from London to Stockholm, most of which were sold out. Their set list included (for the first time ever) a performance of Dare played sequentially and in its entirety. This included Philip Oakey playing the Human League's instrumental arrangement of the theme from "Get Carter" on an original Casio VL-Tone from 1981. The remainder of the concert was dedicated to songs from the band's other albums and also included the Oakey/Moroder song "Together In Electric Dreams". The band invested heavily in the stage set and lighting for the tour, including elaborate high definition video backgrounds provided by set designer Rob Sinclair.

A 12" single remix of "Things That Dreams Are Made Of" (originally from the Dare! album) was released in the UK in January 2008, by Hooj Choons. It peaked at No. 2 on the UK Dance chart.

In August and September 2008, the band headlined the US Regeneration Tour supported by ABC, A Flock of Seagulls, Naked Eyes, and at some venues, Belinda Carlisle.

In November and December 2008, The Human League got together with Martin Fry's ABC and Heaven 17 for 'The Steel City Tour' of the UK. This was Philip Oakey's concept of a joint tour of all three bands celebrating the original electronic music of early 1980s Sheffield (the titular Steel City). Much was made in the UK media of the history between Heaven 17 and The Human League, the original events of 1980 and the fact they were now working together. Both Oakey and Martyn Ware were at pains to explain that any acrimony from that period had long since been forgotten.

The Human League were one of the headline acts on the line-up at Spillers Wharf on 30 May 2009, in the Newcastle/Gateshead Evolution festival. The Human League were one of the headline bands for Dubai's first music festival, the 'Dubai Sound City' festival, between 5 and 7 November 2009.

On 11 December 2009, The Human League signed a new recording contract with UK based Wall of Sound. They also have their own studio in Sheffield, and are managed by Sidewinder Management Ltd. The band continue to record and play live, with regular appearances at music festivals worldwide at many of which they are among the headliners.

Although the subject of retirement is often brought up in interviews, Oakey, Sulley and Catherall have all stated that they still enjoy performing and intend to carry on for "as long as they are filling concerts and people want to see them." Sulley often jokes that she "has to carry on because she doesn’t know how to do anything else."