What’s On has details of The Human League concert in Dubai, performing a one-off show at The Irish Village. Find out how you can see them live and get tickets.

Say the words ‘Don’t you want me baby’ to someone above the age of 30 and chances are they will reply with this: ‘Don’t you want me, whoah-ohhh.’

The sing-a-long chorus comes from one of pop’s biggest hits Don’t You Want Me by British band The Human League. The synth pop group will play the track, among many others, at a one-off gig in Dubai on Thursday September 25 at The Irish Village.

The band, from Sheffield in the UK, enjoyed eight top ten singles in Britain, such as Human, Love Action, and Don’t You Want Me, which was the coveted Christmas number one in Britain in 1981. They also scored chart success in America, and David Bowie once called The Human League ‘the sound of the future.’

Phil Oakey has been with the band since their beginnings in 1977 and remains the front man today. He’s joined on stage by singers Joanne Catherall and Susanne Sulley who have been with the group since the 1980s.


Oakey was one of the most recognisable figures in 1980s pop with his distinctive one-sided fringe: “I wanted to be like my heroes,” he explains. “I loved Marc Bolan because of his haircut. Obviously, I loved David Bowie and Rod Stewart. I went through a period of looking like Joanna Lumley from The Avengers. I had a pretty effeminate bob. I was looking for a distinctive style even before I was in a group. It was very deliberate. I was looking for something. It was a post-war thing. The England I grew up with was so grey and monochrome that when we got the chance to wear bright colours and make-up, we did it.”

Fans of The Human League who attend the gig at The Irish Village will, sadly, be denied the chance to see Oakey’s famous barnet. He chuckles, “I have short hair because I’m going bald and I would look ridiculous to have wisps.”

September 25
The Irish Village, Dubai, Dhs160, 9pm. Tel: (04) 2824750. Metro: GGICO. theirishvillage.com