Heaven 17 have announced ‘The Greatest Hits Live With Orchestra’, a UK tour taking in six of the country’s finest concert halls in November 2027. Joined by special guests China Crisis, Martyn Ware and Glenn Gregory will perform their biggest songs with a full orchestra for the first time, opening at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall on Thursday 4 November and finishing at London’s Royal Festival Hall on Thursday 11 November.
The run includes a night at Sheffield City Hall on Saturday 6 November, in the city where Heaven 17 formed in 1980.
Orchestral arrangement has long been part of the band’s story. Their records have regularly pushed electronics and strings together, and Martyn Ware’s work as a producer with BEF has often leaned on the same sense of scale and drama.
Martyn Ware said: “As a producer with BEF, and with Heaven 17, we’ve always loved orchestral textures and drama, as demonstrated on many of our albums. This concert series is an exciting opportunity to explore the power and beauty of a live orchestra in synergy with electronics and H17’s signature vocal arrangements. What a unique experience it will be for Glenn and I, and of course our loyal audience.”
Glenn Gregory said: “One of the most interesting things about recording our music was that sometimes we would get the opportunity to work with an orchestra and transform our songs into something beyond our original idea. Now we get to perform an entire set, live with a full orchestra. I am beyond excited. This is a one-off opportunity to see something very special. Don’t miss it.”
Heaven 17 emerged from Sheffield’s electronic scene in 1980, formed by Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh after their departure from The Human League, with Glenn Gregory joining as vocalist. The name came from a fictional band in Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange. Their 1981 debut album, Penthouse and Pavement, arrived with the single ‘(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang’.
Their 1983 follow-up, The Luxury Gap, reached No.4 in the UK album chart and went platinum. It produced the band’s best-known songs: ‘Temptation’, a UK No.2 single featuring Carol Kenyon, and ‘Come Live With Me’, which reached the Top 5. ‘Crushed by the Wheels of Industry’ and ‘Let Me Go’ are also among the songs that made them one of the defining British synth acts of the decade. Later singles such as ‘Sunset Now’ and ‘This Is Mine’ continued their run of UK chart hits.
Support comes from China Crisis, the Liverpool band behind the hits ‘Wishful Thinking’, ‘Black Man Ray’ and ‘King in a Catholic Style’.
Heaven 17 – The Greatest Hits with Live Orchestra Tour 2027
Thursday 4 November – Edinburgh, Usher Hall
Friday 5 November – Manchester, Bridgewater Hall
Saturday 6 November – Sheffield, City Hall
Monday 8 November – Birmingham, Symphony Hall
Tuesday 9 November – Bath, The Forum
Thursday 11 November – London, Royal Festival Hall
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