Heaven 17 to play Sheffield rooftop

The synthpop sounds of Sheffield's Heaven 17 will sweep across the rooftops of their home city when they play a unique gig on top of Sheffield Hallam University on Wednesday 30 July.

The band, whose debut album Penthouse and Pavement defined a generation, will play 12 floors up from one of the Steel City's tallest buildings. The show will be relayed live to the pavement below on giant screens.

Original members Glen Gregory and Martyn Ware will lead the band through an hour-long set featuring their massive 1980s hits, including world-wide chart-topper Temptation, Let Me Go and the legendary Crushed by the Wheels of Industry.

The roof- raising gig is part of the university's Fusion festival celebrating the move of its Arts and Creative Studies students to a new location in the city centre - and the date has been specifically arranged to support Creative Sheffield's Wednesday Night Live summer programme of music, street entertainment and shopping events.

The gig is also set to galvanize the 80s pop-gods before their sell-out Steel City UK tour this autumn. The tour celebrates the music of the city which bequeathed the most extreme techno-pop pioneers and includes The Human League and ABC.

And 20 lucky fans will have the once-in-a-lifetime experience of joining the band on the roof to see the show close up.

'We're going to run competitions to choose who gets to go to the penthouse rather than the pavement,' said Palmer. 'Already there's a huge buzz of expectation around the city with the prospect of Martyn and Glen playing here for the first time since the millennium - and we're all looking forward to a brilliant and memorable evening.'

You can view the gig from a giant screen in Hallam Square - the University's main city campus entrance between Arundel Gate and Howard Street - at 6pm on Wednesday 30 July.