On Thursday, August 30th I attended the Lost 80s Live concert at the Comerica Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona. This event was a six-band celebration of
eighties music and culture, featuring Bow Wow Wow, Animotion, When In Rome, Wang Chung, Missing Persons, and of course headliners A Flock Of Seagulls.
I'm going to review each band separately, but first a little rundown of the day of the concert. I had arrived in Arizona on Tuesday night and spent a bit of time exploring Phoenix, Tempe, and Scottsdale on Wednesday. I had never been to the desert southwest and had to get acclimated a bit to the 40-degree-plus heat (that's 105-degree-plus heat for those who prefer Farenheit).
This poster is about as epic as they get. |
When I returned and got into line (near the front), I discovered a lot of interesting characters had already arrived. A woman dressed like 1984-era Madonna. A guy wearing a neon MTV bandana. Another fellow with a spiked mohawk. A couple sporting matching Echo & the Bunnymen tour shirts. The promoters were handing out free hacky sacks, and a lot of hacky sacking was taking place.
This place was the epicenter of 80s fandom on August 30th |
Through security and finally inside, I settled into the beautifully air-conditioned theatre and found my floor seat (Row 11 - not bad). The wait for the show to begin was almost over.
Overzealous security allowed NO ONE anywhere near the precious fog machines! |
1st - Bow Wow Wow: Unfortunately, only lead singer Annabella Lwin appeared, as her touring session musicians couldn't make it. In the very early 80s, Bow Wow Wow was actually fronted by a pre-Culture Club Boy George, before Lwin stepped in. A few years later she was booted from her own band, Limahl-style. She sang "I Want Candy" and other Bow Wow Wow songs to a recorded backing track, and did a decent job of getting the crowd fired up. I've never been a huge fan of the band, but I won't say anything negative about her performance - she put in a lot of effort by herself. 5/10.
2nd - Animotion: I was really looking forward to seeing these two live in concert. Astrid and Bill looked great, in stylized Matrix-inspired leather outfits. They played both songs I wanted to hear, "I Engineer" (#152 on my Top 200) and "Obsession" (#32). Their other material was decent too, even the stuff from their new CD (which I bought). Very enjoyable. 7.5/10.
Animotion rocks out. |
4th - Missing Persons: Their set was tight, and they played all the hits. Dale Bozzio's appearance has...changed...since the 80s, but the band still sounds great. I was waiting for "Walking In L.A." (#131), and sure enough, they came through! Props to Bozzio for sticking around long after the show signing autographs for fans and allowing herself to be photographed. 7/10.
Missing Persons frontwoman Dale Bozzio now has a very unique look. |
6th - A Flock Of Seagulls: The headliners were up next. Truth be told, the entire reason I went to the Lost 80s Live was to finally see the Flock in person. They did not disappoint. With Gordon Deppe of Canadian new wave icons the Spoons on lead guitar (ably filling the shoes of legendary original AFOS guitarist Paul Reynolds), Mike Score and the band got things off to a flying start, launching right into "Modern Love Is Automatic" (#2), and following up with "Telecommunication" and, later, "Space Age Love Song" (#15). They sprinkled in some other tunes from their first few albums, and by the time they played their biggest hit, "I Ran (So Far Away)", as a finale the crowd was singing along and dancing like crazy. I can't rate AFOS anything less than 9/10. I'm deducting one point from them for not playing "Messages" (#122), though.
I stuck around after the show to see if I could get a picture with Gord, but when I asked Mike Score he said he wasn't coming out. Oh, well.
The highlight of Lost 80s Live: seeing A Flock Of Seagulls play "Modern Love Is Automatic". |
See you on Saturday with a new song that just missed my Top 200 list.
WOW What a report !!! AFOS look and sound great! Good on Annabella. Glad Dale is out of her cat lady phase. Animotion are always great. And LOL @ Wang Chung ... 30 years of sucking and still going strong !
ReplyDeleteGlad the vids turned out okay. Had to leave my floor seat so I could get a clear view. As for Wang Chung...the less said about them, the better!
DeleteShame about When in Rome ... guess they never saw "Spinal Tap"... never a good idea to do a free-form jazz odyssey exploration in front of a festival crowd
DeleteHah! Yup, they need a re-watch.
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