Special Report! Lost 80s Live Concert

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.

My sightseeing finished, Thursday was devoted to preparing myself for the concert. My hotel was a mere three blocks from the Comerica, so I walked down during the daytime and scoped the place out. There were 80s music fans milling about, hours before the show. It was a fun atmosphere and I got into a discussion about the merits of Depeche Mode with and without Vince Clarke with an enthusiastic fan of the band. Various vans and trailers were arriving with gear and equipment. After a quick stop for food back at my hotel, it was time for the show!

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!

Here is the lineup of bands, plus my thoughts on each:

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.

3rd - When In Rome: I can't give these guys a good review. They messed with their classic songs, cutting some short ("Wide, Wide Sea" - #148 on my list) and playing extended/altered versions of others ("The Promise" - #115). I'm all for artistic freedom, but people want to hear the hits as originally presented. Not great. 3.5/10.

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.

5th - Wang Chung: The low point of the entire night. I've never really been a fan of these guys, and their attempts at "witty" banter from the stage fell sadly flat. They didn't even play the one song of theirs I like, "Don't Be My Enemy" (#91). The one pleasant surprise was when the band played their rendition of Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want To Have Fun". Just as I was starting to enjoy it, however, they screamed "girls just want to WANG CHUNG!" and broke into "Everybody Have Fun Tonight". I went to get some popcorn and a Coke. 2/10.

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".

I recorded some videos of the Flock Of Seagulls set, and I'm presenting them below. Be warned: because of some problems with my cell phone, I was using my wife's camera from Costco. The sound quality is a bit suspect, but here are the videos, anyway:

See you on Saturday with a new song that just missed my Top 200 list.