This festival tour slash concert was one of the holdups on getting off my duff to get cranking on my site with new stories. It was a concert Somara, Ayako and I went to see for the heck of it. I mainly picked it out to get re-acquainted with some bands the world lazily call one-hit wonders plus it was gift for my friend Ayako because Eighties music helped her learn English. Too bad French pop hasn’t done much for my French.
Admittedly the show caters to the casual fan of music since the multiple acts just play several hits and then leave, a format I felt was reminiscent of how rock n’ roll shows used to be in the Fifties/Sixties. Then again, I only “know” such a fact from movies about performers from then, I’ve never had the luxury to ask someone who lived through the period and saw Buddy Holly or bands with only a couple hits. I think I’ve made a safe assumption though.
First up was Nu Shooz, a band I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for. Their biggest hit, “I Can’t Wait,” may have been played to death in 1986 (currently, someone is playing it every 11 minutes) and their video was attention getting but sadly but Valerie Day’s vocals were what has kept it in my memory. She really nails the emotional longing the lyrics illustrate. They closed with that. They opened with the follow-up to the hit, “Point of No Return,” which I remember and something they scored well on the Adult Contemporary charts with, “Should I Say Yes?”, from their 1988 album. Turns out they continue to make music and remain married, a hard thing to do when fame comes and goes rapidly. They’re also fixture of the Portland scene, guitarist John Smith composes for ads, films and plays while Valerie teaches at Portland State University. I would definitely like to see them again and give their other works a try.
Valerie Day and John Smith
Annabella of Bow Wow Wow was next. She mostly did the hits everybody knew, not much interaction with the audience. I was surprised she opened with “Baby, Oh No!”, yet I guess everyone on the bill had to perform three songs. Fear not, Annabella closed out with “Do You Wanna Hold Me?” and the cover that made the band famous, “I Want Candy.”
Annabella (Lwin) sure has changed. She looks better with hair, the mohawk was off-putting for me.
Next was Animotion, an act I used to feel was a knock-off of Berlin, namely through their PG-13-rated song “Obsession,” it bears some similarity to Berlin’s “Sex (…I’m A)”. Much like Nu Shooz, the band hadn’t been resting on their past laurels, they had a new record out and some members were session musicians, one played for Michael Jackson. They opened with the second single from their debut, “Let Him Go,” followed by “Last Time” on their recently released album Raise and surprised me with “I Engineer,” a minor hit at WMUR, the college radio station I used to be involved in. Obviously they closed with “Obsession.”
We could only get a good picture of singer Astrid Plane.
The midpoint to the show was the only two original members of When in Rome. These guys I knew the least about. According to the website setlist.fm, there’s nothing on them for Austin but other locations say they did their three songs. All I remembered was the band’s sole hit, “The Promise.”
Clive Farrington and Andrew Mann
Naked Eyes hit the stage. These days the band is only the singer Peter Byrne, the other half likely retired. He broke the three-song trend by performing four; “Voices in my Head,” “(What) In the Name of Love,” (my favorite), “Promises, Promises” and the Burt Bacharach cover, “(There’s) Always Something to Remind Me.” Peter’s fantastic, distinctive voice remains in good shape.
Peter Byrne
Wang Chung was the only act I’d seen before and it was back in their “prime,” opening for the Cars in 1984 (they didn’t go over well with the Indiacrapolis crowd) and headlining in 1987 during my freshmen year at Marquette. Points on the Curve remains an essential album to any serious collection pertaining to Eighties music, Pop or New Wave. They opened with “Let’s Go,” their second release from Mosaic, went back to the early hit “Dance Hall Days,” mixed in Robert Hazard/Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” Bassist Nick Feldman made me laugh. He asked the audience to pose for a picture to show his mother he still had a proper job making music for 35 years. “Everybody Have Fun Tonight.” Quick piece of trivia/clarification, band members Jack Hues and Nick Feldman didn’t put their band’s name in the song’s chorus, this was producer/songwriter Peter Wolf’s contribution (a different guy, not the lead singer of the J. Geils Band).
Nick and Jack jamming!
Closing up was A Flock of Seagulls which is only the lead singer Mike Score (he owns the name/band). His infamous hairdo everyone ridiculed is long gone, it’s really just a modified Ziggy Stardust look. AFOS is another early Eighties band people crap on unjustly. To me, they did an incredible mix of synthesizers and guitars I continue to enjoy plus I can hear it in other contemporary acts, namely Goldfrapp. Being last, they were cut short because we were hitting curfew for Cedar Park (or as I call it, North Reaganstan). First was “Space Age Love Song,” and then my person favorite “Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)” (numerous memories of 1983 come rushing back). “I Ran” was the closer. The guy Mike hired to play guitar could really do the trademark solo Paul Reynolds did 36 years ago. One day I need to take in AFOS for a full set, I would love to hear other songs they did such as, “Nightmares,” “DNA,” “Telecommunication,” and “The More You Live, The More You Love.”
Mike Score leading a younger Flock of Seagulls
This concludes my 1000+ word trip down memory lane covering music from my high school and early college years. Normally I prefer to move forward, my hatred for “Classic Rock,” and people stuck in insert decade here is well known. However, I don’t think the past was entirely bad. It’s alright and perfectly normal to want to go back, remember old things we loved, reconnect with the memories they trigger. Just don’t wallow in it and push it on everybody else like an unwanted missionary, Beatles fans, are you listening?