Review | All In For the 80s

If John Hughes was DJing your Bat Mitzvah in 1983, it would sound like the Totally Tubular Festival on Friday night at the Santa Barbara Bowl. What an incredibly fun (as an Egyptian) stroll down memory lane that was.

It felt like the 80s were no longer “A Million Miles Away” in the rearview mirror, as opening band The Plimsouls sang in that forever fantastic song that will always remind me of how handsome the young Nicolas Cage was in Valley girlWith seven bands on the bill, the sets were short but powerful and everyone, as expected, completely immersed themselves in their hits.

There was no hesitation in waiting for the crowd to go wild and then giving an encore.

Tommy Tutone was up next, he did an excellent punk rock version of Cat Stevens’ “Wild World” before launching into that song that is almost as famous as “9-1-1”. The entire crowd was singing, screaming and dancing along to “867-5309/Jenny” and then it was time for Bow Wow Wow to take the stage. They were definitely the band I was least familiar with on the bill, but they had a fun, danceable vibe and I loved seeing the crowd rocking their 80s outfits. Fashion statements included lots of retro t-shirts, super day-glo, off-the-shoulder, ripped necks Flash dance style togs, as well as a Karate Kid, lots of Madonnas and a really cute couple near me in matching madras check who looked like they were straight out of The Official Preppy Handbook.

By the time Bow Wow Wow sang “Do You Wanna Hold Me?” I realized I knew their music after all, especially when it was followed by “Aphrodisiac” (featured in the 2006 Sofia Coppola film Marie Antoinetteto a great soundtrack that also included music from The Strokes, Siouxsie & The Banshees, New Order and The Cure). Their last song — “I Want Candy” — had me singing and dancing along with everyone.

Next up were The Tubes, a band I’ve seen many times over the years (including at the Bowl). The glam rocker’s set, which included “She’s a Beauty,” “Sushi Girl” and “Talk to Ya Later,” was made even more surreal by the fact that I texted my friend Holly to share some photos. Once — after she was a Marquette (IYKYK), before she was a lawyer — she was a Tubette, go-go dancing with the band as part of their elaborate staging at the time.

The biggest surprise of the night for me was the next band, Men Without Hats. They still had those great, not-so-cautious dance moves of that era and had a punky, youthful energy during a set that included well-received versions of their hit “The Safety Dance,” as well as “Antarctica” and “Pop Goes the World,” with its scathing anti-capitalist themes buried beneath the catchy melody.

Modern English, one of the few bands to even mention the words ‘new music’, had their tongue firmly in their cheek as they played a song from their new album 1 2 3 4, aptly titled “Long in The Tooth”, after opening with their 1981 hit “Gathering Dust”. “Someone’s Calling” and the obligatory but still great “I Melt With You” (also in Valley girl, (another excellent soundtrack, without any John Hughes fingerprints on it, as far as I know) had us out of our seats and singing along (and clapping) again.

The Thompson Twins, featuring band founder Tom Bailey (whom I interviewed here ) and an entertaining young, all-female band, all dressed in white, to back him up, were utterly delightful from start to finish. “Love on Your Side,” “Lay Your Hands on Me,” “If You Were Here” (from John Hughes’ Sixteen candles soundtrack), “You Take Me Up,” “Lies,” and “Doctor! Doctor!” were all thrillingly familiar and fun, but it was their brilliant cover of the Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer” that was probably my favorite song of the night. Although it was also pretty cool to hear The Thompson Twins sing “Hold Me Now” for their finale.

EDM’s OG Thomas Dolby was up last, and as fascinatingly talented as he is, he’s still a man standing alone on a large stage with a bunch of electronic gear, which brought the energy down a notch after The Thompson Twins. His cover of New Order’s “Blue Monday” was a fantastic choice for this crowd, though, and he quickly had us back in the palms of his hands — which were busy mashing buttons, firing up videos, and making all sorts of electronic noises throughout his set.

Dolby’s sounds that night included “Europa and the Pirate Twins,” “One of Our Submarines,” “Hyperactive!” and his playing along to a 1983 video version of David Bowie performing “Heroes” at London’s Wembley Stadium (where Dolby also accompanied Bowie in real life). I couldn’t help but think that this was the part of the show that my colleague Joe Woodard would have really enjoyed if he had been there. In my opinion, it was Dolby’s final number that was the real ’80s money shot, the one I still can’t get out of my head, “She Blinded Me with Science.”

I was probably more blinded by nostalgia than by science, but either way, it was a lot of fun.

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