Lost 80's Live

The closest you can get to the original band. NOT a tribute band! OBDP is essentially Oingo Boingo without the original lead singer Danny Elfman. Though the lineup can fluctuate depending on band members schedules I have seen the band perform several times with as many as five original members of Oingo Boingo including lead guitarist Steve Bartek and drummer Johnny Vatos. But no Danny Elfman you may say? It's a sad fact that Danny will most likely never perform with OB again. But you will not be disappointed with OBDP singer Brendan McCreary who does an excellent job filling in some enormous shoes. The songs sound just the same as you remember with but with Brenden bringing his own style of stage performance without trying to imitate the looks and moves of Danny. I've recommended OBDP to several old school OB fans and not a single one was disappointed and has returned to see multiple shows.

I saw the great Scottish rock band Big Country on their tour in 2011. They had many of the original members and I have been a big fans since my dad played me their album The Crossing. That was their big break out album in the United States and included the brilliantly produce smash hit “In a Big Country” which has been a radio standard since.

The band showed their age a little bit but they still had a ton of energy. The crowd was also pretty old butt they were all thrilled to see the band play. They did not play a very long set, but it was packed full of all their hits and actually some new songs. They did tell everyone they were working on a new album that might come out in several years. Those songs were really pretty good.

They closed with “In a Big Country” and the crowd sang along every time the chorus came on. They also were able to mimic the bagpipe sounds of the original recording on their guitars they had. It really did sound like the album and record. They did an encore of a cover song. Everyone left in a good mood, probably thinking about the 1980’s.

"We were the first band to make mullets cool" proclaims David Fenton, lead singer (and fully-trained lawyer) of unashamedly 80s band, The Vapors. Given the deluge of Surrey-based bands, you’d be forgiven (if you were born after 1980) for thinking that Guildford wasn’t the most Rock-n-Roll of provincial, quintessentially English towns. And you’d be right. But as is very much in vogue at the moment, another reunion tour arrives, and this time it’s the band known perhaps most for their politically incorrect and rather dated single - "Turning Japanese." This is the highlight from the set, which features all the hits across their two studio albums ‘New Clear Days’ and ‘Magnets’ mainly targeted at those nostalgic baby boomers who pogo’d and danced flamboyantly in a more innocent time – when mullets WERE cool and TV Presenters were not just sexual predators. I’d like to say I enjoyed myself, but it all seemed a bit like a desperate tribute band of The Jam who had forgotten their set list. Some minor politically motivated speeches aside, I’m not sure it should be carte blanche for any 80s act to reunite uncontested – unfortunately The Vapors seemed to have fallen through the cracks.

Outstanding concert, must see band. Played for 3 hours, non stop hits mixed with scouce humour. Not phased by muppets trying unsuccessfully to get on the stage, or my wife who did (by invite of Ian Mcnabb). Hope to see them again.

I caught Dramarama at the Wonder Bar in Ashbury Park, New Jersey, and the small, intimate venue was perfect as it felt like the band was just there to hang out with us and have a good time. The audience seemed to skew a bit on the old side as I think that Dramarama were a big alt-rock band in the 1980s that broke up in the 1990s before reuniting in the early 2000s, but that was great too as it makes for a great change in scenery from annoying teeny-boppers. This mature crowd knew how to party too, and the crowd was singing along with the band the whole night. When the band played “Anything Anything,” you would have sworn that the crowd was three or four times as big as it was going by how loud the place got. I was entranced practically the whole set by the rhythmic melodies and the intense vocals. It was a wonderful change of pace for me to see this band, and I’m really glad that I did. They have a new album coming out in 2014 so they should be touring again soon, and everybody needs to experience this group in person!

I had the most beautiful concert experience I can remember while watching China Crisis live for the first time. The beauty in what China Crisis does in their simple precision. They simply write beautiful lyrics and have a knack for coming up with catchy elegant pop music to back it up.

The stage setup was sparse, intentionally, so we as the crowd would focus on the individuals playing the music on stage. The focus at the concert was on the music, not on the theatrics of the actual performers. It was very entrancing, the effect in the darkened theater was akin to having a private performance for each member of the audience.

The music itself was so uplifting and poppy that I instantly fell in love with it. It was pure ear candy. "Wishful Thinking" was a particularly engrossing, you could tell that the band had a real affection for that particular song the way to put their hearts and soul into the performance.

After the initial performance these guys came out for not one but two encores - that's home much they appreciate their fans! Great show, highly recommended that you check them out if they come to an area near you!

Musical Youth are probably best known for their brilliant 1982 hit 'Pass The Dutchie', which made it to number 1 across the world. But seeing them in concert is a thoroughly enjoyable experience, and a reminder that it is unfair to label them as merely 'one hit wonders'. Their best-selling album, 'The Youth of Today', contained several other catchy tracks, such as 'Heartbreaker' and 'Never Gonna Give You Up', which the crowd at the ill-fated London Pleasure Gardens venue thoroughly enjoyed. Hard to believe that frontman Dennis Seaton was only 15 when the Birmingham band topped the charts, his relative youth today as a result means that his voice has held up better today than for most lead singers who performed on Top of the Pops in the early 80s. The vocals were never just about him though - expect call-and-response as much as ever in their gigs today, with keyboardist/vocalist Michael Grant joining in and a significant amount of interaction with the crowd. You'll also find this in between songs, with Seaton and the rest of today's incarnation of the band chatting animatedly to the modest but not insignificant crowd. Their story – bassist Patrick Waite died tragically in 1993, aged 24; Junior Waite has been sectioned, and Kelvin Grant is a virtual recluse these days – is a sad one, with the surviving members reflecting that there was a lack of responsible adults around them at the height of their success and that 'The managers milked it'. But you wouldn’t know that from watching Seaton and Michael Grant on stage as they perform across the UK. They're guaranteed to get their audiences dancing well before they get to 'Pass The Dutchie', which will inevitably be the set's final song.