One of my other posts went on about these nostalgia shows, and how they’re fueled by the hits, with acts well past their prime as well as plenty of one-hit-wonders, and how they're poor for getting a decent set from a band, but some of them can start to make up for it, by volume if not pure quality. And again it wouldn’t be our thing, since we’d much rather see a full set by any band we’re interested in, even if we have to see a separate show, which would also mean we wouldn’t have to sit through bands we didn’t know or care about. Yet these shows can cover a lot of ground, and aren’t even always tied to being “modern rock” from a few decades ago, but can go into mainstream pop or even some acts that were big but never got on our personal radars. But more than anything, this show was about a night out with friends, with me & Carla joining up with her work-friend Sarah and Sarah’s boyfriend Brian, and maybe some other friends. We got a drink at the Palms (familiar since my dad built it) before. Our seats weren’t bad -- on the floor, a few rows back, near the middle. For any show like the Totally '80s Weekend (#7, in case there's a value in the order), for anyone else it wouldn't have been about much more than those singles that were as big as they got in America, and no one trying to be a hero by playing anything newer than 30 years, though the audience would have been just as disinterested by a song that wasn’t one of the hits no matter how old it was or wasn’t. Few of the non-hits made an impression anyway, but especially The Flirts, if it wasn’t "Jukebox (Don't Put Another Dime)" (believing they’re keeping it together enough to appear on stage at their age); Jody Watley (possibly a replacement for Tiffany, whose absence was just as well) and Rob Base had a few good hits between them that were big enough to bust through genres so that even I knew them, then padded out their sets with a lot of energy that floated what was only obscure stuff; Candyman was a special guest (though everyone was a special guest if this whole thing was a one-off), and even his hit was too obscure for us; we didn’t care enough about Farrington + Mann to know why they couldn’t be called When In Rome (which doesn’t help anyone), but they played their couple of recognizables (obviously higher up in the popularity hierarchy) and were a good lead-in to the headliners later; The Bangles are proudly L.A.-local and yet we’ve always missed them, over the decades when I knew all their MTV hits, possibly taking them for granted for whatever local availability they’ve had, and we had to go one of these nostalgia fests to finally see them, though they had more hits than just “Walk Like An Egyptian,” which they deserved better than, even if they made it just slightly more than a novelty hit. Of course they sounded great and could even pull off being a relevant act for being current (relatively, as even their most recent songs were old enough to border on oldies), and if they didn’t have enough hits to float them through their entire set, it was enough familiarity for us (even if I never reached beyond the greatest-hits, though I wore that one out both on cassette and CD). We didn’t get “Be With You” but we also didn’t get the full show, so maybe they’ll pop up again while they can still keep the look. Without being too disrespectful to the event and the other bands, they seemed to be having a laugh at the show, that anyone who wasn’t drunk and had any idea about the culture of music would know how ridiculous the whole thing was, but they were still having a good time (while getting out and getting paid); as far as I was concerned the rest of the show could have gone away for only seeing Bananarama. To a lot of people they could have too easily have seemed like a minor pop act that got lucky, had a few good songs (more than a one-hit wonder), and were probably bigger somewhere else, but they grew on me in my later life, even when I I dissected their greatest-hits album (leaving out “Cruel Summer” from any set-list). Even before then I’d been into just short of obsessed with Shakespeare’s Sister, for which I couldn’t ask for a connection, though in full shows they did “Stay,” so I was at least on the right track. And by this they were down to only two ladies, but they were enough for a show (though if it had just been one that could have been weird). If nothing else they could do no wrong for “I Heard A Rumor,” one of the greatest productions of the ‘80s, if not all of pop music ever (even before I discovered the rest of Wow!, with which prior knowledge I would have wanted to go to the full show at the Novo the year before, but had to settle for this). They had enough hits (that hit somewhere) to fill a set, even if it was a fraction of the space they deserved, which also seemed to amuse them when they realized they were done with what they could do. What was only a sampling seemed a crime but also a concession to such a show (especially when no one else deserved the stage more), but even getting that much was a treat, especially if it was just the last signature on all they would do for the Americas. Those ladies are eternal so they could probably pull it off again and still look great, but there wouldn’t be much point if that’s as much as they could get so far after the heyday. But we were fortunate to get even that and good with it; the order seemed a jumble (even in this post), loosely based off their number of hits but maybe more off how well they were regarded today, but I certainly wouldn’t have picked OMD (Orchestral Movements in the Dark) as the headliner, and certainly not deserving of the additional amount of time they pulled. The audience made it sound like they were the most eagerly-anticipated of the night, but that could also be from how much all the parents drank cumulatively and how it was almost time to go. Admittedly, OMD had hits, though I was largely lost for anything beyond “If You Leave,” which has been a classic since 1985 (when I heard it in a parking lot on Fresno commercial radio), but it couldn’t balance out the other songs that weren’t quite so slick or seductive, and often just doofy stuff. If they were riding on the back of Depeche Mode they never had the atmosphere or sexiness (even when they weren’t clearly old guys) and surely got in from being yet another Brit new wave band (the reduction completely on purpose). They might have been in denial for how much “If You Leave” was carrying them by playing it like it was just another song in the set, but they had a lot of twinkly lights that lit up the interior with a sparkling ambiance, and it might have been nice to have such a gentle let-down to finally end the show. Also no finale bringing everyone out to do an ill-advised jam, with all of them doing their contractually-obligated sets and high-tailing it from the building, but it was also getting late and babysitters needed taking home, so it all got stamped as a few hours’ visit into a shuffle of ‘80s hits like many others, and they would dig up a new (if not fresh) crop of the same for next time, since apparently there are yet more bands with not much else going on but to reunite for a night (but you can certainly fill up a bill with one-off hits, and the lesser bands might go cheap just to have someone paying them).
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Darks’ set-list:
“Enola Gay“
“Secret“
“Tesla Girls“
“History of Modern (Part I)“
“If You Leave“
“(Forever) Live and Die“
“Joan of Arc (Maid of Orleans)“
“Locomotion“
“So in Love“
“Dreaming“
“Electricity“
The Bangles’ set-list:
“A Hazy Shade of Winter“ (Simon & Garfunkel cover)
“Live“ (The Merry‐Go‐Round cover)
“Manic Monday“ (Prince cover)
“Going Down to Liverpool“ (Katrina and the Waves cover)
“September Gurls“ (Big Star cover)
“If She Knew What She Wants“ (Jules Shear cover)
“Want You“
“In Your Room“
“Hero Takes a Fall““
Walk Like an Egyptian
“Eternal Flame“
Bananaramas’ set-list:
“Cruel Summer“
“He Was Really Sayin' Somethin'“ (The Velvelettes cover)
“I Can't Help It“
“Look on the Floor“
“I Heard a Rumour“
“Venus“ (Shocking Blue cover)
Farrington + Mann (When In Rome)s’ set-list:
“Heaven Knows“
“Wide Wide Sea“
“The Promise“
Jody Watley’s set-list:
“Some Kind of Lover“
“Don't You Want Me“
“Everything“
“Real Love“
“Friends“
“Looking for a New Love“
Rob Base’s set-list:
“Pump It Up“
“The Incredible Base“
“Joy & Pain“
It Takes Two“
Candyman’s set-list:
“Melt in Your Mouth“
“The Roof Is on Fire“ (Rock Master Scott & The Dynamic Three cover)
“Knockin' Boots“
