“I guess the 80’s is the best thing around…” Mike Score of A Flock of Seagulls, putting things in simple terms before the massive crowd at the joint presentation of Rewind | Lost 80’s Live ’18 concert event at Thunder Valley Outdoor Amphitheater on Sunday night. Known for it’s rotating series of artists who made significant marks on the music scene throughout the 80’s, each year the show presents a unique concert going experience. The line-up this time around featured A Flock of Seagulls, Mickey Thomas from Starship, Wang Chung, Dale Bozzio from Missing Persons, Animotion, Farrington and Mann from When In Rome, and Annabella Lwin from Bow Wow Wow.
What: Rewind | Lost 80’s Live
Who: A Flock of Seagulls
Who: Starship featuring Mickey Thomas
Who: Wang Chung
Who: Missing Persons featuring Dale Bozzio
Who: Animotion
Who: Farrington And Mann: Original Members of When In Rome
Who: Annabella Lwin formerly of Bow Wow Wow
Venue: Thunder Valley Outdoor Amphitheater at Thunder Valley Casino Resort
Where: Lincoln, California
Promoter: 101.5 K-Hits, Lost 80’s Live and World One Presents
When: September 2, 2018
Seating: (photo pass)
The annual tradition of World One Presents and Rob Juarez collaborating to bring together their Rewind Fest and Lost 80’s Live franchises together (this year referred to as “Rewind | Lost 80’s Live ’18), Sunday night’s concert brought a number of favorite 80s artists to the stage to perform a series of short, non-stop sets of their most popular music.
Each set ran about 15-30 minutes each, with the short breaks in-between filled in with music and videos by DJ Bobby G.
A portion of the proceeds from the event was designated to benefit Easter Seals of Sacramento by World One Presents. Lost 80s Live also put a Schecter guitar up for auction, signed by all of the artists with 100% of the proceeds benefiting Saint Jude’s Children’s Hospital. There was furious bidding up in the front row, and I believe they said it broke all records for this tour, selling for around $12,000.
Mrs. Rock Subculture, Shelley DeBord, also did photography at this show with me (her photos have the Pixel Dust Moments watermark).
Annabella Lwin formerly of Bow Wow Wow
Annabella Lwin was the vocalist for Bow Wow Wow.
Bow Wow Wow were formed in England in 1980. The band was born from Adam and the Ants, in that manager Malcolm McLaren (who previously managed the Sex Pistols) persuaded guitarist Matthew Ashman, bassist Leigh Gorman, and drummer David Barbarossa to leave Adam Ant’s group to form their own band. Then 14-year old Annabella Lwin was recruited to serve as their vocalist.
Bow Wow Wow are best known for their 1982 cover of The Strangeloves’ song, “I Want Candy”. It has been one of the staple songs of 80’s New Wave and early MTV music videos.
Original bassist Leigh Gorman also tours from time to time with his own incarnation of Bow Wow Wow, with all new members. Original guitarist Matthew Ashman sadly passed away in 1995, and drummer Dave Barbarossa has over the years played with other artists such as Republica, and is also a novelist.
I saw Gorman’s version of Bow Wow Wow many years ago (LINK). This was my first time seeing Lwin perform.
As is the case with Lost 80’s Live, all of the sets are fairly short, and Lwin’s obviously was building up to “I Want Candy” quite quickly.
Joining her on stage was Conrad on guitar, and everything else was pre-recorded. They did a great job setting the mood for the 80’s music that followed, with the punchy and infections song that made Lwin an 80’s star.
Below are some photos of Annabella Lwin performing on stage (scroll downward and photos will begin to appear – click any image to open a virtual lightroom with higher resolution versions of each photo):
Farrington And Mann: Original Members of When In Rome
Clive Farrington and Andrew Mann were the original vocalists for When in Rome, best known for their huge single, “The Promise”. As has been the case for some time now, they were joined on stage by Rob Juarez on e-drums and percussion and Francisco Pancho Burgos Goizueta on keyboards.
The band When in Rome originally formed in 1987, and had broken up by 1990. In that time, they had released just the one eponymous album, which included the huge pop hit, “The Promise”, which has proven to be one of the most decade-defining songs of the 80’s.
They had some surprises this time around with their set, with Andrew jumping on keyboards and Clive playing his keytar.
Love to see these guys live, and they always bring a ton of fun to the stage – just makes me want to see them do a longer set in the future.
Below are some photos of Farrington And Man performing on stage (scroll downward and photos will begin to appear – click any image to open a virtual lightroom with higher resolution versions of each photo):
Animotion
A regular on the Lost 80’s Live tour, Animotion founding members and lead vocalist Astrid Plane and lead vocalist and guitarist Bill Wadhams represent the band, which was originally formed in 1983.
They released their debut album in 1985, which featured the biggest hit and most well-known song, “Obsession”.
Bill’s son Chris now plays bass guitar for the band, going on several years now. Some of the other members from the past still perform with them, like Don Kirkpatrick and Greg Smith.
As in the past, I thoroughly enjoyed their set and especially their live performance for “Obsession”, one of my all-time favorite songs. They also did a cover of “Tainted Love”.
Below are some photos of Animotion performing on stage (scroll downward and photos will begin to appear – click any image to open a virtual lightroom with higher resolution versions of each photo):
Missing Persons featuring Dale Bozio
Missing Persons, is of course legendary. As one of the real pioneers of New Wave as well as MTV, they made a huge impact on pop culture in the early 80’s.
Originally made up of Dale Bozzio on vocals, Terry Bozzio on drums, and Warren Cuccurullo on guitars, they were founded on exceptional talent and creativity.
Retrospectively, Dale Bozzio is now credited as a big influence on music and fashion that continues today, most obviously with Lady Gaga.
Dale and Terry – who met while working with Frank Zappa – were married in 1979, before forming the band a year later at the dawn of the 80s.
“Mental Hopscotch” was their first local hit, following promotion on KROQ. Their most popular hits came a few years later with “Words”, “Walking in L.A.”, and “Destination Unknown”.
Terry and Dale broke up, as did the band, in 1986.
Warren Cuccurullo went on to have a long and successful run with Duran Duran while Dale Bozzio went solo and Terry Bozzio collaborated with Mick Jagger, Jeff Beck, The Knack, Korn, and others.
As much as she has received acclaim, I feel like Dale still hasn’t received the recognition that she deserves, as she was really way ahead of the times with her look, sound and attitude, which she carries with her today.
Below are some photos of Dale Bozzio performing on stage (scroll downward and photos will begin to appear – click any image to open a virtual lightroom with higher resolution versions of each photo):
Wang Chung
Though formally founded in 1980, the core of Wang Chung (best known for that self-referential hit song, “Everybody Have Fun Tonight”) began in 1977 when Jeremy Ryder (“Jack Hues”) responded to an ad by Nick Feldman (“Nick DeSpig”) in Melody Marker.
They first formed as the band The Intellektuals. They then began a new band called 57 Men, which was also short lived. After some personnel changes, they called themselves Huang Chung circa 1980-1982. They released an earlier version of “Dance Hall Days” as Huang Chung but without the success.
The band then changed their name to Wang Chung, with Jack Hues as vocalist/guitarist and Nick Feldman as bassist. They released Points on the Curve with a re-recorded version of “Dance Hall Days” (one of my all-time favorite 80’s hits).
Interestingly, their third album took them in an entirely different direction, creating the soundtrack for the film, To Live and Die in L.A (they also played this song on Sunday night). In the same year, they created the song “Fire in the Twilight” for The Breakfast Club.
They found their biggest mainstream success a year later in 1986 with their fourth album, Mosaic, which included “Everybody Have Fun Tonight” and “Let’s Go”.
The band went on hiatus through much of the 90’s, with Feldman forming Promised Land with Jon Moss (formerly with Culture Club) and Jack Hues doing work in film on soundtracks.
They have since reformed and performed over the years, and even released a new album with 2012’s Tazer Up!, which I thought was fantastic.
With the show at Thunder Valley this weekend, as with last the past few years, Jack Hues is no longer touring but Gareth Moulton has been performing along with Nick Feldman.
With the show on Sunday night, the drummer came out to sing a cover of “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”, which was different.
Below are some photos of Wang Chung performing on stage (scroll downward and photos will begin to appear – click any image to open a virtual lightroom with higher resolution versions of each photo):
Starship featuring Mickey Thomas
Members:
- Mickey Thomas (vocals)
- Stephanie Calvert (vocals)
- John Roth (guitar, vocals)
- Jeff Adams (bass, vocals)
- Phil Bennett (keyboards, vocals)
- Darrell “Pelican” Verdusco (drums, vocals)
This was my first time seeing Mickey Thomas or Starship live in concert. In 2015, I had a chance to see Paul Kantner perform as Jefferson Starship, but of course he passed away in early 2016.
Jefferson Airplane and the various bands and projects that followed have quite a long history, going all the way back to 1965, with the band releasing albums from 1966 to 1972. Some members became involved in Hot Tuna and Kantner released his first solo album as Paul Kantner/Jefferson Starship, and then Grace Slick got involved and the first proper Jefferson Starship album was released.
Jefferson Starship broke up in 1984 when Paul Kantner, as the last remaining original member of Jefferson Airplane, left the band and took legal action against the rest of the band over use of the name.
Ultimately, there was an out of court settlement in which it was agreed that neither side could use the names “Jefferson” or “Airplane” unless all members of Jefferson Airplane, Inc. agreed.
The band Starship was established in 1985 and included some members of Jefferson Starship with a significant change in musical direction. Their sound reflected more pop/rock of the mid-80’s, and they found mainstream success with a number of singles including “We Built This City”, “Sara”, “It’s Not Over (‘Til It’s Over)” and “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” (all songs performed Sunday night; they opened with Jefferson Starship’s “Jane”).
Mickey Thomas was co-lead singer with Grace Slick, who was part of the band until 1988.
Prior to Jefferson Starship and Starship, Mickey was in a band called Elvin Bishop Group and also recorded a few solo albums. He was the vocalist for Jefferson Starship and then Starship through the 80s, and then Starship featuring Mickey Thomas starting in the early 90s.
Mickey has put together a great band with amazing energy on stage – fantastic set.
Below are some photos of Mickey Thomas performing on stage (scroll downward and photos will begin to appear – click any image to open a virtual lightroom with higher resolution versions of each photo):