Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Everybody have fun tonight
Lost ‘80s Live tour a flashback to when new wave was king
“The audiences are bigger than ever with this tour,” said Wang Chung bassist and composer Nick Feldman. “It’s like one big Spotify playlist.”
The “Lost ‘80s Live” tour arrives Sept. 29 at North Seventh, which up until Sept. 12 had been known as the Electric Factory. WXPN “Land of the Lost” host Robert Drake emcees a night of ‘80s new wave and post-punk acts featuring Feldman and Wang Chung, A Flock of Seagulls, Naked Eyes, Dramarama, Animotion, Farrington & Mann — The Original When in Rome UK, Gene Loves Jezebel and Bow Wow Wow.
“Everyone gets along, and it’s all cool. We ended up playing with Naked Eyes on one show. The keyboard player couldn’t make it. We literally had to learn (the songs) 20 minutes before going on stage in San Diego,” said Feldman, who’ll be performing songs such as “Don’t Let Go,” “Dance Hall Days,” “Let’s Go!” (which Feldman said he wrote in a span of a half-hour) and “Everybody Have Fun Tonight.”
The idea to insert the band’s name — which Feldman says literally translates into “yellow bells” in Chinese — into the latter song’s chorus was the result of an ad lib by singer Jack Hues. “That is a strange beast, that song,” said Feldman.
“The use of the phrase ‘Wang Chung’ is completely mysterious. Even we don’t know what it means. it gives it more power somehow,” he laughed, pointing out that “huang chung,” as its original phonetic spelling in English goes, can also mean “wild clocks” in Chinese, or perfect pitch/harmony in Chinese classical music. Therefore the meaning
of Wang Chung as a verb remains up to the listener. It can be interpreted as pretentious, or as something superficial and silly, Feldman said.
Asked for his thoughts on why he’s been seeing millennials at the “Lost ‘80s” concerts, Feldman said it’s a combination of generation X parents passing on appreciation of the music to their children, and the continuing use of ‘80s songs in contemporary movies, TV and even streaming series. “Eighties music has a good combination of melody, rhythm and a hybrid of traditional rock guitar and synthesizer, or electronics. I think some of the sounds have come back in fashion, or they never truly went away,” he said.
In the coming year Wang Chung plan to release a career retrospective box set, with their entire catalog and demo and live recordings. They will also be making new music with Mexican singer/songwriter Aleks Syntek.
Who’s who
A Flock of Seagulls: The evolving hair-dos of the band’s singer, a former hair stylist named Mike Score, were as memorable as hit songs like “I Ran (So Far Away),” “Space Age Love Song” and “Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You).”
Naked Eyes: They landed in the American top 20 twice with “Promises, Promises” and a remake of the 1960s Burt Bacharach/Hal David composition “Always Something There to Remind Me.”
Animotion: They’re best known for the top 10 hits “Obsession” and “Room to Move.” The latter was featured in the Dan Aykroyd/ Kim Bassinger movie “My Stepmother is An Alien.”
Farrington & Mann — The Original When in Rome UK: The convoluted name is because there are two different versions of the band When in Rome, known best for their 1988 hit “The Promise.” Clive Farrington and Andrew Mann were, indeed, two-thirds of the group that wrote and recorded the song.
Gene Loves Jezebel: This new wave rock group’s signature songs, spanning the ‘80s to 1993, include “Desire,” “Jealous,” “Josephina,” “Gorgeous” and “Heartache.” Their name is a reference to 1950s rock ‘n’ roll singer Gene Vincent, and one of his more obscure songs, “Jezebel.”
Bow Wow Wow: Punk impresario Malcolm McLaren matched members of Adam Ant’s old backing band with 13-year-old singer Annabella Lwin. The short-lived Bow Wow Wow’s most memorable song is a remake of the 1960s hit by The Strangeloves, “I Want Candy.”
Dramarama: These late ‘80s/early ‘90s college radio darlings are originally from New Jersey. Their signature songs include “Anything, Anything,” “Last Cigarette,” “What Are We Gonna Do?” and “Haven’t Got a Clue.”