By Vlad T, Rock At Night Detroit & Chyrisse Tabone, Rock At Night Tampa

Live Review: Totally Tubular Festival – Meadow Brook Amphitheatre, Detroit, MI – July 26, 2024

The year 2024 is seeing several 80s tours hit the concert trail, with the largest finding its way to Rochester Hills’ scenic Meadow Brook Amphitheatre Friday evening. The incarnation of the “Totally Tubular Festival” visiting the Metro Detroit venue included an array of colorful, expressive pop acts who topped the charts on radio and MTV with polished songs and productions largely after the quirky, earlier ‘New Wave.’

Show openers the Eddie Muñoz of the Plimsouls followed by Tommy Tutone stirred up the late afternoon crowd with faithful versions of their signature tracks, including the driving power pop classic “A Million Miles Away” and the seedy but memorable vignette “867-5309/Jenny,” which provoked the first of the evening’s numerous singalongs that set the tone for audience interactions with the acts.

Annabelle Lwin then reminded the audience why she is fondly remembered as the dynamo that fronted Bow Wow Wow through its highly electric, Burundi-rhythmed string of hits (all on display in her set), like “I Want Candy,” “Do You Want To Hold Me?”, and the ode to cassette piracy, “C·30 C·60 C·90 Go.” Lwin was a precocious teen when her group first stormed the UK charts, and her voice and presence are ever youthful. The many female Gen Xers in the audience appreciated the chance to get up and show that 80s dance challenges aren’t only for Tik Tok!

(From this reviewer’s vantage point, a certain photographer on the sidelines needed security to intervene when her moves awakened more than a few people! ;))

Canadian electro poppers Men Without Hats are obviously known globally for the staple “Safety Dance.” However, as this writer can attest having grown up in the area across from Windsor, the band enjoyed a long run of catchy, energetic chart toppers in Canada throughout the 80s. Led by whirling dervish frontman Ivan Doroschuk, the Men (plus clan member Sahara Sloan) put all of these on display in a kinetic set that had the entire audience up and dancing from first to last note. The set turned the bucolic setting of Meadow Brook into a Gen X clubland you would otherwise see in Royal Oak or downtown.

Fronted by the duo of longtime frontman Jack Hues, with his signature delivery that’s slightly arch with unmistakable panache, and bassist/vocalist Nick Feldman, Wang Chung put on a display that reminded the audience of how its top-selling music traversed the gamut from the rousing electric pop of “Everybody Have Fun Tonight” to memorable film soundtracks like “To Live And Die In L.A.”

Modern English has gotten considerable mileage from its atmospheric hit, “Melt With You,” but its set revealed its repertoire goes way beyond with old favorites like “Hands Across the Sea” and the Joy Division-flavored tracks off new album “1234.”

Co-headliners Tom Bailey of Thompson Twins and newly, wonderfully quaffed Thomas Dolby each treated the punters to performances and a multimedia experience rich with visual and sonic drama befitting the big stage at Meadow Brook. Bailey was backed by his ace, longstanding trio of “sisters,” while Dolby performed solo with an impressive array of gear.

(At one point, Bailey declared the evening to be the high point of the tour, which should surprise no one who’s ever played to Detroit audiences.)

The hits from each rode high on the charts for a reason, and the crowd’s enthusiastically roared approval for versions performed tonight reminded everyone of the songs’ lofty place in a generation’s memories, especially the tender sing-along to “Hold Me Now.”

PHOTO GALLERY