LIVE REVIEW: Totally Tubular Festival in Boston, MA (07.17.24)
Last Wednesday evening, thousands escaped the heat and muggy weather to immerse themselves in several hours of 80s musical nostalgia. The Totally Tubular Festival is a fun celebration of new wave and electronic music, appealing to the GenX and Boomer II set. Concert goers enjoyed a full evening of 80s music featuring Thomas Dolby, Tom Bailey of the Thompson Twins, Modern English, Men Without Hats, Wang Chung, Bow Wow Wow, Tommy Tutone, and Eddie Munoz of the Plimsouls.
Initially I thought it would be a night of one-hit wonders but several acts have multiple hits. Most bands played for about 30 minutes. Tom Bailey of the Thompson Twins and Thomas Dolby had 40 minute sets. 68-year-old Tom Bailey looked dashing in a white suit with his gray hair. He had an all-female band–who he referred to as The Sisters– also dressed in white. Light rods situated throughout the stage –switching from red to red and blue lights–added to the new wave vibes. “We’re going to have fun tonight,” Bailey declared. A consummate and generous performer, the Englishman completely engaged the crowd with energy and varied arrangements and compositions. He pranced back and forth onstage, threw guitar picks into the crowd and pointed at various crowd members. Bailey’s so natural and comfortable and a complete pleasure to watch. He sang a slower version of “Lay Your Hands.” Bailey said that whenever they come to the United States they have to play a song that was on the Sixteen Candles soundtrack. While the crowd appreciated it, I really wasn’t familiar with the song. I saw Sixteen Candles way back in the day and have never watched it again. “Lies” and “Doctor Doctor” were a lot of fun. Closing out the set, “Hold Me Now” began with a long instrumental and a slow tempo. They stopped playing instruments and sang along with the audience in a moving, beautiful moment.
Clad in a big WWII-style military coat, geek icon Thomas Dolby told the crowd: “It’s been a long day Boston. I’m going to be your happy ending.” He opened with “How Does It Feel.” Dolby invigorates his solo synth-pop show by his infectious energy and creativity. Videos enhance the performance. On “Europa and the Pirate Twins” he played harmonica and encouraged the audience to sing the chorus. “One of Our Submarines” is a moving tribute to an uncle who died in WWII. He danced around-getting silly at times– during a frenetic “Hyperactive” as video projected onstage. “Heroes” featured a tribute to David Bowie with images from Live Aid. 65-year-old Dolby told the audience it was a “trip down memory lane and a bit of a tearjerker.” Dolby’s album The Flat Earth came out 40 years ago. He of course closed the set with the upbeat cinematic hit “Weird Science.” He came back out and played a feisty, soulful “Hot Sauce” for an encore, explaining that since he was the last act of the festival, he could do an encore. Dolby founded the company Beatnik which made ring tones. He’s currently on the faculty at Johns Hopkins University. He leads the Peabody Insitute’s New Media program.
Eddie Munoz of the Plimsouls and Tommy Tutone warmed up the crowd with their hits “A Million Miles Away” and “867-5309/ Jenny” respectively. Bow Wow Wow sounded solid and happy on their hit “I Want Candy.” British band Wang Chung maintained an energetic set with the audience singing along and clapping to “Let’s Go.” Their hit “Dance Hall Days” really got the crowd moving and dancing. It’s an immensely danceable song. In their cover of “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” they changed the lyrics to “Should we Wang or should we Chung.” On “Everybody Have Fun Tonight,” 69-year-old singer Jack Hues changed the lyrics to “I drove a million miles to Boston tonight.” Hues and 69-year-old bass player Nick Feldman (who has worked in A&R for Warner Bros and Sony) play well off each other, at one point playing back to back and then singing at the same mic. The crowd truly became invigorated by their performance. Wang Chung had four top 40 hits in the 80s–”Dance Hall Days” (#16), “Everybody Have Fun Tonight” (#2), “Let’s Go!” (#9) and “Hypnotize Me” (#36) As I walked back to my car at the end of the night, I saw a lot of people in Wang Chung t-shirts. The band was definitely a crowd favorite.
Canadian synth-pop band Men Without Hats knows what the crowd wants. They opened and closed their set with the hit song “The Safety Dance” (#3) and kept up a high energy level throughout the 30 minute set. Wearing tight pleather pants, a black tee and shades, 66-year-old singer Ivan Doroschuk is in fit shape and ran back and forth onstage dancing and high-kicking the entire set. He dedicated the song “Where Do the Boys Go?” to former keyboardist Allan McCarthy who died from AIDs complications in 1995. “I miss him every day,” Doroschuk shared. I was surprised they didn’t play any videos onscreen. The current band includes Doroschuk’s niece Sahara Sloan on keyboards. “This one I used to carry around on my back in a pouch,” Doroschuk said.
Everyone is in fab shape. One of the first bands signed to legendary music label 4AD, British band Modern English has a new album out. it’s called 1, 2, 3, 4– they performed two new songs. “Long in the Tooth” has a solid beat and catchy chorus. They’re very charming and British sounding and played a passionate, vigorous set. “Here’s the one song you know,” 67-year-old singer Robbie Grey said to introduce “Melt with You” as the crowd erupted in cheers and began dancing.
All in all it was a memorable, fun evening for the MTV generation. It was also a long night–the first set started at 6 and the last set didn’t end until 11:30. They were very organized and precise with the set times. As they needed to be with that many acts. Everyone danced and sang along and enjoyed the performances. MGM was only about 60% full (and the beverages–and merch– are expensive). Another venue would’ve been preferable. I hope they have another festival next year.
