StageWest’s latest production certainly was a flashback. The 80’s were some fairly formative years for me as it covered high school, university and my first years in the work force and a huge influence for me during that time was the music.
It was 1981 that MTV was launched and we were introduced (or would subjected be a better word?) to the music video. The explosion of big hair, huge shoulder pads expensive productions that pushed all sorts of boundaries all came with it.
We saw the introduction of female icon such as Madonna and Cyndi Lauper, the second British invasion which brought us bands like The Police, U2 and Duran Duran and power groups like Queen and Journey. It was an exciting time for music lovers and the 80’s Solid Gold Revue brought us all of this and many more of our favourites from the 80’s.
It’s hard to fit all the hits from the 80’s into a single two hour performance and my wife and I spent the entire drive home listing off band after band and artist after artist that could have been included. On top of all the ones that were included.
The songs/groups they did choose were a perfect flashback to the era and covered so many different segments of the times.
From Piano Men, to Quicky 80’s, 80’s Dance and much more they covered a huge amount of both super artists and influential songs. And the reactions of the audience showed this.
You could see people singing and swaying along with hits like Girls Just Want to Have Fun, The Safety Dance and more.
And the costumes!
It was all on display. Ripped right out of some of the most popular 80’s music videos we were shown huge hair, the excessive shoulder pads, leg warmers, and bad moustaches. It was like reliving the moment.
If you remember watching MTV in the 80’s and loved the music from that time, do yourself a favour and check out the show. You’ll have great time and spend at least the next couple of hours after reminiscing about the bands they didn’t have time to include.
