I Went to an ’80s Music Nostalgia Show. This What I Saw.
Thanks to package tours like Lost ’80s Live!, pop stars from the early MTV era play their hit songs to old and new audiences.
It may be 2018, but for one particular night at Coney Island’s Ford Amphitheater in Brooklyn, New York, the sights and sounds of the 1980s reigned supreme. On that occasion, the Lost ’80s Live! tour rolled in, featuring a number of musical acts who achieved popularity during MTV’s golden era: A Flock of Seagulls, Wang Chung, Naked Eyes, Nu Shooz, Animotion, When in Rome UK, and the Romantics. For over three hours inside the venue situated on Coney Island’s famed boardwalk, Generation X-ers like myself re-lived the music of their childhood and teenaged years— from a time of big hair and pastel-colored attire.
It seemed appropriate that the Lost ’80s Live! show occurred on the 35th anniversary of the unofficial height of New Wave (or referred to as New Pop in Britain). 1983 was a banner year for Anglophilic pop, particularly from British bands like Duran Duran, Culture Club, Spandau Ballet, and the Human League. In one particular week in July of that year, there were seven British acts that occupied the Billboard Top 10 singles chart: the aforementioned Duran Duran and Culture Club, along with the Police, Madness, the…
